Chancellor Sandra Patterson-Randles was appointed as a member of the Board of Directors at the Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs.
“[This program] started on June 30, 2004, so it’s relatively new,” Patterson-Randles said. “Right now it’s sort of under the wing of the Kentucky Derby Museum.”
The BLC is an educational facility that provides horse enthusiasts an education, basic life skills and tax assistance.
“This is the nation’s only comprehensive educational facility at a race track,” Patterson-Randles said.
The program relies on funding from individuals, corporations and foundations.
Patterson-Randles said she was excited when she first found out about this position.
“I ran into Kevin Flannery [president of Churchill Downs], and I told him I’d really like to be able to help out in the racing industry, and he told me about the Backside Learning Center,” Patterson-Randles said.
Sally Troutman, president of the BLC, said Patterson-Randles was a good candidate.
“The idea of having someone with such a strong educational background and an enthusiasm for thoroughbred racing is very unique,” Troutman said.
Patterson-Randles said Troutman and Jennifer Hoert, executive director of the BLC, offered the position to her.
“[Troutman and Hoert] called me over to the Backside Learning Center where I sat in on one of the language classes,” Patterson-Randles said. “It was a wonderful experience.”
Patterson-Randles said being around horses while having an educational program was a great combination.
“I will use strategic-planning skills to help get them soundly funded,” Patterson-Randles said.
The programs at the facility include English as a Second Language, grooming classes for horseman certification, citizenship classes, GED exam preparation and computer and library skills.
“I thought this was a natural to be involved in this program,” Patterson-Randles said.
The BLC has approximately 80 volunteers who teach the educational classes. There have been more than 800 workers involved in the program through the years, and about 400 have actually been in the language classes.
“The racing industry would not work without those people,” Patterson-Randles said.
The classes are offered whenever is most convenient for the workers.
However, the classes stop when the track closes because the horsemen and horsewomen move to other tracks in places like Florida — where the weather is warmer.
The classes are held in the building next to the Detention Barn, which is where the horses go after they win to be tested for any drugs.
This program does not only offer educational aspects but a sense of community, too.
“Seventy percent of those workers are Spanish-speaking,” Patterson-Randles said. “Most have limited, if any, English, and 30 percent are women.”
There are about 1,000 horsemen and horsewomen who work at Churchill Downs.
The BLC has helped 88 Churchill Downs workers through citizenship class, and it has helped 100 students earn their grooming certification. The program has also taught English to more than 400 students.
Patterson-Randles has three horses herself and said she plans to make it to the race track.
Patterson-Randles currently has a horse being trained in Lexington, which will be raced at Churchill Downs.
By HANNAH COMBS
Staff
hacombs@umail.iu.edu