MOUNT VERNON — Bernadette Pachmayer will take over the reins Aug. 1 as the new superintendent of Knox Co
unty Career Center.
Bernie, as she prefers to be called, comes to the career center from the Riverside school district, where she has served as superintendent since 2004. Before that, she was with the Wooster school system and served as liaison to the Wayne County Career Center.
Raised in Cleveland, Pachmayer attended Catholic schools as a child. She went to the University of Akron to pursue a marketing degree in a collaborative program with Kent State University. She earned her Master of Science in Education from the University of Akron and completed educational administration degree work at Ashland University.
Pachmayer is a strong believer in vocational education.
“I believe that students have a leg up when they leave a career center or a vocational program because they know what they want to do and they have the skills to do it,” she said. “And the other thing about career center students, college can be paid for with the skill that they learn here. They can actually use their skill to earn the tuition they need for college.”
Pachmayer said she first became interested in KCCC when in town for a graduation at Mount Vernon Nazarene University. When she saw the red, white and blue flowers surrounding the KCCC campus, she loved it.
“It was just gorgeous,” she said.
Pachmayer and her husband, Carl, are in the process of relocating to the area.
“I love Mount Vernon,” she said. “It’s a beautiful little town. I love that we are in a college town, that the campuses — KCCC, MVNU, Mount Vernon High School — are all together. ... I just sat through the KCCC teachers’ breakfast, and what a staff. They are wonderful. When people heard I was coming here, I got a lot of calls about the Knox staff and how great a family it is. I am a family-type person and this is the perfect place for me.”
The Pachmayers have three grown children: Jeff (Suzi), Sonia (Bryan) and Carl Jr. (seriously dating Sarah, the MVNU graduate). They also have three grandchildren: Catie, Josh and Aiden.
