Run Your Race: Barnes supports the Cats’ success

Whitewater High Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Jason Barnes sets the Wildcats up to be their best.

Barnes is a product of Fayette County Public Schools, from kindergarten through graduating from Fayette County High to student-teaching in college and since the start of his teaching and coaching career.

“I’ve only known one way, teaching and working in Fayette County,” said Barnes. “I know how fortunate I was to get a Fayette County education. I know the standard of excellence associated with Fayette County.”

The love and support and challenging nature of his academic and athletic early years inspired him.

“Seeing the impact (my teachers) had on me, the impact they had on others, that was what convinced me,” he said. “By the time I got to college, I knew I’m going education. I want to teach, I want to coach because of the experiences I had growing up.”

He turned his love of playing sports into a passion for coaching, specializing in basketball but also coaching other sports. Even on tough days or with heartbreaking losses, he found it fulfilling.

“It’s developing those bonds and those relationships and being able to come together with a group of people,” he said. “It’s a passion that everyone has in common, and you get to do it together.”

Eventually Barnes made the move into administration. He loved the leadership aspect of coaching, but he was searching for ways he could have a positive influence on more people. As an athletic director at a school like Whitewater High, he gets to work with more than two dozen teams.

“Your scope of impact becomes much greater.”

An athletic director has a long list of responsibilities including facilities, ticket sales, uniforms, schedules, officials, budgets, and safety. Barnes knows he has to lean on a team of great coaches, the direct leaders shaping Whitewater athletes into the best they can be.

“It is a privilege to work in a school where athletics are important,” he said. “It’s tiring, it’s long days, it’s hard, but it’s so great because you get to see those moments (of success).”

Barnes finds inspiration everyday seeing students in all the pursuits, whether it is in the classroom, fine arts, technical studies, athletics, or any other calling.

“My why is just to see kids be successful, and success looks different on everybody,” he said. “Everybody runs their own race, so to be part of that race and to watch the race from the balcony and see it when they cross the finish line, it’s so rewarding.”