Laurel Ridge Community College President Kim Blosser, a first-generation college student, was herself a proud community college student. And, she is the product of the county that came together to build Jenkins Hall to house the new Luray-Page County Center.
The Stanley native – she attended Stanley Elementary School – attended Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave for a year after her graduation from Page County High School. Like many students at community colleges and four-years alike, Dr. Blosser was “trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.”
“When I went to Blue Ridge, I took business and accounting classes and found out I loved both subjects,” she recalled. “I had great faculty who cared not only about their teaching field, but also about us as students.”
After transferring to Eastern Mennonite University, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting. After being hired at an engineering firm in Waynesboro to do accounting, Dr. Blosser also got into web design and writing HTML for the company’s first website and really hit her groove. After several years at the engineering firm, she returned to EMU, earning a master’s degree in Education. This opened the door to a full-time role as an IT teacher and softball coach at Staunton High School.
During her time at Staunton High School, computer labs, each teacher’s desk featuring a computer, and the world wide web were just starting. Teachers and students both needed training in this emerging field. Dr. Blosser worked with administration to begin educating teachers to use word processing, spreadsheet, and web search programs to enhance their classroom teaching.
This experience led Dr. Blosser back to Blue Ridge Community College to teach and lead a three-course career studies certificate program called Computer Applications for Professionals. It was designed to help teachers to use the internet and other computer applications. Dr. Blosser worked at Blue Ridge Community College part-time from 1997-99, and then full-time from 1999-2012, first as a faculty member, then as dean of physical sciences and technologies. Towards the end of her tenure, she served as both a dean and the college’s chief information officer.
As a small twist of fate, in Dr. Blosser’s first years at Blue Ridge, she taught the Computer Applications for Professionals courses to Page County Public School teachers during the summer. One of her students was then-Page County High School Principal Morgan Phenix. Dr. Phenix later became a Laurel Ridge employee, and when he retired in 2012 as associate vice president of instruction at Laurel Ridge, it was Dr. Blosser who replaced him.
Beginning with Laurel Ridge in 2012, Dr. Blosser had oversight for the Middletown Campus and the Luray-Page County Center, then located in the former Wrangler annex facility on Hawksbill Street. She later became the vice president of academic and student affairs before being named president in 2018.
“I love working for the community college system,” said President Blosser, who also has a doctorate in Education from Nova Southeastern University. “When my kids were starting to go to school, I knew many of their classmates would be Laurel Ridge students one day. I had always thought if I had the opportunity, I would love to work for the college whose service region we were living in.”
Her sons, Will, 24, and Luke, 22, both took dual-enrollment classes while at Page County High School. Will graduated from Laurel Ridge with his associate degree in 2021, and is now earning his master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling from EMU. Luke has also been a Laurel Ridge student.
Dr. Blosser has a deep love and respect for Page County Public Schools.
“They don’t have the resources that many of our surrounding counties with a lot more industry and a much larger tax base have, but they’ve worked so hard to provide dual enrollment and career and technical education opportunities in their high schools,” she said. “In terms of the number of teachers who are credentialed to teach dual enrollment, they’re always one of the top performers, and a large number of students at both high schools earn college credentials each year before they graduate from high school.
“While we are a small, rural community, everyone pulled together to support access to education for students here. The fact that we raised over $4 million to build Jenkins Hall is a testament to how special this county is. This community cares deeply about those who live here, and for a community this size, it is truly amazing to see the healthcare, wellness, recreation, and education options that are available throughout the county. Our community members go above and beyond, and we have a great deal to be proud of.”
Laurel Ridge Community College was known as Lord Fairfax Community College until June 2022. For consistency purposes, the college will be referenced as Laurel Ridge going forward.