About Dr. J. Everett Light

J. Everett Light, vocational teacher turned superintendent of the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township, created this career center in the image of his excellence. J. Everett Light became the first superintendent of MSD Washington Township in 1955 when it was established as the first consolidated school district under a new Indiana law.

Mr. Light was born on a farm in Fountain County in 1911. His family moved to Marion County when he was 13 where he graduated from the old Emmerich Manual High School in 1929. In the fall of 1929, he enrolled in Indiana Central College for a year but was forced to withdraw for lack of funds. He worked long hours for a year and saved enough money to enroll in what is now Ball State University where he graduated with a degree in Industrial Arts in 1934.

His first year out of college was spent teaching in the Soldier and Sailor Children’s Home in Knightstown, Indiana, where he developed and taught the General Metals shop course. In 1935, he accepted a teaching position in Rushville were he taught for the next six years.

Mr Lightwent to Columbia University in 1941 where he earned his Master’s degree. During the war, he served as an Assistant Professor for Vocational and Industrial Education at Teachers College of Connecticut at New Britain.

J. Everett Light returned to Indiana in 1945 to serve as superintendent of Rushville Schools, a job he held until coming to Washington Township in 1955. As the new superintendent, it was his job to create a college preparatory system in the new Washington Township. This was a task that he accomplished beyond expectation.In 1963, new federal legislation known as the Vocational Education Act of 1963 was enacted. This legislation encouraged increasing the amount of vocational training at the high school level to prepare students to enter the workforce with a skill when they graduated. The legislation provided some federal money and assistance to build and equip vocational shops.

Mr. Light saw this as an opportunity to provide quality instruction for all students of Washington Township. He first proposed building a separate building in 1968, but the plans were turned down by the State Department of Education as too elaborate. He was asked to scale the plans back and resubmit them. The plans for the current building were accepted in 1970, and the building was constructed and opened in the fall of 1972.

J. Everett Light retired as Superintendent of MSD Washington Township in 1971 while the center was under construction. The Board of Education surprised Mr. Light at his retirement party by revealing that the building would be named the J.Everett Light Career Center in his honor. Unfortunately, Mr. Light passed away in October 1971 before the building was completed, and he was never able to see his dream become a reality. His widow, Louise Light, worked in the Media Center from 1972-1982 until she retired.

The J. Everett Light Career Center is an area career center that serves 11 school corporations in Marion, Boone, and Hamilton Counties with 24 quality vocational programs