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Career Center honors Alumni Hall of Fame inductees

Former Career Center students, Rebecca (Fulton) Safko, Amanda (Lipscomb) Holman, and Amanda (Carpenter) Warren, were honored at the May Board of Education meeting as inductees into the prestigious Washington County Career Center Alumni Hall of Fame.

Rebecca Safko is a 1988 graduate from the former Cooperative Office Education program. She earned a BA in Business Management and Accounting in 1991 from Marietta College and then graduated from West Virginia University with her MBA. She is a certified public accountant.

Safko took the training she received at the Career Center and turned it into multiple degrees. Using it daily in her position as the executive director of Ohio Means Jobs Area 15 (OMJ), she partners with economic development, educational facilities, and businesses to find solutions for employers and job seekers. Rebecca specialized in accounting and grand funding management to upskill job seekers to provide a career pathway for self-sufficiency. The job Rebecca does every day has a direct impact on students at the Career Center. Through OMJ, adult students can receive tuition assistance, help with school supplies and other critical items that set them up for success. Safko oversees a four-county region and has an in-depth understanding of a technical school and the value of attending the Career Center. She has secured multiple grants that directly impacted the school and allows for expanded training opportunities.

Amanda "Mandy" Holman is a 1998 graduate from the former Diversified Cooperative Health Occupations program. In 2001, she received her LPN diploma and, in 2002, an Associate Degree in Nursing from Hocking College. In 2008, Holman earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and graduated Cum Laude from West Virginia University. During that time, she also graduated from the West Virginia Nursing Leadership Institute, which is an interactive 12-month program that prepares nurses to become effective leaders who positively impact the critical need for nurse recruitment and retention. The focus was on team dynamics and the power a team has to influence change within the home organizations. Mandy went on to earn a Master of Science in Nursing Administration from Marshall University in 2012. In 2015, she received a Post Master Certificate Family Nurse Practitioner degree from Wheeling Jesuit University.

Mandy has worked in every level of healthcare and nursing, including a nursing clerk, patient care technician, ER technician, LPN, RN, BSN, and MSN-administration. Through her work in quality and administration, she presented a quality improvement project that she led in reducing heart failure readmissions. In 2014, she was invited to speak on this at the Premier Breakthroughs National Conference. She is very interested in educating the community and has been on educational sessions with the local radio on multiple occasions. She volunteers for additional committees to help mentor and train newer nurse practitioners as well as helps with advancement of quality care and patient outcomes.

Holman currently is employed as a family nurse practitioner at WVU Medicine/UHA at MOV Vienna. In her spare time, she volunteers in coaching and assisting different youth sports. Mandy resides in Vincent with her husband, Kevin, and three children, Zack, Haylee, and Adalyn.

Amanda Warren is a 2003 graduate from the former Health Academy-Health program. She worked as a personal care assistant while obtaining an LPN certificate from Washington State Community College in 2007. While working at Selby General Hospital, Warren obtained an Associate Degree in Nursing in 2010. In 2018, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Ohio University. In 2020, she received the Eleanor D. Fenton Award for high quality patient care and excellent communication skills at Selby. Warren is employed as the associate nurse manager at Selby Hospital. She also is a part-time nursing clinical instructor for the University of Rio Grande Nursing Program. In her spare times, she volunteers for 4H to promote youth development and life-long skills to the youth of Washington County. Amanda resides in Whipple with her husband, Mark, and daughter, Morgan.