Oak Ridge Today

Roane State students collect food for local food banks

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Roane State Food Drive

Roane State students collected food for local food drives. Front row, from left, are students Rebekah Sullivan and Kelli Green, medical transcription program director Linda Marsh, students Paul Charpie and Summer Hammontree, dental hygiene program director Melinda Gill, and students Emily Scruggs and Jessica Ankrom. (Submitted photo)

Students in Roane State Community College’s dental hygiene program and medical transcription program teamed up to collect food for area food banks.

The academic programs are located at the college’s Oak Ridge campus. The students collected the donations for various food drives in Oak Ridge.

“The project gives students an awareness of people who have a need,” said Linda Marsh, director of the medical transcription program. “We are in a depressed economy, and I think it’s important for students to give back to the community.”

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Roane State Holiday Concert scheduled for Dec. 7, 9

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The Roane State Community College’s annual holiday concert is scheduled for the second weekend in December.

The holiday concert includes two performances, one at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7, and the other at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 9, in the O’Brien Theatre on the college’s Roane County campus in Harriman.

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Roane State open house Saturday

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Roane State Community College will host an open house for high school seniors, juniors, and parents on Saturday, Dec. 1, from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the Roane County campus in Harriman.

Attendees will register in the theatre lobby in the O’Brien Humanities Building, a press release said. A brunch will be offered at no cost.

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B&W Y-12 awards scholarships to two Roane State students

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B&W Y-12 STEM Scholarships

B&W Y-12 Commercialization Manager Jeremy Benton, left, chats with STEM Scholarship winners Sara Lemmonds and Wes Jenkins, two Roane State Community College students who will split $5,000 in scholarships. (Photo courtesy of B&W Y-12)

B&W Y-12 recently awarded $5,000 in scholarships split between Roane State Community College freshmen Wes Jenkins and Sara Lemmonds, a press release said.

B&W Y-12 operates and manages the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge for the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The contractor said the scholarships are part of its effort to support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, education.

Recipients of the B&W Y-12 STEM Scholarship must be full-time students at Roane State pursuing a degree in one of the STEM fields of study.

Jenkins is a Harriman High School graduate and plans to major in biology. Lemmonds graduated from Oak Ridge High School and is enrolled in the college’s pre-med program.

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Interviews for five superintendent candidates start Friday

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The list of applicants for Oak Ridge superintendent has been narrowed down to five, and the Oak Ridge Board of Education will start interviewing candidates on Friday.

The five finalists are:

  • Raymond Bandlow, who was most recently the superintendent of Fort Lee Public Schools in Fort Lee, N.J.;
  • Dan Lawson, superintendent of Tullahoma City Schools in Tullahoma, Tenn.;
  • Kenneth Sorrick, former superintendent of North Palos School District in Palos Hills, Ill.;
  • Neyland Clark, superintendent of South Harrison Community Schools in Corydon, Ind.; and
  • Roger Collins, superintendent of Nelson County Public Schools in Lovingston, Va.

Clinton approves five-year Roane State lease, sells 10 acres to Techmer

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The Clinton City Council on Monday approved a five-year lease with Roane State Community College on the old National Guard Armory, which will allow the school to use the facility as an “Industrial Training Center.”

The Council also agreed to sell almost 10 acres of land to Techmer PM, according to WYSH Radio in Clinton.

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New outdoor classrooms at Dutch Valley and Fairview elementary schools

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Construction has been completed on outdoor classrooms at Dutch Valley and Fairview elementary schools in Anderson County, and students, officials, and volunteers will celebrate with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday.

The classrooms were built with a $20,000 grant awarded to Keep Anderson County Beautiful in the spring of 2012. The grant was from Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation.

The new outdoor classrooms each include an 18-foot by 36-foot concrete pad with a covered pavilion and picnic tables that allow students to see and study nature in all seasons and different weather, a press release said.

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Grants program for school classroom projects discussed Tuesday

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A board member of a local nonprofit organization that helps schools will give a Tuesday presentation on a program that uses grants to fund classroom projects in Oak Ridge.

The presentation by Cathy Toth of the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation starts at noon Tuesday in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church.

“We are well aware of the ORPSEF efforts in the renovation of Oak Ridge High School,” Toth said in a press release. “Most of us are not aware that ORPSEF has quietly been making a difference with a grants program that has funded dozens of classroom projects in every school in Oak Ridge. The grants provide resources beyond what can be provided by tax dollars to help make the critical difference between adequate and outstanding academic experiences and performance.”

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German World War II veteran speaks at Roane State today

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A German veteran of World War II will speak today at Roane State Community College’s Oak Ridge campus and at the main campus in Harriman.

Gerhard Hennes will speak in the City Room at the Oak Ridge campus at 12:30 p.m. He will lecture at 4:30 p.m. at the Roane County campus in room O-202 in the O’Brien Humanities Building. Each event is free and open to the public.

The lectures are presented by the Roane State-Bethel University 2+2 education program.

Hennes served as an officer in the German signal corps and fought in the Polish invasion, the Battle of France, and in the North Africa campaign.

In North Africa, Hennes was stationed at the Army headquarters of Erwin Rommel and worked with the famed Panzer leader personally.

He surrendered with the Afrika Korps in 1943 and then spent the rest of the war in 16 POW camps, including more than a year in Crossville.

After the war, he was deported to Germany in 1945, but immigrated back to the U.S. in 1953 and became a citizen in 1958.

At 90 years old, he resides in Fredericksburg, Va., and has written four books, including two on his wartime experiences.

For more information, contact Roane State history professor Casey Cobb at cobbcc@roanestate.edu or (865) 481-2000, ext. 2205.

Two ORHS teams compete in Siemens Competition this week

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Two student teams from Oak Ridge High School will compete this week in the regional finals for the prestigious Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology.

The two teams include James Andress and A.J. Toth, and Kyoung-A Cho and Samantha Wang. The students worked with mentors at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop computer programs to help find protein mutations that suppress cancer and evaluate rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

“We were excited by the potential for machine learning to advance pharmaceutical development,” Andress said in a press release.

“My favorite part of working on this project was realizing that I could program, which I didn’t think I could do,” Wang said.

The two teams will compete in the regional finals at Georgia Institute of Technology on Friday and Saturday. A total of 93 students from 25 states are competing in six regional finals from California to Massachusetts this month.

The Siemens Competition is considered the nation’s premier research competition for high school students.

“These students have invested time, energy, and talent in tackling challenging scientific research at a young age,” Jeniffer Harper-Taylor, Siemens Foundation president, said in a recent press release. “The recognition they have won today demonstrates that engagement in STEM is an investment well worth making.”

The Siemens Competition awards one $3,000 prize to an individual and one $6,000 prize to a team at each regional competition. Winners of the regional events advance to the national finals at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., from Dec. 1-4, when $500,000 in scholarships will be awarded, including two top prizes of $100,000.

The Siemens Foundation said there were also 322 semifinalists announced this year. Local regional semifinalists included John Caughman III, Megan Kelly, and Patrick Williams.

The Siemens Foundation said 2,255 students from across the country participated in this year’s competition with a total of 1,504 projects.

Cathy Toth, mother of A.J. Toth, said Oak Ridge has won at nationals twice since 2008.

Reception for retiring superintendent on Monday

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A Monday evening reception will honor Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Tom Bailey, who is retiring at the end of the year.

The reception starts at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 19, in the School Administration Building at 304 New York Ave.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education is hunting for a replacement for Bailey, who has been superintendent since 2002, and could consider a replacement on Dec. 8. The search is being conducted with the help of Ray and Associates, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Roane State Foundation board adds Eric Barger

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Eric Barger

Eric Barger

Business leader Eric Barger has joined the board of directors for the Roane State Community College Foundation, a press release said.

Barger is vice president of C.R. Barger and Sons Inc., a Roane County company founded in the early 1960s by Eric’s grandparents, C.R. and Mary Barger. A 1994 Harriman High School graduate, Barger completed his associate degree at Roane State in 1997 and then earned a degree in civil engineering from Tennessee Tech University.

“Roane State helped me reach where I am at today in life and business,” Barger said. “Joining the board allows me to be a part of the future of Roane State, and that is exciting.”

Barger serves on the board of directors for the National Precast Concrete Association Educational Foundation. He is a member of the National Precast Concrete Association, American Society for Testing and Materials, Tennessee Onsite Wastewater Association, and the American Concrete Institute.

“We are very excited that Eric has agreed to join our board,” Roane State Foundation Executive Director Paul Phillips said. “He is a distinguished alumnus with passion for Roane State’s mission.”

The nonprofit Roane State Foundation provides financial support for the college’s students and program.

For more information, visit www.roanestate.edu/foundation or call (865) 882-4507.