Amy Lavorini has fun at her job.

However, as the family involvement and training manager at the Butler County Children's Center, she also sees the importance of her job.

“Ultimately, everything we do is getting kids ready for kindergarten,” Lavorini, 59, of Butler Township said.

The center is a private, nonprofit school that offers several programs for children and their parents. It was founded in 1973.

Lavorini works as a member of the center's management team and looks for ways to support teaching in classroom and family settings.

She also helps with the Head Start program, which prepares more than 300 children for kindergarten. She said that families are encouraged to participate as much as possible.

She helps plan two family activities at the center per month. She also helps plan professional development workshops for the center's staff and for parents.

Lavorini has worked at the center since 1988.

She started as a classroom teacher for the Head Start program. After that, she became a “home visitor,” going to homes around the county to help children and their families get ready for kindergarten.

“It's a two-way learning process,” Lavorini said.

About 15 years ago, she moved to her current position.

Today, she no longer works directly with children like she used to do, which is something she misses. She still gets to interact with them a bit, however, during the bimonthly family activities.

“I get to see the kids, and also I see their parents,” Lavorini said.

Before moving to where she is today, Lavorini was a librarian.

Her mother worked as a librarian, her sister worked in publishing and her daughter has a master's degree in library science. Additionally, her childhood home had a small library in the basement for neighborhood use.

“It's a family thing,” Lavorini said.

After graduating from Butler High School in 1971, she went to Clarion University and graduated with a degree in library science in 1975.

Out of college, Lavorini worked at the high school library at the Switzerland School District in Ohio from 1975 to 1976. Her boyfriend, now her husband, still lived in Butler, which caused her to move back.

She then became the young adult librarian, and later the children's librarian, at the Butler Public Library. Then, in the early 1980s, she was the librarian at the Butler County Traveling Library, the bookmobile.

“It was a way to get to know Butler County,” Lavorini said.

After that, she took a few years off to have her children. Then, she applied at the center.

Although she no longer is a librarian, she still helps out with books at the center.

“One of the most fun things I do is to bring books for the classrooms,” Lavorini said.

Since she started working in education, Lavorini said it has changed, becoming more outcome-oriented.

“There's a lot more accountability,” Lavorini said.

She said that's a good thing, assuring that what the center does actually works.

Outside of work, she is a volunteer with the American Red Cross, something she first became interested in after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

She mostly responds to fires, but she also helped respond to Hurricane Wilma, which hit the southeastern U.S. in October 2005.

For the past few years, she has not been able to help out as much, which is something she would like to change.

“Now, I want to get back in,” Lavorini said.

She serves on the board of directors for the state Head Start Association, and she was awarded the association's annual Francine Bunch Memorial Award in 2011.

Additionally, she has been involved in a neighborhood book club for about 10 years and she has had a card club with friends from high school for 35 years.

To stay active, she and a friend get up at 5:30 a.m., go to breakfast and then walk three miles. She said it can be a tough walk, but her friend is like a coach, pushing her to keep going.

“You feel so much better after that,” Lavorini said.

Obviously, she also enjoys reading.

A favorite book of hers from when she was younger is “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L'Engle, and a more recent book she read and considers a favorite is “Billy Lynn's Long Half Time Walk” by Ben Fountain.

Lavorini participated in the Leadership Butler County Class of 2009.

From her experience with the Red Cross, she suggested the class project should be emergency kits for senior citizens, which class members liked.

“They ran with it,” Lavorini said.

She and others in the class bought bags and filled them with items such as a whistle, pencil and paper, a snack and a flashlight.

“It's about being prepared,” Lavorini said.

The class distributed several hundred kits to seniors living in high rises around the county.

In addition to the project, she said she enjoyed touring the county and meeting people who are in different fields.

“It was a really good experience,” Lavorini said.

<B>Age: </B>59<B>Address: </B>Butler Township<B>Family: </B>Husband Tom; three adult children<B>Education: </B>Bachelor’s in library science from Clarion University<B>Job: </B>Family involvement and training manager<B>Company: </B>Butler County Children’s Center, 139 Rieger Road, Franklin Township<B>What company does:</B> Provides programs and services for children<B>Employees: </B>140<B>LEADERSHIP IS:</B>She looks to a quote from the Old Testament of the Bible for guidance on what makes a good leader.“To do justice, love kindness and walk humbly ... And I think that’s what a leader does.”She said that a leader notices injustice and tries to solve it and also is kind, committed and has integrity."<B>INSPIRATION:</B>Jim Neutrelle, Lavorini’s seventh grade English teacher, provides a good example of a leader. She said that there was a palpable feeling when walking into his classroom.“I felt some excitement. Something was going to happen.”She said Neutrelle always was prepared and knew what he was doing. He always had a quote on the blackboard that the class would discuss.