Henderson County education leaders on Friday morning touted their institutions, saying local education is serving the needs of students and the community at the Henderson Chamber of Commerce’s annual Education Breakfast.
At the event held at the Henderson County Public Library were Murray State University President Dr. Ron Patterson, Henderson Community College Chancellor Dr. Jason Warren, Henderson County Schools Superintendent Dr. Bob Lawson and Holy Name School Principal Emma Bridges.
Dr. Ron Patterson
Patterson spoke first, mentioning many of the new program and infrastructure initiatives that are currently occurring at Murray. Those have come at the behest of MSU supporters who he heard from on a listening tour he went on after taking over the presidency on July 1, 2025, he said.
That tour taught him that those connected with MSU want to continue see the university as student-centered, want repairs made to aging infrastructure and facilities and overall challenged the school to do better.
Patterson said there are more than 200 different projects on campus now. One that’s a bit more noteworthy is construction of a new building for the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program. By 2028, Patterson said the structure will be completed, and in 2029, the school will welcome its first class of veterinary students seeking doctorates.
Patterson also spoke about a planned Racer Entertainment Village, which will be a 32-acre cornerstone of the university. An article on the MSU website said the REV will include retail, restaurants and attractions. Patterson said it will be a money-maker to fund growth and help with athletes’ NIL.
A follow-up question that was posed to Patterson via email asked what is Murray’s main priority to help it improve.
Patterson’s response: “Murray State University has a tremendous opportunity to address our infrastructure or older facilities.
We’re working diligently with our Campus Master Plan firm, BHDP to develop a short-term and long-term strategy to improve our aging facilities while planning for future growth.”
Dr. Jason Warren
Warren said HCC has been on a transformational journey the past several years as it moved to become a more comprehensive technical college. He said that’s become more of a reality with the addition of a new program, the Electrical Technology program, and now the school has more comprehensive program offerings.
Having more technical programs has allowed the school to offer more Work Ready scholarships, which provide funding for technical program classes, he said.
The first Electrical Technology cohort is at the school, with 12 students in the first group. Students will be instructed in both residential and industrial electrical courses.
And labs are coming together with more equipment coming in, so much so that “we’re out of space now” in the Sandy Lee Watkins lab which is housed in the Sullivan Technology Center.
Warren said that HCC’s overall enrollment has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.
And from 2024 to 2025, the school had 68.1% retention rate, which was the highest of the 16 schools in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
Warren’s response via email to a question about the school’s main priority to improve.
“In terms of continuous improvement, I’d say we are laser focused on the three bullets below. If you made me choose just one, it would be the top bullet…and it is interrelated with the third bullet.
- Building on our tremendous success with preparing the next generation of multi-skilled technicians and new electrical technology program, we need to continue our journey to increase enrollment in the skilled trades. We must continue to listen to our numerous community partners and add relevant technical programs in response to local workforce needs.
- We must continue to address campus deferred maintenance and redirect those savings and efficiencies to our people and our programs.
- We need to attract more non-traditional age students by making them more aware of relevant, in-demand programs such as advanced manufacturing, electrical technology, healthcare, and teacher education prep.”
Dr. Bob Lawson
Lawson began with a brief history lesson of the local school system, speaking a bit about the merger of the city and county school systems 50 years ago. He said that allowed the community to be unified and is paying big dividends now.
“It made us better then,” he said. “It makes us better now.”
It has allowed the community to have a big school with big opportunities, Lawson said.
He also said the district is focusing in on the core value of “Inspiring Human Greatness” as this year core value. He said there are many marks of inspiring human greatness in the school system. He spoke about the four new Pre-K centers that young learners can now attend, including at Spottsville Elementary, Cairo Elementary, Niagara Elementary and A.B. Chandler Elementary schools.
Additionally, three out of four elementary students are on grade level for reading and math, while almost seven out of 10 middle school students are on grade level for reading and math, Lawson said.
Lawson invited new Henderson County High School Principal Chistian Klaas up, and Klaas talked about HCHS’ #19 ranking of best high schools in the state by U.S. News and World Report. Klaas said many of the high schools ranked ahead of HCHS are charter, magnet or small schools that don’t serve the entire community as HCHS does. He said 100% of HCHS graduates are postsecondary ready, meaning they are ready to more directly into the work force or attend college.
Emma Bridges
Bridges said Holy Name students include 30% non-Catholics, 15% on tuition assistance and 18% on free or reduced lunch—which is not what most may typically think about HNS students.
She also said this year’s enrollment represents a 10% increase over last year with 41 new students.
“That’s a great increase for us,” Bridges said.
HNS incorporates three key elements into its philosophy—faith, service and academics. Of service, Bridges pointed out that middle school students completed 2,200 service hours last year.
Bridges also highlighted that HNS is the only school in the Diocese of Owensboro, which includes Catholic schools in the 32 counties west of Louisville, with a school resource officer, Henderson Police Department Officer Jason Hargitt.
Students also did well in the testing measures the school takes part in, the MAP test. MAP is Measure of Academic Progress. Of student kindergarten through 8th grade, 95% are at or above grade level in math and 92% are at or above grade level in reading, Bridges said.
In her talk, Bridges spoke of the new Scholarship Granting Organizations, a federal law that was approved by the state legislature in the last General Assembly. Of Holy Name’s top priority for improvement, Bridges replied: “Our main priority for the future of Holy Name is to expand educational opportunities to more students throughout our community. Through increased tuition assistance and the creation of a Scholarship Granting Organization, we hope to provide more opportunities to join the Holy Name family and experience the exceptional education and faith-f
