Scot Smith
Scot Smith, the library media specialist at Robertsville Middle School, has been elected to serve on the American Library Association’s 2018 Michael J. Printz Award Committee.
The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature and is sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) and Booklist.
Smith was one of four librarians nationwide elected to the committee.
Thomas Colburn — Decomposition of Plastics (Photo by Oak Ridge Schools)
Oak Ridge High School senior Thomas Colburn was a divisional first-place winner in a national science and humanities competition in April. Colburn received a $12,000 academic scholarship.
He was announced as the first place winner of the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in the Chemistry Division on April 30.
Colburn and Albert Xue, both from Oak Ridge High School, were part of a five-student delegation that traveled from Tennessee to Dayton, Ohio, to showcase their research at the end of April. The Junior Science and Humanities Symposium is a tri-service U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force program designed to encourage student research in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. While more than 7,600 students competed at the regional level, fewer than 100 students were invited to give an oral presentation this year at the 54th National JSHS competition. [Read more…]
Scottie Mayfield, president emeritus of Mayfield Dairy Farms, visited Woodland Elementary School on Friday, April 15, 2016, after hearing from 40 third-graders who conducted a blind taste test of milk stored in two different containers—wax-cardboard cafeteria containers and plastic yellow Mayfield jugs, like those used for store-bought milk—and determined they preferred milk stored in plastic. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Scottie Mayfield, president emeritus of Mayfield Dairy Farms, visited Woodland Elementary School in April after hearing from 40 third-graders who conducted a blind taste test of milk stored in two different containers—wax-cardboard cafeteria containers and plastic yellow Mayfield jugs, like those used for store-bought milk—and determined they preferred milk stored in plastic.
In the blind taste test, about 94 percent of the students preferred the milk that had been stored in plastic jugs, Woodland teacher Linda Young said. The persuasive opinion writing students, who are in the third-grade classes of Young and Inger Scudder, sent letters to Mayfield Dairy Farms suggesting that cafeteria milk be stored in plastic bottles like those used in grocery stores, Young said.
Impressed by the letters and responding to consumer concerns, Mayfield visited the school and met with the students on Friday, April 15.
He said the students were right.
“I appreciate your work,” Mayfield told the third-graders. “It appears to be accurate.” [Read more…]
Front from left, student volunteers Shelley Edwards, Angelo Ferrante, and Jeremiah Johnson work to get Roane State’s Community Garden ready for its next crop. Food grown in the garden is donated to local charities. In back from left, Roane State President Chris Whaley and alumni relations director Tamsin Miller also pitch in. (Photo by RSCC)
Volunteers are invited to assist with the Roane State Community Garden, located near the college’s main campus in Harriman.
An informational meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 28, at 4:30 p.m. in the Walden Ridge Conference Room on the main campus. The conference room is located within the student lounge.
The garden is open to everyone in the community along with all Roane State students and employees. Expert farmers and beginners are welcome. [Read more…]
Willie Gallaher
Roane State Community College will hold its commencement ceremonies on May 6-7.
Both events, to be held in the gym on the Roane County campus in Harriman, will be equal in presentation.
The Friday ceremony will also include the graduation of Roane State’s first Middle College students. Middle College allows high school students to take college classes in their junior and senior years of high school and then graduate with their diploma and their associate degree. [Read more…]
Jane Sasser, English teacher at Oak Ridge High School, and Brian Smith, history teacher at Jefferson Middle School, were two out of only six recipients from the entire state who received the Outstanding Educator Awards from Humanities Tennessee.
According to the Humanities Tennessee website, these awards were available for up to six full-time, third- to 12th-grade teachers in Tennessee who have demonstrated excellence in teaching the humanities. Since 1985, Humanities Tennessee has awarded almost $400,000 to 169 teachers in Tennessee.
Applicants for this award are expected to be skillful and dedicated teachers who exhibit expansive and in-depth knowledge of the subjects they teach, a press release said. They are to have the respect of students, parents, and co-workers, and have a record of active involvement in community activities and professional organizations, particularly those that promote the humanities.
Sasser and Smith will each receive a $2,000 fellowship to further their professional development in the humanities. Oak Ridge High School and Jefferson Middle School will each receive a $1,500 grant to be used for the purchase of humanities instructional materials or for student humanities projects. [Read more…]
Pictured above from left to right are students Abigayle Allison, Peyton Ooten, and Evan Eschenberg, and instructor Jeff Hankins. (Submitted photo)
Two Oak Ridge High Schools received gold medals and were named state champions in two different welding categories, while a third student received a bronze medal.
The students and their medals are:
The students are in Jeff Hankins’ welding classes at Oak Ridge High School. They competed and placed in several events in the Skills USA State Championships from April 17-20 in Chattanooga. [Read more…]
Pictured above at a Community Matters forum at Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church on Nov. 1, 2015, are the Reverend Derrick Hammond of Oak Valley Baptist Church, center, the Rev. Jake Morrill of Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, left, and Father Brent Shelton of St. Mary’s Parish. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The leaders of the Community Matters series of forums held last fall will report back on what they’ve learned at Oak Ridge High School on Sunday.
The informational session is scheduled from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, April 24. All Oak Ridge residents are invited to attend.
This event will feature community leaders including Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, Police Chief Jim Akagi, ORHS Principal Martin McDonald, and leading pastors in town, all to continue the conversation begun last fall, a press release said.
“In the last couple of years, communities around the country have engaged the conversation sparked by Black Lives Matter,” the press release said. “In some communities, this has looked like protest. In others, it has looked like study and reflection.” [Read more…]
Four female students at Oak Ridge High School won state honors and one student was a national winner in computing awards given to young women in 2016.
The Award for Aspirations in Computing by the National Center for Women and Informational Technology honors young women at the high school level for their computing-related achievements and interests, a press release said.
Awardees are selected for their computing and IT aptitude, leadership ability, academic history, and plans for post-secondary education.
The four ORHS students were among 11 state winners from Tennessee. The Oak Ridge students are Serena French, Megan Peters, Tina Wang, and Melissa Yuan. [Read more…]
Ginger Adams, teacher at Linden Elementary School, is pictured above with participants in last summer’s bookmobile program. (Submitted photo)
Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation partners UT-Battelle, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, and URS|CH2M Oak Ridge LLC (UCOR) joined to fund Oak Ridge School’s $30,636 “Oak Ridge Reads” literacy grant.
The Oak Ridge Reads initiative supports Oak Ridge Schools’ efforts to improve literacy by extending services beyond the classroom. The Oak Ridge Reads grant will address summer learning, family literacy support, and high quality reading opportunities in home and after-school settings.
With support from the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation, the Literacy Department of Oak Ridge Schools will provide a summer community bookmobile reading program to benefit families in Oak Ridge. Additionally, each preschool and kindergarten student will receive a library of books that they can keep, and after-school book clubs will begin for elementary and middle school students during the 2016-17 school year. [Read more…]
ORICL members stop at Prichard’s Distillery on one of their bus tours around a part of Tennessee. (Submitted photo)
Want to learn how to improve your home so you’ll get a significant return on your investment when you sell it? How to lose weight by better understanding and managing calories and metabolism? How to treat painsl and disorders in the neck, shoulders, back, wrists, hands and feet?
Would you like to know more about modern techniques in psychotherapy, the history of India, America’s first professional songwriter Stephen Foster, the history of spying in the U.S., and evidence that human-induced climate change is really happening?
Are you interested in courses on topics such as archaeology that provides a glimpse of prehistoric Native American life in Tennessee, Native American religion and culture, the effects of growing cities on the environment, and the story of American novelist Harper Lee and her influential book “To Kill a Mockingbird”?
These are among the courses offered during the summer 2016 term of the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning (ORICL), starting June 6 and ending August 5. All courses offer excellent lectures and thought-provoking discussions but have no homework or tests. [Read more…]
The Roane State Community College Shooting Sports Team recently received a $4,800 grant from the NRA Foundation.
The team will use the grant to purchase needed equipment such as shotgun shells, cleaning materials, and earplugs.
“The grant from the NRA Foundation will provide the tools we need to properly maintain our equipment,” team coach Kenny Carey said. “We greatly appreciate the foundation’s support for our athletes.” [Read more…]
