On the day of the 9-11 attacks, Amy McFarland was living in Alexandria, Virginia, on the south side of Washington, D.C. Only a week before, she had been touring the Pentagon building. What she remembers about the tour: people shutting down their computers when she came into their area.
What she remembers about 9-11: how confusing the news reports were. But at the end of the day, Washington seemed like the safest place to be on earth, she said, because of all the security measures that were in place.
McFarland is now the director of the State Fair Community College’s Clinton campus, where she is responsible for all aspects of the campus: the facility, the administrative staff, students and faculty. What she likes best about the job: the variety of jobs that need her attention and the ambiance of the campus, located across from the medical complex.
“I love the Clinton campus because it’s unique,” Amy said. “It’s very professional, but it’s also very personal, like a family.”
McFarland moved to Clinton in June of 2022 with her husband, James McFarland, and their two children when he accepted the pastorate at Golden Valley Christian Church. Amy was originally hired as an academic advisor at Central Methodist University in Clinton, and also worked part-time for State Fair Community College as an academic coach.
Amy’s background includes criminal justice, social services and higher education. Her bachelor’s degree is in political science and her master’s in forensic psychology. She has served as a probation officer, worked in an after-school program for gang-affiliated youth, and as a program director at a homeless shelter for women in North St. Louis. Understanding the obstacles people have to overcome to get a foothold back in the working world, she created an Employable Women program, and partnered with churches to provide the women with clothing, shoes and job-interview skills.
“I’ve worked with juveniles, young adults and all ages in education,” Amy said.
The McFarlands lived in St. Louis for 13 years, where James attended St. Louis Christian College and both McFarlands worked at the college, James as resident director and Amy as a grant writer, a mentor for women students and students of behavioral ministry, and librarian. She met James when he was youth pastor in California through his best friend, who she met during a church day at Six Flags.
Amy’s office was on the same hall as that of long-time SFCC Clinton director, Dara Bigler, who passed away in July. A Clinton native, Dara was the founding director of the State Fair Clinton campus, and had celebrated 20 years in the job in 2023. McFarland has left Dara’s nameplate on the office door in her memory, and although she has ordered a new nameplate, hasn’t picked it up yet.
“Dara really created an atmosphere that people can thrive in,” Amy said. “I am very blessed to carry that on.”
Clinton State Fair campus is not residential, so does not have a cafeteria, but has a snack bar in the lobby where peer mentors cook pancakes, bake cookies or set up a popcorn bar, available at no charge. Having food ensures that students get something to eat before they go into class. Many juggle jobs and family to attend classes at the campus, most of the students are in the Health Sciences programs on campus while many others are here taking general education courses.
The Clinton campus has the only surgical tech program at the community college, which started only a few years ago, and is already at capacity. State Fair’s nursing program is top-rated in Missouri, Amy said.
As well as experiencing 9-11 up close, McFarland was also living in Washington D.C. during the sniper attacks in October of 2002. She is from a town about the size of Clinton in southern Indiana, where her father was the chief of police. But when she was a junior in college, she got an internship in Washington and loved living there. She lived in the Washington area for five years. After a long-distance romance of six months, she and James got engaged, and a year later got married in her small town, moved back to Indiana and then to St. Louis. They have been married for 21 years.
In 2022, they moved to Clinton with their two children, now 14 and 11.
State Fair Community College was founded in 1966 in Sedalia, Mo., adjacent to the Missouri State fairgrounds. SFCC’s founding president was Fred E. Davis, whose mantra was “students first.” Davis, who lived in Clinton after he retired, famously started the college with a folding chair, a cardboard box and some file cards that he registered students on. Davis served for five years previously as director of junior colleges in Missouri, assisting in founding eight other junior colleges, and was president of Ozarks Technical College after he retired.
State Fair Community College now has campus locations at Whiteman Air Force Base, in Lake of the Ozarks, Boonville, Eldon, Jefferson City, Sedalia, as well as Clinton, with more than 4,000 students enrolled.
