Commissioner Robbie Fletcher and Kentucky Board of Education Chair Sharon Porter Robinson present the 2024 Kelly Award for Business and Education Partnership to Meredith Rozanski, middle, the executive vice president of operations for the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce. Photo by Joe Ragusa, Kentucky Department of Education, Oct. 8, 2024.
(FRANKFORT, KY) – Meredith Rozanski, executive vice president of operations for the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce, was presented with the Kentucky Board of Education’s (KBE’s) Kelly Award for Business and Education Partnership at its Oct. 8 meeting.
“I am honored to receive the Kelly Award for Business and Education Partnership,” Rozanski said. “I have been blessed with the opportunity to work closely with Bowling Green Independent Schools and Warren County Public Schools for over a decade. It’s inspiring to see such leadership and teamwork focused on providing exceptional opportunities for students, and I am excited to see our community partnership continue to grow.”
The Kelly Award honors Joseph W. Kelly, who served as a member of KBE from 1989 until 1998 and provided exceptional leadership as its chair for seven years. Kelly’s expertise was instrumental in the fundamental early years of implementing Kentucky’s nationally recognized school improvement efforts.
“We are pleased to present this award to recognize the importance of business and education working together,” said Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher. “These partnerships show that business leaders like Meredith are ‘All In’ on supporting our students and helping move education forward in the Commonwealth.”
Rozanski was nominated for the award by Bowling Green Independent Superintendent Gary Fields and Warren County Superintendent Rob Clayton.
“Meredith’s exceptional leadership has made a lasting impact on the economic and educational landscape of southcentral Kentucky,” Fields said in his nomination letter.
Rozanski developed and currently leads the annual South Central Kentucky Learning About Unique and New Careers Here (SCK LAUNCH) program, an initiative that’s become a national model for workforce development. The program is a partnership between the Bowling Green Area Chamber Foundation, Bowling Green Independent Schools, Warren County Public Schools and local businesses to ensure future graduates succeed in their careers.
As part of the program, Rozanski brought together a panel of educators and local business leaders to formulate a profile of the ideal high school graduate. She also established the SCK LAUNCH experience with regional employers to provide 8th-grade students with an off-campus event to explore careers in various workforce sectors.
The first event in 2016 attracted 1,800 students and has grown to 3,500 students from regional school districts, Clayton said in his nomination letter.
“Meredith’s ability to bring together stakeholders from education, business and government sectors has been instrumental in the success of SCK LAUNCH,” Fields said. “Her leadership style fosters a sense of community and shared purpose, creating a strong network of support for students and employers alike. Meredith’s dedication to these partnerships has laid the foundation for sustainable economic growth and workforce development in the region.”
Rozanski’s work supporting FranklinCovey Education’s Leader in Me program in area schools led to Warren County Schools recording Kentucky’s first Lighthouse School in 2014 and the first Legacy School in 2023, Clayton said. The district currently has 13 schools with Lighthouse designation and three schools that have achieved the highest Legacy certification, “the most of any district in the world,” said Clayton.
The levels of recognition offered through the Leader in Me program are based on the school’s implementation and sustained growth in leadership practices. A Lighthouse School has demonstrated a strong leadership culture, student empowerment and effective teaching practices. A Legacy School has maintained Lighthouse Certification for at least eight years while exhibiting innovation and sustaining growth within most of the Lighthouse criteria.
Rozanski also has increased the number of chamber-led college and career learning experiences available to Bowling Green Independent and Warren County high school students. Students were offered 8,900 college and career learning experiences from the chamber during the past year. Rozanski has grown an annual hiring event, which she started, to connect high school seniors with various employers for on-site interviews and a career shadowing. What started as 10 events impacting 300 students has grown to 46 events impacting 916 students.
“Her commitment to developing a talent pipeline for employers is unmatched, resulting in a nearly 20% increase in the number of students in our district graduating transition-ready over the past five years,” Clayton said.
He also commended Rozanski’s role over the past two years arranging meetings between business leaders and a planning team of educators to develop ideas for the new IMPACT Center for Leadership. According to Clayton, Warren County Schools is developing an “unprecedented leadership and innovation center grounded in project-based learning for middle and high school students in high-need career pathways such as medical arts, engineering, teaching and more.” The IMPACT Center for Leadership will have embedded leadership instruction across all career pathways, while collaborating with business partners to provide cutting-edge opportunities.
“Meredith’s innovative vision to provide a framework for public and private partners to collaborate in providing students learning opportunities while developing the future workforce has permeated our community in a way that will have a lasting impact on thousands of students and hundreds of employers,” Clayton said.
The Kelly Award is given by the KBE in the fall of each year to a Kentucky businessperson or business who has partnered with a public school or district to provide outstanding leadership that promotes school improvement and student success.
Criteria for the award includes:
- Creating or sustaining strategic partnership between a business and school or district that leads to improved student outcomes, including but not limited to, postsecondary success and workforce outcomes; and
- Significant contribution to a school or a district that leads or will likely lead to increased or improved educational opportunities or improved educational, postsecondary or workforce outcomes for students.
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