Laurel Ridge Professor Brent Kendrick recently had an experience every educator cherishes – a former student came back to tell him the impact his teaching, guidance and example had on her.
“Dr. Kendrick was a great professor,” said Anna Groves. “He was both kind and really invested in each student. But he also knew how to push you to be the best that you can be. He didn’t let you get away with sloppy work. He really had a way of motivating students to dig deeper and reach for the best in themselves. That level of achievement is what I needed to make it to the next step and the fact that he pushed me to that and believed in me while he coached me toward it, made a big difference.”
Groves had been homeschooled when she arrived at Laurel Ridge. She thrived at the college, joining Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), an international honor society for students at two-year colleges, and being named to PTK’s All-USA Academic Team on her path to earning an associate degree in Liberal Arts in 2012.
Anna Groves and Brent Kendrick.
An inspiring professor
Groves took multiple courses with Professor Kendrick, including American Literature and Technical Writing. During class, he would share anecdotes from his childhood growing up in a coal mine camp in West Virginia, as well as his 25-year career with the Library of Congress, where he started as an editor for the machine-readable cataloging project at the library and later became editor at the National Union Catalog.
“I remember sitting in class that day and thinking to myself, ‘I want to do that,’” Groves said. “‘I don’t know if I can do it, but if he can do it, I can do it.’”
While at Laurel Ridge, Groves had jobs at the Bowman Library in Stephens City, and Samuels Public Library in Front Royal.
“I’ve always loved libraries,” said Groves. “I was a huge reader. Then, I got a job over at Bowman Library and fell in love.”
Groves did find herself working at the Library of Congress – just like her mentor. But first, she had to continue her education past Laurel Ridge.
Professor Brent Kendrick teaches a class during his time at Laurel Ridge Community College.
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation led to opportunities
She learned about the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation through her affiliation with PTK, an organization Professor Kendrick would always urge his academically-gifted students to join. Through the foundation, she earned a transfer scholarship to George Mason University, where she double-majored in History and Global Affairs. Dr. Kendrick wrote her a letter of recommendation for the scholarship.
Jack Kent Cooke scholarships also covered the cost of Groves’s study-abroad experience in Spain and for her master’s degree in Information and Library Science from the School of Data and Information Services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“They paid for the whole ride,” she said. “It was life changing.”
Professor Kendrick has always maintained a keen interest in his students, keeping copies of their papers, his recommendation letters and other documents. He still has the recommendation letter he wrote for Groves’s transfer scholarship and her All-USA Academic Team application.
“I think yours, without a doubt, is probably the greatest success story that I know of with the Jack Kent Cooke connection,” he said.
Professor Kendrick presented Groves with a copy of a paper she had written in his class. She received an A+.
“Anna, I know I’m always singing your praises but truly this paper shows a level of sophistication that pleases me more than you can imagine,” Professor Kendrick said, reading from his comments on the paper. “The content is superb, as is your ability to synthesize a lot of information from three biographies. Beyond that, you have grown immensely in your writing style, which has been excellent from the start. You have made my day.”
Professor Kendrick gives a hug to a graduate during a commencement ceremony.
A career bolstered by foundation laid at Laurel Ridge
About four years after graduating from Laurel Ridge, Groves found herself interning at the Library of Congress. She would then be hired as a full-time employee at the library, where she spent 4½ years with the Congressional Research Service. Professor Kendrick asked her what her first day was like.
“It was such a thrill – it was one of those pinch-me moments,” she said.
Groves said her career has since taken her to a contract with the National Science Foundation and working as an executive assistant for nonprofit C-suites. All her positions have involved information management. A health crisis over a year ago has led to another career change for Groves. Needing to step back from the intense pace of working in Washington, D.C., she took a job as operations manager for National Media Services in Front Royal.
“It’s an opportunity for me to get some experience in small business and the marketing side,” said Groves, whose brothers Ethan and Israel also attended Laurel Ridge. “I’m basically learning a whole new industry. I’m using all these technical writing skills.”
Anna Groves at the Library of Congress.
Moments a professor cherishes
Professor Kendrick said it was “thrilling” to see his former student and to hear not only that she was inspired by him to work at the Library of Congress, but also still using what she learned in classes at Laurel Ridge.
“It’s thrilling because I always knew Anna was talented,” he said. “And, it thrills me even more when you say you’re still using the skills you learned in technical writing.”
“I am,” Groves responded. “Every day. It’s a foundational skill for the rest of my career. I remember sitting in that class and you talked about your parents and the town you grew up in and then going on to the Library of Congress. I remember sitting and thinking ‘I want to do that.’”
Groves said in addition to the “top-quality” academic foundation she received at Laurel Ridge, she made some wonderful friends and was mentored by faculty. She recalls Spanish Professor Polly Nesselrodt and History Professor Curtis Morgan with especial fondness.
“The writing, the history and the Spanish were what I went on to do,” she said, noting she studied Spanish at GMU and did a study abroad in Spain.
Professor Kendrick said, “You have lived the life.”
“Hearing you say that Laurel Ridge prepared you for graduate school and for your professional life, it’s important,” said Professor Kendrick.
“Really, the mentorship I got from the faculty here has stuck with me and it made a big difference,” Groves. “I’ve wanted to come back now for years. Your mentorship and willingness to invest and be this supportive to a student really made a difference for me.”
Likewise, Professor Kendrick was so happy to have the visit.
“That’s one of the biggest rewards, letting an educator know,” he said.
Groves said her Laurel Ridge professors were truly invested in their students.
“You guys cared,” she said. “You knew who we were and followed our progress. That was meaningful.”
Having smaller class sizes makes it easier for Laurel Ridge faculty to have that kind of investment in their students, according to Dr. Kendrick.
“I don’t know of any faculty member here who does not teach but for one reason and that’s the joy of helping students,” he said. “And it is a joy.”
Brent Kendrick at the Library of Congress.
Philanthropic legacy
Professor Kendrick retired from the college in 2023, but maintains strong ties with Laurel Ridge and its people. In 2025, he was awarded the Chancellor’s Award for Leadership in Philanthropy, a statewide honor presented to those who have demonstrated great generosity within the Virginia Community College System. In addition to his gifts to the Student Success Fund, Professor Kendrick has established two scholarships at Laurel Ridge, the Brent L. Kendrick Faculty Legacy Endowed Scholarship Fund and the Patrick Allen Duff Memorial Endowed Scholarship, and has included the college in his estate plans.
The philanthropy award came 15 years after Professor Kendrick was presented with the Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence. In the more than two decades he was at Laurel Ridge, Dr. Kendrick taught more than 7,000 students in various English courses, including Appalachian Literature, College Composition, Major American Writers, Developmental English and Memoir Writing.
Dubbing his departure from Laurel Ridge a “reinvention,” rather than a retirement, Professor Kendrick has authored numerous books in the past couple of years, and has gifted the proceeds from one of his volumes of essays to the Student Success Fund, which benefits students through gas cards, grocery cards and the like.
He noted people don’t often think of the small expenses that add up and are faced by college students. While he was able to attend Alderson Broaddus University on a scholarship, residents of his town raised the $150 he needed for textbooks. Not having the funds to pay for his books “loomed as large as the solar system” to him at the time.
Professor Kendrick was recognized by his colleagues in 2004 when he received the Distinguished Faculty Award.
Brent Kendrick and Anna Groves.