ECTC Honors Distinguished Alumni

Elizabethtown Com­mun­ity and Technical College will recognize six alumni November 14 for exemplary service to their professions and communities at the college’s annual Profiles of Excellence celebration.

The ceremony starts at 6 p.m. in the Morrison Art Gallery in the James S. Owen Building. Honorees will be inducted into the college’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

The Distinguished Alum­ni program, in its 14th year, has celebrated the academic, professional and humanitarian endeavors of 118 former students.

The 2019 honorees are:

• David Pace is a Bran­den­burg na­tive and has play­ed a key role in the ec­o­nom­ic grow­th of the region. He ser­ved for eight years as mayor of Bran­den­burg and was key in facilitating the Base Realignment and Closure transformation at Fort Knox. He also has been heavily involved in supporting Nucor’s development of a $1.35 billion steel mill in Meade County. He was president of the Ken­tucky Association of Fairs and was recognized for his leadership with the Meade County Farm Bureau Com­mun­ity Service Award and the Will­iam Taylor Com­mun­ity Ser­vice Award. He and his wife, Sharon, have three children and four grandchildren.

• Todd Edlin is senior manager of Flight App­li­cations for UPS, where he has worked for more than 30 years. He is responsible for the development and main­ten­ance of many critical applications for the UPS Airline and was a senior manager in the design and implementation of a global communications network in the United States and Europe. Edlin has ser­ved in many leadership roles and is active in UPS’ campaign to support United Way. He and his wife, Ter­e­sa, have two children and reside in Eliza­beth­town.

• Nicholas Bennett Gon­­zalez is a first-­­generation college student who lived and worked in the Central Ken­tucky re­gion until join­ing the U.S. Army in 2008. He worked full-time while completing his Associate of Arts degree at ECTC, then earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration, Master of Business Administration and Doctor of Psychology degrees. He is a Sexual Assault Response Coordinator for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and was named the Department of Defense Exceptional Sexual Assault Response Coordinator of the Year in 2018. His husband, Miguel, is an active duty Army soldier currently serving in Alaska, and his daughter, Brynna, is a freshman at Meade County High School in Brandenburg.

• The Rev. Jin Ming Ma grew up in China. After a chance meet­ing with a group of Ameri­cans visiting on a trip sponsored by the United Methodist Church, Jin Ming was sponsored by Jack and Alice Scott to come to Eliza­beth­town. Jin Ming completed two years at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College then earned a bach­elor’s degree from Lindsey Wilson College. Jin Ming was called to ministry and enrolled in Lexington Theo­log­ical Seminary before mov­ing to Washington, where she completed ordination as an Elder in the United Methodist Church. She has served as the pastor at Coupeville Uni­ted Methodist Church since 2007. Jin Ming and her husband reside on Whidbey Island, Washington, and their daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren live in Seattle.

• Gina Ryan is the director of Hardin County Edu­ca­tion­al and Com­mun­ity Tel­e­vision and has 34 years of experience teaching students and adults. She graduated from Eliza­bethtown Community Col­lege and completed her bachelor’s degree in communications and master’s degree in education from the University of Louisville. She has trained thousands of stu­dents, teachers and com­mun­ity mem­bers in me­dia production, many of whom went on to success­ful careers in communica­tions. She worked as an in­struc­tor for Fort Knox Com­mun­ity Schools prior to beginning her career with Har­din County Schools in 1998. She was recogniz­ed as a Hardin County Schools Distinguished Alum­ni in 2004, received the Rad­cliff-­Hardin County Chamber of Commerce Edu­ca­tion Award in 2009, and was awarded the Uni­ver­sity of Kentucky Enoch Grehan Prize for Teach­ing Journ­al­ism/Communications in 2014. She and her husband, Mike, reside in Rineyville have two children and six grandchildren.

• Kendra Stewart Scott is the Com­mun­ity Relations Lia­ison for Lin­coln Trail Be­hav­ioral Health System and a Realtor with ReMax-The Janet Team. She has worked in radio, the nonprofit sector and banking and dedicates herself to ser­v­ing the community. She is an active volunteer who has affected many or­gan­i­zations including the Asso­ciation of the United States Army, SpringHaven Domestic Vio­lence Pro­gram, Eliza­beth­town Police Foun­da­tion, Hosparus, Hooray for Heroes, Elizabethtown Rotary Club and her church, First Baptist Church of Eliza­beth­town. Kendra is an appointed member of the Eliza­beth­town Plan­ning Commission and the Lincoln Trail Area De­vel­op­ment District Board of Di­rect­ors. She is a found­ing member of the ECTC Alumni Network and was recognized by the Hardin County Chamber of Com­merce with the Ronnie Pence Chamber Champion award in 2019. Kendra and her husband, William lives in Elizabethtown.

Names and photos of this year’s honorees will join others in the Hall of Dis­ting­ui­shed Alumni, on display in the atrium of the Regional Postsecondary Center on ECTC’s main campus.

To attend the Profiles of Ex­cell­ence celebration or for information on the ECTC Alumni Network, contact Megan Stith at megan.stith@kctcs.edu or 270-706-8721. The RVSP deadline is November 7.
Source: NE