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| Power Style Wellness Connections |
Living a Beautiful Life
In search of those who live with style
By Lucy Pritchett
Photos by Joon Kim
Don't be fooled by her petite stature (size two, bot be exact).
She lives a large, beautiful life of friends, family, travels, learning,
and laughter. And of course, a bit of shopping and a hunk of
chocolate now and again.
First clue — a festive coffee cup emblazoned with a red high-
heel shoe from which Julie Scoskie sips her “coffee of the
day” every morning. In her expansive office tucked in the old
Ahrens Trade School on First Street (that, of course, still
smells like a school), she and her staff of the JCPS Adult and
Continuing Education, mix and match coffee flavors to keep
themselves in good spirits. Today’s treat: vanilla butter
cookie.
As she pulls herself up to the round conference table, Julie is eager to talk about her
life. She jumps up to grab pictures of her family. “This is Zach. He is 21 and in the
Marine Reserves. Sam, 19, is in the Air Force. And Evan, 16, is a military wanna-be.
They all have a strong sense of duty, love of country, and they are very responsible,”
she says with pride. Although husband Paul was not in the military, he is a pilot with
U.S. Air. “They saw him dress in a uniform and go to work every day,” she said by way
of explanation as to her sons’ collective military mind.
On the wide window sill behind her, the sun shines in on pots of
leafy green plants. Plaques and pictures decorate the walls.
On her desk struts a rooster pencil holder, a memento from her
previous office at the old Jacob Elementary school that had a
neighborhood rooster crowing right outside her window all day
long. This made for some interesting phone conversations…
“Is that a rooster I hear?”
Putting to use her positive, can-do attitude on family vacations
both home and abroad, Julie admits to being the ‘trip Nazi.’
“I love to go on vacation. I make the schedules, the lists of places to go. I make them all
go to museums — ‘You must see the Mona Lisa’ — and visit the cultural centers.”
One of her most beautiful memories: A summer cruise down the Rhine River, viewing
one magnificent castle after another with flowers in full bloom in the countryside
But her traveling is not just with her family, she exclaims as she fetches a ceramic mug
with a photo of four smiling women on it. In the background of the picture is the London
Eye Millennium Wheel and the Thames River. The women? Julie and three of her long-
time friends. They were cheerleaders in middle school and for the past eight or nine
years, “now that the children are grown,” they have been taking week-long
vacations together: Sedona, Chicago, London, Scotland, and this year, a trip to
Michigan’s Mackinaw Island.
“We all stay together in one room because we don’t want to be separated,” she says
with a smile. Last year, for their trip to London (to celebrate their birthdays that ended
in a Zero), Julie bought everyone matching hot pink suitcases. Size: small.
“They had never been to Europe before and had no idea how small the hotel rooms
can be. These defined how much we could take.” The girlfriends all looked so cute,
Julie says, that people stopped them in the airport to take their photos.
Shopping and a beautiful life fit together as smoothly as Julie’s calendar, phone, wallet,
lipstick and comb, keys and nail polish slide into her fashionable Brahmin leather
backpack. “It holds it all and I love Brahmin purses anyway,” she says. She and the
girlfriends were very excited when, on a trip to Newport News, Va., they stumbled
across a Brahmin outlet.
For clothes, she goes to Karen Of Course to snatch up size two Alberto Makali suits for
professional dressing. And, Julie says, she inherited her love of jewelry from her
grandmother. She had a ring made from a diamond that was her mother’s that she
wears every day. “My mother died in 1999 of ovarian cancer. I wear this ring with her
diamond in it because it is a comfort to me.”
Shopping and walking her two dogs — a mutt named Lily that she bought as a puppy
from a woman with a sad story, and a beagle, Casey, who for a beagle is pretty non-
social — may be the only physical exercise Julie finds time for. But she certainly
exercises her mind.
“My parents instilled in me the value of an education. My mom said it was one thing no
one could take away from you, and you never know when you might be the sole
support of your family.” So even though she has a business education degree from
Eastern Kentucky University and an MBA from University of Louisville, she continues to
take classes. She attends adult education leadership classes through Morehead State
University for college credit, and for fun, she dips into the classes offered by her own
department. “I can hardly wait for the new schedules to come out,” she cries gleefully
as she snatches up the newest catalogue. She has learned to knit, play golf, and just
recently attended a 90-minute class on the art of tea at the White Linen Tea Company.
“We had a tasting of different teas and a sampling of tea sandwiches and gourmet
cookies,” she says.
Of course life is not all about tea and cookies quite yet. As director of Adult and
Continuing Education, Julie has 77 fulltime employees and 350 part-time employees.
Together they annually serve 25,000 adults in adult basic education to prepare for the
GED, reading, and English as a Second Language (ESL), and the 225 Lifelong
Learning classes. “We have 800 to 1,000 adults earn their GED each year,” she says.
“Graduation recharges my batteries. The teachers see it every day, but at graduation I
get to see what a difference this has made in the lives of others.”
And if she had an extra 15 free minutes, what beautiful thing would she do?
“I would have a glass of wine and take a hot bubble bath.”
We can all learn from that.
Lucy Pritchett can be reached at lucypritchett@iamtodayswoman.com.
In search of those who live with style
By Lucy Pritchett
Photos by Joon Kim
Don't be fooled by her petite stature (size two, bot be exact).
She lives a large, beautiful life of friends, family, travels, learning,
and laughter. And of course, a bit of shopping and a hunk of
chocolate now and again.
First clue — a festive coffee cup emblazoned with a red high-
heel shoe from which Julie Scoskie sips her “coffee of the
day” every morning. In her expansive office tucked in the old
Ahrens Trade School on First Street (that, of course, still
smells like a school), she and her staff of the JCPS Adult and
Continuing Education, mix and match coffee flavors to keep
themselves in good spirits. Today’s treat: vanilla butter
cookie.
As she pulls herself up to the round conference table, Julie is eager to talk about her
life. She jumps up to grab pictures of her family. “This is Zach. He is 21 and in the
Marine Reserves. Sam, 19, is in the Air Force. And Evan, 16, is a military wanna-be.
They all have a strong sense of duty, love of country, and they are very responsible,”
she says with pride. Although husband Paul was not in the military, he is a pilot with
U.S. Air. “They saw him dress in a uniform and go to work every day,” she said by way
of explanation as to her sons’ collective military mind.
On the wide window sill behind her, the sun shines in on pots of
leafy green plants. Plaques and pictures decorate the walls.
On her desk struts a rooster pencil holder, a memento from her
previous office at the old Jacob Elementary school that had a
neighborhood rooster crowing right outside her window all day
long. This made for some interesting phone conversations…
“Is that a rooster I hear?”
Putting to use her positive, can-do attitude on family vacations
both home and abroad, Julie admits to being the ‘trip Nazi.’
“I love to go on vacation. I make the schedules, the lists of places to go. I make them all
go to museums — ‘You must see the Mona Lisa’ — and visit the cultural centers.”
One of her most beautiful memories: A summer cruise down the Rhine River, viewing
one magnificent castle after another with flowers in full bloom in the countryside
But her traveling is not just with her family, she exclaims as she fetches a ceramic mug
with a photo of four smiling women on it. In the background of the picture is the London
Eye Millennium Wheel and the Thames River. The women? Julie and three of her long-
time friends. They were cheerleaders in middle school and for the past eight or nine
years, “now that the children are grown,” they have been taking week-long
vacations together: Sedona, Chicago, London, Scotland, and this year, a trip to
Michigan’s Mackinaw Island.
“We all stay together in one room because we don’t want to be separated,” she says
with a smile. Last year, for their trip to London (to celebrate their birthdays that ended
in a Zero), Julie bought everyone matching hot pink suitcases. Size: small.
“They had never been to Europe before and had no idea how small the hotel rooms
can be. These defined how much we could take.” The girlfriends all looked so cute,
Julie says, that people stopped them in the airport to take their photos.
Shopping and a beautiful life fit together as smoothly as Julie’s calendar, phone, wallet,
lipstick and comb, keys and nail polish slide into her fashionable Brahmin leather
backpack. “It holds it all and I love Brahmin purses anyway,” she says. She and the
girlfriends were very excited when, on a trip to Newport News, Va., they stumbled
across a Brahmin outlet.
For clothes, she goes to Karen Of Course to snatch up size two Alberto Makali suits for
professional dressing. And, Julie says, she inherited her love of jewelry from her
grandmother. She had a ring made from a diamond that was her mother’s that she
wears every day. “My mother died in 1999 of ovarian cancer. I wear this ring with her
diamond in it because it is a comfort to me.”
Shopping and walking her two dogs — a mutt named Lily that she bought as a puppy
from a woman with a sad story, and a beagle, Casey, who for a beagle is pretty non-
social — may be the only physical exercise Julie finds time for. But she certainly
exercises her mind.
“My parents instilled in me the value of an education. My mom said it was one thing no
one could take away from you, and you never know when you might be the sole
support of your family.” So even though she has a business education degree from
Eastern Kentucky University and an MBA from University of Louisville, she continues to
take classes. She attends adult education leadership classes through Morehead State
University for college credit, and for fun, she dips into the classes offered by her own
department. “I can hardly wait for the new schedules to come out,” she cries gleefully
as she snatches up the newest catalogue. She has learned to knit, play golf, and just
recently attended a 90-minute class on the art of tea at the White Linen Tea Company.
“We had a tasting of different teas and a sampling of tea sandwiches and gourmet
cookies,” she says.
Of course life is not all about tea and cookies quite yet. As director of Adult and
Continuing Education, Julie has 77 fulltime employees and 350 part-time employees.
Together they annually serve 25,000 adults in adult basic education to prepare for the
GED, reading, and English as a Second Language (ESL), and the 225 Lifelong
Learning classes. “We have 800 to 1,000 adults earn their GED each year,” she says.
“Graduation recharges my batteries. The teachers see it every day, but at graduation I
get to see what a difference this has made in the lives of others.”
And if she had an extra 15 free minutes, what beautiful thing would she do?
“I would have a glass of wine and take a hot bubble bath.”
We can all learn from that.
Lucy Pritchett can be reached at lucypritchett@iamtodayswoman.com.
