Audree Guzman, administrator of the largest township in Shawnee County, credits much of her success to Central Kansas Upward Bound and Barton Community College. Guzman talked about her CKUB experience at this week’s BCC Board of Trustees study session.
Last month, trustees heard how Barton County Upward Bound helps students succeed, starting when they are still in high school. BCUB and CKUB are federally funded TRIO programs offered at Barton. Its participants are from families in which neither parent holds a bachelor’s degree and/or the families meet income guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Education.
“I came from a first-gen education family,” Guzman said. She joined CKUB when she was a sophomore at Chase High School. (Barton Trustee Carl Helm was the superintendent/principal.)
“It immediately opens you to a world of resources,” Guzman said of Upward Bound. “It led to a chain of opportunities.”
After graduating from Chase, she attended Barton. Central Kansas Upward Bound Project Director Patrick Busch and Hispanic Engagement and Recruitment Office Director Baudilio Hernandez helped her find job shadowing experiences and an internship. She was named one of the Outstanding Students when she graduated. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s in public administration from Wichita State University.
From there she became a community development coordinator for the City of Lyons and now she is the Soldier Township administrator.
“It was the butterfly effect,” she said. If not for CKUB, she wouldn’t have gone to Barton and on to bigger things. “I was introduced to so many opportunities I never knew were possible.”
Cougar Closet
Guzman spoke to the trustees via Zoom last Tuesday. Busch was there in person to talk about the program and one of its services.
“I operate the Cougar Closet,” he said. This on-campus resource offers students donated bedding, clothes, kitchen utensils and more at no cost.
Many of the items come from other students, who leave them behind at the end of the school year when they check out of the dorms. Volunteers collected and washed 200 trash bags of clothes and bedding last year.
Vice President of Student Services Angie Maddy said the closet is popular with students and an effective way to recycle.
“Stuff is thrown out that other students would like to have,” she said. “Prior to this, all of that stuff ended up in the landfill."
