Folks You Should Know: Dr. Kris Westover

Her October 19 inauguration is now history. But Dr. Kris Westover’s leadership as the president of Mountain Empire Community College (MECC), which she assumed in July 2017, is an ongoing story of dedication and success. Her vision is “to make sure our students meet the finish line.” Who would better know what it takes to finish than a high school dropout and manual laborer who was persuaded to take a night class that led to full-time enrollment in a community college, then to a bachelor’s degree, two graduate degrees, a high school teaching career, and 25 years in higher education? Westover’s rise to professional life and service is the American story at its best. She dropped out of high school because “I felt I didn’t fit in.” It wasn’t that she was a poor student but that she lacked social skills and emotional stability.