Carol A. Rothstein didn’t grow up in a family full of people with college degrees.
In fact, neither of her parents had a high school education, as they both dropped out of school in eighth grade.
And while she herself had plans to get a college degree once she graduated high school, she entered into a cycle of starts and stops as she had children and other life aspects caused her to pause taking classes in her local community college in West Virginia.
Then her oldest daughter started school and was asked a typical question of a child in kindergarten: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Her answer: “I want to be nothing like my mom.”
While Rothstein’s daughter’s statement didn’t have malicious intent behind it, it did cause the elder Rothstein to look at herself make a commitment.
“I’d stopped taking classes and wasn’t doing anything definitive with my life, so what she said wasn’t wrong,” Rothstein said. “So I made the commitment then to go back to school, finish my degree and get a job from there because I wanted my three children to see that education is something I value and want them to have too.”
Rothstein did get her degree and did get a job at her local community college once she finished classes. She eventually got a job at Nashville Community College and moved to Tennessee. That was 25 years ago, and she’s been a part of the Tennessee community college system since then.
Earlier this month, she began her new job, serving as the president at Jackson State Community College.
She was speaking at the Old Hickory Rotary Club on Monday when she told the story about her daughter and related that to her new role in Jackson and West Tennessee.
“I’ve never been part of a community college that’s as connected to its local area as much as Jackson State is connected here,” Rothstein said. “And that’s why we’re so committed to our area.
“We’re a part of this community, we want to serve this community and we want the community to be a part of Jackson State.”
Rothstein said she appreciates how welcoming the community has been to her so far, and she’s looking forward to continuing a few initiatives the school had already started like Project Green Light, which helps students get their certification for various jobs within the local workforce and industries.
She also mentioned that meetings are kicking off this week that will begin the design process for the workforce development center that local leaders have advocated hard for in recent years and finally received funding for from the state last year.
“We’re kicking off designing this week with hopes of having it completed in early 2026,” Rothstein said.
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news