Oak Ridge Today

Scholarships helps study abroad programs for Roane State students

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Roane State Study Abroad Scholarships

The Roane State Concert Choir traveled to Malaga, Spain, this spring, just one of the international education programs offered at the college. (Submitted photo)

 

A grant awarded by the Tennessee Board of Regents helped Roane State Community College students participate in study abroad programs this spring.

Access and Diversity grants are awarded by the Tennessee Board of Regents to projects promoting diversity, enhancing inclusiveness, and strengthening the presence of underrepresented groups on campuses statewide. Roane State associate professor of business Dave Rath applied for and received an Access and Diversity grant for 2013-14. Titled “Access Global Cultures,” the grant funded study abroad scholarships up to $1,000.

Scholarship applicants were required to write an essay and to complete a minimum of 30 hours of Roane State community service after returning from their study abroad program. Recipients were chosen based on individual need, GPA, and their essay.

The grant, for example, provided funding for music students who traveled to Malaga, Spain, in March to participate in an international choral festival. Of the 11 Concert Choir members who traveled to Spain, six applied for and received the Access Global Cultures scholarship. All six students agreed that without the scholarships, they would not have been able to participate. [Read more…]

Former ORHS Principal Goins headed home

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Jody Goins

Jody Goins

Information from WYSH Radio

Former Oak Ridge High School and now-former Knox Central High School principal Jody Goins left his Knox County post after just one year in order to take over the reins of Claiborne High School in his family’s native Claiborne County.

The 32-year-old Goins announced last week he was leaving Central after just one year, but initially, his new destination was not revealed.

Goins said that the move to Claiborne was done so that both he and his wife could be closer to their respective families. Goins, a Clinton High School graduate, worked at Oak Ridge High School beginning in 2004 before being named principal in 2009. At the time, he was the state’s youngest principal.

Parents protest expanded 1.5-mile walk zone for students

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Oak Ridge School Buses at the Central Services Complex

Parents are protesting a June 23 decision to expand the walk zone for students to 1.5 miles to help reduce a $1.25 million budget deficit. The expanded walk zones mean that bus service won’t be offered to students who live within 1.5 miles of Oak Ridge schools.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9:20 a.m. July 12.

Parents concerned about student safety are protesting a recent decision by Oak Ridge Schools to expand the student walk zone to 1.5 miles.

In the past two days, they’ve started a petition and Facebook group to oppose the June 23 decision, and they’ve organized a protest, rally, and walks through the expanded walk zones at several schools.

“We’re serious about this,” said Daniel Morgan, who has two sons at Linden Elementary School and a daughter who starts at Robertsville Middle School this fall. “The citizens are concerned about the safety of the children.”

The expanded walk zones mean that bus service will no longer be available to students who live within 1.5 miles of Oak Ridge schools. The change could affect 1,800 students. The new bus stops have been posted on the Oak Ridge Schools website. [Read more…]

League of Women Voters has Anderson, Roane candidate forums in July

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The League of Woman Voters of Oak Ridge will have three candidate forums in July, two for Anderson County candidates and one for Roane County candidates.

The first Anderson County candidate forum will be on Tuesday, July 15. It will feature candidates for Anderson County offices and judicial positions. The second forum will be on July 17, and it will feature Oak Ridge candidates for the Anderson County Commission and Anderson County School Board. Both forums will start at 7 p.m., and they will be held in the Oak Ridge High School Amphitheater. ORHS is located at 1450 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The Roane County candidate forum will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 22, in the Roane State Community College City Room, A111. This forum will feature candidates for Roane County offices and judicial positions and candidates who would represent Oak Ridge districts on the Roane County Commission and School Board. RSCC is located at 701 Briarcliff Ave. in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Goins departs Knox Central

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Jody Goins

Jody Goins

Information from WYSH Radio

Former Oak Ridge High School principal Jody Goins has resigned from the job that lured him away from the Atomic City after just one year to accept another job.

Goins, a Clinton High School graduate, was appointed principal at Knox Central High School last year. His resignation letter to the Knox County School Superintendent did not indicate where he is going.

When he was appointed principal at Oak Ridge in 2009, he was the youngest high school principal in the state. Prior to being named ORHS principal, he served as a social studies teacher, assistant basketball coach, and assistant principal beginning in 2004.

UT among best, most interesting schools; ORNL collaboration cited

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

The University of Tennessee in Knoxville has been rated one of the “best and most interesting” schools in the 2015 edition of the “Fiske Guide to Colleges,” and UT’s collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory was recognized.

KNOXVILLE—The University of Tennessee in Knoxville has been rated one of the “best and most interesting” schools in the 2015 edition of the “Fiske Guide to Colleges,” which reviews higher education institutions in the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain.

UT is one of more than 300 universities to be included in the guide, which advises prospective students about academic quality, campus setting, financial aid, housing, and extracurricular activities. The publication was released this summer.

UT is recognized for its collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which “bolsters science and technology offerings, and involves more than 400 students and faculty in majors as diverse as English and physics.” The guide also praises the university’s strong programs in communications, psychology, business, architecture, accounting, and engineering. [Read more…]

Honors: Anderson County commissioners award $500 scholarship

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Anderson County Commissioners Scholarship

 

Submitted

The Anderson County Board of Commissioners established and began contributing personal funds to a scholarship fund in 1996. This fund is set up to provide a scholarship annually to a student at each of the three high schools in Anderson County.

Oak Ridge commissioners, from left to right, Myron Iwanski, Whitey Hitchcock, Jerry Creasey, scholarship recipient Jasmannie Garcia, Steve Mead, and Robin Biloski, and John Shuey (not pictured) were pleased to award Garcia, Oak Ridge Class of 2014, with his $500 scholarship to be used at Roane State Community College, where he will enter the nursing program.

Congratulations, Jasmannie!

Roane State to offer new programs in medical informatics, financial services

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Roane State Community College Harriman Campus

The main Roane State Community College campus in Harriman. The college also has a branch campus in Oak Ridge.

 

Roane State Community College will offer two new programs beginning in fall 2014: an associate of applied science in medical informatics and an associate of applied science in financial services.

The Tennessee Board of Regents approved the programs at its June meeting.

The two-year medical informatics program combines information technology, or IT, and health care. As health care providers increasingly use complex computerized records, they need qualified employees with computer skills and expertise in digital health care record-keeping.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of medical records and health information technicians is expected to grow 20 percent through 2018. Technicians who also have IT skills are expected to be in particularly high demand. [Read more…]

Roane State medical transcription program has new name

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Applications now being accepted

Roane State Community College has changed the name of its one-year medical transcription program.

The certificate program is now called healthcare documentation specialist. The name change reflects changes taking place in the medical transcription industry and the program’s emphasis on new skills that employers want.

While traditional medical transcription remains part of the program, students also practice editing reports generated by speech recognition software.

“Students still need to know transcription,” program director Linda Marsh said. “But the use of speech recognition software is growing. Editing reports generated by this software requires an additional skill set than traditional medical transcription. The job function is quickly going from transcribing to editing and very often the healthcare documentation specialist may edit documentation inside the electronic health record environment. They may also perform quality checks. [Read more…]

Family, friends remember Brayden Pearson, seek to honor his ‘zest for life’

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Bubbles for Brayden Pearson

Family and friends blow bubbles for Brayden Pearson during a Friday night vigil at the Boys and Girls Club of Oak Ridge.

 

He wore No. 14 when he played baseball and basketball for the Boys and Girls Club. Only eight years old and going into fourth grade, he hadn’t really decided on a profession yet, but he thought playing major league baseball “would be awesome,” a family friend said.

So it was fitting that family and friends gathered in the outfield of a baseball field at the Boys and Girls Club of Oak Ridge to remember Brayden Pearson on Friday. They described Brayden as a lively boy with thick, curly hair, and a contagious laugh—”the best laugh ever,” said Tracy Stewart, a member of the close-knit sports family at the club. Brayden loved school, family friend Sara VanLandingham said.

Brayden died Monday, two days after he had trouble while snorkeling near a swimming area at Clark Center Park in south Oak Ridge. He had to be pulled from the lake that Saturday afternoon. Family and friends performed CPR, and 911 was called. The Oak Ridge police and fire departments responded and continued CPR, and Brayden was flown by a Lifestar medical helicopter to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville.

The family said they wanted to continue Brayden’s zest for life by donating his organs to other children who need them. On Friday, VanLandingham, who has been speaking on behalf of the family, said four organs had been successfully removed for donation. [Read more…]

Candlelight vigil for Brayden Pearson at Boys and Girls Club this evening

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Brayden Keith Pearson

Brayden Pearson, Our Hero, #14 (Submitted photo)

There is a candlelight vigil for Brayden Pearson at 6 p.m. today at the Boys and Girls Club of Oak Ridge at 102 S. Jefferson Circle. The public is invited.

Funeral services will be held on Sunday, June 29, from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. at Click Funeral Home at 9020 Middlebrook Pike in Knoxville, with the procession to immediately follow. There are bike clubs riding on Sunday in honor of Brayden, including the Knoxville Chapter of Band of Brothers and Christian Motorcycle Club of America.

Brayden would have been a fourth-grade student at Woodland Elementary School this coming year. He died Monday after having trouble while snorkeling at Clark Center Park in Oak Ridge on Saturday.

More information will be added as it becomes available.