Rex Bickers (FCHS ‘70),  Guest Contributor

Young people graduate from schools and colleges to a different world today. Parents and teachers alike just hope that students obtain an education, providing a firm foundation for dealing with the choices they face.

This month, we introduce two alumni who know a great deal about career choices. They’ve each been counselors to thousands of students. In both cases, they know firsthand what it means to adjust a career path and find fulfillment in doing it. They got their own firm foundation right here in our superb school system. Let’s cross our fingers that more kids in America can have similar good fortunes.

Aaron Striegel (FCHS ’79)

When it comes to career decisions, Aaron has repeatedly used an approach distinctly different from the path that others follow. He started with teacher and coach, then kept adding more careers on top of those: counselor, pastor, professor, author… it’s hard to guess how many other labels he will eventually add.

Aaron was a top student at Floyd Central and a three-sport athlete as well. He continued both basketball and track at Georgetown College while also making the Dean’s List, and he completed his undergraduate degree in 1985. He subsequently earned a master’s degree in Divinity and Christian Education from Southern Seminary in 1987, and a PhD in philosophy from Regent University in 2002.

That same year, he authored the book “How to Raise Adolescents: A Guide for Middle School Parents,” an offshoot from his PhD thesis. He also holds certifications as a licensed chemical dependency counselor and as a Master Addictions counselor.

Since 2002, Aaron has held the job title he’d like to retain until he retires: Advanced Placement school counselor for Trinity High School. He advises all Advanced students, freshmen through seniors. He also teaches two classes per semester: Senior Capstone and Issues in Alcohol and other Drugs. After twenty years, he did take off his hat as a coach, but not before Trinity brought home the state track and field championship in 2005. Concomitant to his school career, Dr. Striegel has served as pastor at churches across Kentuckiana. He is currently an Elder at Georgetown Christian Church.

His recognition and awards are too numerous to list here – – both as an educator/counselor and for his broad commitment to community service. He was inducted into the Floyd Central Hall of Fame in 2012, and just last month he received Trinity’s Presidential Excellence in Achievement award. It’s an honor bestowed upon an educator who exemplifies the mission of the school, “Maximum effort of the soul.” Setting all the awards aside, the thing that Aaron enjoys most is helping to lead Trinity’s Senior Retreat. He is thoroughly convinced that it’s the best thing that the faculty/staff at Trinity do all year long.

Aaron’s wife Merry is a nurse practitioner, and they reside in Georgetown. They’re the proud parents of six children, and their extended family now includes three grandchildren.

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Natalie Barrett McGarvey (NAHS ’96)

As the school year drew to a close in 1993, various New Albany coaches came to talk to ninth graders at Scribner. Natalie was already a pretty good basketball player and she thought she might be able to make varsity as a sophomore. It didn’t keep her from listening to Coach John Breeding about volleyball.

It was a good decision. She did make varsity basketball as a sophomore, but volleyball got in her blood. In three years, she rose from JV to varsity, then co-captain as a senior. It led to a full athletic scholarship at East Tennessee State University. In three and a half years, she completed her undergraduate degree there in psychology and sociology.

Before she could make her grad school plans, she was hired as a substitute counselor at Mt. Tabor Elementary. By the fall of 2000, she was ready to enroll in the IUS Master’s degree program, specializing in School Counseling. While completing her degree, she got the real-world “rubber-hits-the-road” test as a coordinator in New Albany’s program for students facing suspension or expulsion. By the fall of 2002, her full-time employment as a school counselor was launched. She begins year 21 this fall.

To all appearances, Natalie has an energy level unchanged from her high school years. She is an avid kickboxer. She has been engaged in club-level volleyball, and she served elbow-to-elbow as an assistant NAHS coach to John Breeding for a number of years. She has taken a lead role in New Albany’s Angel Tree program, brightening up the holidays for hundreds of New Albany students.

This past month has been a busy time for Natalie and her husband Nathan (an English teacher at NAHS) with Weber School of Dance recitals for all three daughters (Teagan grade 6, Coralee grade 8, and Piper, a class of ‘22 grad off to college this fall). There has barely been time for Piper to catch her breath before heading off to the International Thespian Festival… as this issue of the newsletter is going to publication!

Read the entire June 2022 Legacy Ledger (Issue 22).

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