Lisa Kennedy, a custodial worker here at New Haven, has been working in the district for 16 years after starting in 2002. She is a hard-working person who strives to do her best under any circumstances.
Ms. Kennedy will often be found driving students to and from their homes, as well as driving students to their sports events. She enjoys her interaction with the young adults, teachers, and students, and loves watching their sporting events.
If Ms. Kennedy could use any one word to describe herself, it would be “ready.” Ready is defined as “preparing (someone or something) for an activity or purpose.” How does this describe Ms. Kennedy?
“I check everything to make sure it is ready to go,” Ms. Kennedy responded. “I want everything to be in proper order. I will do anything-- as long as it’s planned. I am a planner.”
Many people have good things to say about Lisa.
“Lisa always takes time out of her own life to drive us players and coaches around to almost all of our sporting events,” Meagan Holtmeyer, sophomore, commented. “She doesn't just take us there and not care about it, she actually pays attention and cares for us and congratulates us after wins or tries to make us feel better after losses. Also, she doesn't just care for the team as a whole, she cares about each individual by telling them good luck before games, asking about how the game went that she couldn't make it to, or telling us possibly how we could work to make ourselves better.”
Olivia Williams, junior, also had something to add, “Lisa is honestly one of the nicest people I know. She always has a smile on her face and a positive attitude. She works hard every day to make sure we are all happy. She often drives our bus for various sporting events. She is always in the stands watching and cheer[ing] us on. After the game, whether we win or lose, she's always there to congratulate or comfort us. Lisa is awesome and I am so thankful for her!”
Seeing that Ms. Kennedy inspires and helps children and young adults, who inspired her? At the age of 16, she lost her mother to cancer. Even with that, her mother was her inspiration and role model.
“My mom taught me to keep going, to keep fighting. To make the best of your day, week, month, and year. Nothing is handed to you, you have to work for it."
Ms. Kennedy graduated in 1981 from Steelville, MO. She was an EMT and was going to college at ECC to go into the health field, but had to put that dream on hold due to a car accident. After she recovered, she wasn’t interested in that field anymore.
Ms. Kennedy then went on to work at the Care Center and started working at the school.
Ms. Kennedy loves her job here, even though it wasn’t necessarily her first choice in a job. “I enjoy working here. I enjoy how competitive our kids are, I enjoy watching them. I enjoy the fact that everyone has challenges, but we come together and work to help and encourage. This is a good school, with good people in it.”
She doesn’t want to stop there though. In the future, Ms. Kennedy still wants to do more in her life.“I want to eventually own a store-- with a little bit of everything. Antiques, books, movies-- anything with interest.”
In her free time, Ms. Kennedy enjoys watching Syfy and adventurous movies, reading any book that can catch her attention, fishing “anywhere she can find a hole to fish in”, and camping in Eminence, MO.
We would like to thank Ms. Kennedy for all her hard work, as well as her generosity towards the students and teachers at New Haven High.