Why We Love Living and Working in Northern Kentucky

Antoine Smith-Rouse is Associate VP of Workforce Solutions for Gateway Community & Technical College.

I was raised in Chicago until about fourth grade. Moved to Monticello, Kentucky; then moved to Columbia, Kentucky; then moved to Owensboro, Kentucky; and now, we’re here in Boone County.

We moved very unexpectedly. Our daughter was diagnosed with cancer, and we needed to be closer to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. We have nine children total. Some of our children have rare conditions, and we went from having doctors who had never heard of their conditions to Cincinnati Children’s literally having clinics that specialize in their conditions.

Knowing that my children are going to be safe and that at the end of the day, even if we’re going to be at the hospital for a day or a week, we’re still so close to home.

Our schools here in Northern Kentucky, regardless of the county that you live in, are second to none. Many of our kids have IEPs and 504 plans due to their special needs. The resources and the quality education that our kids receive are very important to us.

We have so many post-secondary schools available in our region. Our son, who just graduated from high school, has special needs, and we probably would not feel comfortable sending him 2 hours away to live on campus. But, he’s going to go to NKU, and he has the ability to live on campus because – you know what? If something happens, we can go there in the middle of the night to pick them up.

Why NKY? – My question would be, why not? You have small-town flair and big-town flair. Especially coming from a city like Chicago, I loved being in Kentucky for the hometown feel – for the head nods and the waving at people when you pass them on the street. But I really felt like I lacked the social aspect and the getting to go and do things and meeting friends at a restaurant or at a bar and things like that. Northern Kentucky really does have that rural and urban city feel that not every city has to offer.

And really just being in a thriving community, we love the diversity of our community. We are a multicultural family, so that’s something that is very important – making sure that our children feel safe and heard and seen and see leaders that look like them, that is very important to us.

Although Northern Kentucky was not necessarily on the bingo cards for our family, we’re definitely glad that it popped up, and we definitely plan on staying.