Hopkins Staff Member Earns Degree

posted 10/4/23 -- “Miss Jen” Potapenko earned her associate’s degree last spring while working to help others in new ways.

In her second year as a classroom floater at Hopkins Locke, Miss Jen overcame a number of obstacles to achieve her career and degree from Liberty University.

As a senior at Vermillion High School, she lost both her parents, putting on hold her original dream of attending college. A few years later, she began teaching Sunday School at her church and found she loved working with children. Last year, one of her two sons was a student at Hopkins Locke.

“If you had asked me 10 years ago if I wanted to be a teacher, I would have said no way,” she said. “I love the kids here. It doesn’t feel like a job.”

While working on her degree online, Miss Jen and her husband Dave were also working to become licensed foster parents. She found some of the work she needed to do for her degree overlapped with some of the work required for the license. The Potapenkos have since expanded their family with a foster daughter.

Jen added that the date on her degree is extra special. It is also her wedding anniversary.