Until relatively recently, instruction in penmanship was an important part of the curriculum in schools and colleges. At the Southern Normal School, the Bowling Green Business University and the Western Kentucky State Normal School (predecessors of WKU), students were trained in the latest handwriting techniques as they copied out sayings and aphorisms which inculcated the values of hard work and good character. WKU’s first president, Henry Hardin Cherry, was an accomplished penman.