By Clara Conroy and Josh Jordan

Imagine you’re a student at Mount Vernon High School in the 1940’s. You walk into school and greet your 29 classmates. You are active in your school choir and ban

d and enjoy your classes. Unfortunately you are almost completely oblivious to the outside world because you have all you need in the insular small town of your childhood.

This is what life was like for Carol Croft Kent (‘51), the recipient of the Mount Vernon Alumni award for service. Today she is known for the creation of the school nurse program, being one of the first host families for the ABC program, and receiving the title “Outstanding Citizen of the Year” by the Winchester Chamber of Commerce.

Kent’s family moved to Mount Vernon when she was in sixth grade, and she attended middle school in the First Street Building. She said she enjoyed school because she could try different activities and electives even if she didn’t excel in them. There she learned band, choir, and the basic skills she would need to go into any career. Unfortunately, she could only go into careers that were considered suitable for women at the time. That’s when she decided to become a nurse.

In the end, Kent chose to go to Mount Mercy school of nursing. Not only was it a decent education, but it also let her enter the workforce at the same time as her future husband, Jim Kent. Jim graduated from MVHS in 1950, a year ahead of Carol, but Jim’s college took a year longer than Carol’s. They had a plan that they would get married straight out of college. That’s exactly what they did.

If Kent could go back and see herself when she was still in high school, she would say: “You can’t count on your future,” and “Don’t get discouraged if something doesn’t work out the first time.” She would also give this advice to students today because she learned from experience that not every step in life is easy.