COLUMBIA, Ky. – Anthony Darnell and Trent Hadley took different paths to enter the education profession. But one experience they have in common is that their careers were launched at Lindsey Wilson College.
Darnell and Hadley, who are the assistant principals at Adair County High School, also share a passion for educating young people and helping them discern their life calling.
“Kids need good role models, discipline and somebody to listen to them to help them with their problems,” said Darnell, a 2008 Lindsey Wilson graduate.
For Hadley, that means creating an environment that allows students to have a “lightbulb moment.”
“What stands out to me the most about being in education is seeing when that lightbulb goes off with a student,” said Hadley, a 2010 Lindsey Wilson graduate. “You always recognize that in a kid. Maybe they’ve been struggling with a concept, then all of a sudden they get it and they come up with a way to remember it. And what makes it even more rewarding is that they are so proud of it.”
Being an educator also involves providing students with support, especially when they can’t find it anywhere else. Darnell said an educator does that by treating the students the same way they treat family members.
At Adair County High School, which has an enrollment of more than 800 students, Darnell tells people that “every year, I adopt 800 new kids at the beginning of the school year.”
“I’m not advocating for myself in any way, but any kid in this building will tell you when they need to talk to someone, they come to me, because I treat them like my own children,” he said. “I do this job a lot like a parent, because so many of our kids lack that structure, guidance, and good, solid advice that they can carry with them. Sadly, it’s not in their homes anymore. So I treat them as I treat my own kids.”
Two paths to education
The education profession plays a big role in Darnell’s actual family. His wife, Shanna, is a 2002 Lindsey Wilson graduate and serves as a counselor at Adair County High School. Their son Collin is a 2023 Lindsey Wilson graduate who is a teacher at nearby Russell Springs Elementary School, and their daughter Lindsey – who was named in honor of their alma mater – will graduate this spring from Lindsey Wilson with an education degree. (The Darnells’ other two children are sons Callum, who is an Adair County freshman, and Liam, a third-grader at Adair County Elementary School.)
“Lindsey Wilson has opened doors for my family,” said Darnell. “Family’s important to us, and Lindsey Wilson gave them an opportunity to attend college at home and receive a very good professional degree.”
A first-generation college graduate, Darnell attended Lindsey Wilson from 1995-97, then left college at the age of 21 to pursue a career as a police officer. He returned to Lindsey Wilson in 2004 and went to school while continuing to serve as an officer in the Columbia Police Department, graduating in 2008.
That led to a 13-year career in Russell County schools, returning to his high school alma mater in 2021 as assistant principal. While Darnell was in Russell County, Hadley served as his student-teacher.
A graduate of Russell County High School, Hadley started his college career at Western Kentucky University with his eyes on pharmacy school. But when his career plans took a turn toward education, he transferred to Lindsey Wilson.
“I think I knew my ‘why’ very early on, and it was being around kids and working with them,” said Hadley, a Russell County, Kentucky, native who is also a first-generation college graduate.
He said that Lindsey Wilson’s rigorous education program, with its low student-to-faculty member ratio, “kept my feet to the fire and really prepared me to enter the classroom.”
Hadley started his education career as college counselor in Somerset Community College’s Upward Bound program, before joining the Adair County Middle School faculty as a social studies teacher in 2016. He was named an Adair County High School assistant principal in 2022.
Lifelong educators
Since arriving at Adair County High School, Hadley said he’s enjoyed helping students find direction and watching them blossom over their four years in school.
“Seeing kids come here as a freshman and then move to their senior year, and the growth they experience and finding their niche is the most rewarding thing,” he said.
He said it’s also been rewarding to work again with Darnell, along with education veteran and Adair County Principal Chad Parnell.
“It’s so great to work with them because they both have a plethora of knowledge,” he said. “Mr. Darnell always gives me a lot of great feedback. He’s just a great mentor.”
Said Darnell: “It’s wonderful to work with Trent. … We’re cut from the same cloth, so to speak. We kind of know each other and know the expectations we have.”
And those expectations include helping every student in the school find success.
“Everything I do in the school is rewarding and important to me,” said Darnell. “I don’t want to put any one part of being an educator above the other. … It’s that old saying, ‘If I can save one student or we can make a difference in one student’s life, then it’s all worth it.’”
PHOTO – Lindsey Wilson College alumni Trent Hadley ’10 and Anthony Darnell ’08 have served together as assistant principals at Adair County High School since 2022.
(Duane Bonifer – Lindsey Wilson College)