By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Barton Community College administrative staff enjoys seeing former graduates or local citizens come back to Great Bend to work at the college. When the Board of Trustees approved the personnel report last Tuesday, not only did they hire an alum with Kaitlin Sill, but they also continued a now four-generation legacy.
Sill was hired to become an accounting instructor at Barton.
Sill’s mother, Larissa Graham, serves as the college’s Director of Child Development Center. Her grandmother, LaVonne Gerritzen, worked more than 40 years at Barton as an instructor and Executive Director of Workforce Training. Sill’s great-grandmother started work in Barton’s cafeteria.
"Even when I was student at Barton, everyone in my family thought I would come back there," said Sill. "When I chose to work in the accounting field, everyone was thrown off that I wasn't going to be a teacher and follow in everybody's footsteps. When this position opened up, all the pieces fell in place. It was a chance for me to make it back home."
After graduating from Barton Community College, Sill graduated from Fort Hays State University in 2021 to become an accountant. She has spent the past couple of years working in the accounting industry but always had a thought to work at Barton.
"The people out there are great," said Sill. "I grew up around it. It was always in the back of my mind, but I didn't know how to fit that in with what I went to school with. Everyone was super excited when I told them I was making my way back out there."
Sill will begin instructing this school year at Barton.