Joy Kaurin left the TRIO student services department on Jan. 30 and went to her new position as a Perkins Specialist in the Workforce Center here on Lake Land College’s (LLC) campus. She joined TRIO a little over five years ago and has made a large impact on students ever since. 

Joy “grew up on a farm outside of a small town of 700 people located north of Peoria, called Bradford, Illinois. I lived,” she says when asked about her background, “in the same house growing up and attended the same school kindergarten through senior year, graduating with 25 other classmates.” “I love playing piano, leading worship for a small local church, serving as a volunteer host family for Project 143…My time with Project 143 has led to my interest in trauma informed parenting and also learning more about how people can heal from trauma as adults. I enjoy hiking with my family, spending time gardening, watching hummingbirds from my front porch and meeting my neighbors.” 

Joy responded to what her new job is by saying, “My job is going to be in the Workforce building, which is next to the West building and my new role will be the Perkins Specialist. I’m excited to work with students in this role! The Perkins Program helps students enrolled in qualifying Workforce Ready programs and provides assistance to those students to help with resources varying from focused tutoring to assistance with purchasing uniforms, tools, etc.” 

Joy stated that she will miss “having my students pop throughout the day to say hi and update me on how a class went, tell me they bought a car, started a new job, got the courage to talk to a classmate, etc. We really do have the best students.” 

And lastly when asked what she wishes for her students is “that each student realizes how special and capable they are. It has been so rewarding to observe my TRIO students set goals and check in as they reach those goals and often surpass them. So many of my students possess a level of grit that is going to benefit them in their future careers and endeavors.” Joy has been of a huge benefit to the TRIO department and will be greatly missed!