Kindergarten teachers at Willow Brook Elementary School are hosting a Meet and Greet Ice Cream Social from 6-7 p.m. Tuesday, July 28.
All incoming Willow Brook Kindergarten students and their parents are invited to Willow Brook Elementary School to meet the kindergarten teachers, see their classrooms, sign up for one of four staggered opening days, and enjoy some ice cream, a press release said.
UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Computational Nuclear Engineering Brian Wirth, right, receives a plaque from U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, center, honoring him as an Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award recipient. John Kotek, acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, is at left. (Photo courtesy University of Tennessee)
Nuclear energy expert Brian Wirth, a joint appointee at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, received the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award from U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz at a Washington, D.C., ceremony Thursday night.
Wirth serves as the Governor’s Chair for Computational Nuclear Engineering, studying aspects of nuclear environments and materials related to nuclear energy.
That expertise led to his honor, one of nine the DOE bestowed during the evening.
“The ceremony was really nice,” said Wirth. “I was thrilled that College of Engineering Dean Wayne Davis, department head Wes Hines, and Steve Zinkle attended, along with Alan Icenhour from ORNL.” [Read more…]
Members of the 2015 Oak Ridge High School Wild Band are pictured above. (Submitted photo)
The Oak Ridge High School Band has a free Fall Preview Show at 6 p.m. today (Friday, July 24) on Blankenship Field.
“The students have been going strong during the past week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in preparation for ‘The Music of Bond,’” a press release said. “Come pick out your favorites from the ‘Bond Medley,’ which includes tunes from ‘Goldfinger,’ ‘Skyfall,’ ‘Live and Let Die,’ and of course Bond’s signature tune from ‘Goldeneye.'”
Due to parking lot construction at the lower ticket booth, entrance to the stadium will be only through the upper ticket booth on Kentucky Avenue. But no tickets are required, the press release said. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge Schools has released bus routes for the 2015-2016 school year.
Here are links to the routes: [Read more…]
Oak Ridge Schools start Monday, August 3. It’s the first year under a new balanced calendar.
The first day of school, August 3, will be early dismissal for all students. The second day, Tuesday, August 4, will be early dismissal for elementary and middle school students.
Counselors and facilitators reported to work on July 13, and teachers will report on July 27.
The last day for students will be Friday, June 3, 2016. [Read more…]
Authorities said the three Oak Ridge High School football players injured in a Tuesday afternoon crash were not wearing seat belts, and the driver has been charged after the car he was driving crashed into a utility pole in Blount County.
Preliminary information from the Tennessee Highway Patrol said the 2000 Ford Taurus was being driven northbound on U.S. 321, also known as Lamar Alexander Parkway, by a 17-year-old unidentified juvenile from Oak Ridge, when the male driver let the vehicle exit the northbound lane, where it then entered into the center turning lane.
“The driver then crossed over the turn lane and entered into the southbound lanes of Highway 321,” the THP said. “The vehicle then crossed over both the southbound lanes and shoulder, where it struck a curb before it entered into a grass field area. The vehicle then struck a high spot of earth in the field, which made the vehicle go airborne.” [Read more…]
Junior running back Jaylen Nickerson (29) scored two touchdowns for the Oak Ridge Wildcats at McMinn County on Friday, September 19, 2014. Nickerson was one of three Oak Ridge High School football players injured in a Tuesday afternoon car crash in Blount County. (File photo by Julio Culiat)
Note: This story was updated at 4:41 p.m.
Two Oak Ridge High School football players are listed in serious condition at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville after a Tuesday afternoon car crash in Blount County, a spokesperson said Wednesday afternoon.
Jaylen Nickerson, who will be a senior this year, and DeVonta Mitchell, who will be a junior, are both at the hospital in serious condition, spokesperson Susan Wyatt said.
Davon Middleton, a third ORHS student-athlete injured in the crash, was reportedly taken to Blount Memorial, treated for a concussion, and released.
Nickerson is a running back, Middleton is a defensive back, and Mitchell is a wide receiver. Nickerson was one of two main running backs last year. T.J. Allison was the other. [Read more…]
Mary Elaine Vaughan
Oak Ridge High School math teacher Elaine Vaughan has been named a Tennessee state finalist for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, or PAEMST.
The PAEMST are the nation’s highest honors for teachers of mathematics and science, a press release said. Awardees serve as models for their colleagues, inspiration to their communities, and leaders in the improvement of mathematics and science education.
Vaughan is one of five finalists in mathematics for the 2015 PAEMST in Tennessee. Awardees will receive a certificate signed by President Barack Obama, a trip to Washington, D.C., to attend a series of recognition events and professional development opportunities, and a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation. [Read more…]
Members of the Clinton Fire Department spend a morning packing school supplies, loading the fire truck, and delivering them to Clinton schools. (Submitted photo)
Since Thursday, July 9, volunteers from all over Anderson County have been sorting donated school supplies for Oak Ridge and Anderson County schools, packing them in bags and backpacks that are loaded into vehicles and distributing the packed items to classrooms.
Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties has been coordinating the collection, packing, and distribution of school supplies for 26 years. As a result, teachers aren’t obliged to spend their hard-earned money on items needed by their growing number of students from disadvantaged families.
Last year. ADFAC provided school supplies to more than 2,500 area students from disadvantaged families. This year, the local nonprofit service organization’s staff hopes to increase the number of school supplies by 12 percent with the help of ongoing support from the community. [Read more…]
Three Oak Ridge High School football players were taken to two hospitals after a crash in Blount County on Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
The three were reportedly leaving Maryville to come to practice in Oak Ridge at the time of the crash, Wildcats Coach Joe Gaddis said.
He said two players were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville and the third was taken to Blount Memorial.
Gaddis said the three had apparently spent the night with a friend. [Read more…]
Rachel Minardo, president of the Anderson County Education Association, and others have advocated for a 4 percent pay raise for county school teachers and staff. Above, Minardo talks to the 16-member Anderson County Commission in Clinton on Monday. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 4 p.m.
CLINTON—After rejecting a few other proposals, Anderson County commissioners on Monday approved a 10-cent property tax rate increase to fund 2 percent pay raises for county employees and school teachers and staff.
The vote for the tax rate increase was 9-5-1.
Eight cents of the 10-cent increase is for Anderson County Schools, and the other two cents will cover the pay raise for county employees, with the exception of elected officials and county commissioners.
Earlier in the five-hour meeting, commissioners rejected proposals to:
Teachers said they haven’t had a pay raise since 2012, and they last received a bonus in 2013 and that was $200. They have said all the surrounding school districts except Campbell County pay more, and they want to be able to recruit and retain good teachers—and not be a training ground for other districts. [Read more…]
Josie Fellers and teammate Olivia Jones assemble their robot’s arm at the ORAU Oak Ridge Robotics Academy. (Photo courtesy ORAU)
More than two dozen students from across East Tennessee recently spent a week designing, building, and programming robots during the Oak Ridge Robotics Academy.
Held at ORAU’s Center for Science Education, the week-long, free camp was led by Instructors Tad Douce and Ed Goodwin, both co-directors of the National Robotics Challenge, with help from Kayla Canario, the 2011 Extreme Classroom Makeover contest runner-up and the technology coordinator for Bearden Middle School.
The 6th annual ORAU Oak Ridge Robotics Academy included 26 students in seventh, eighth, and ninth grades.
Students were randomly placed into teams and faced daily engineering challenges such as programming their robots to solve a maze without being controlled or designing an arm to pick up a tennis ball.
“We call it a robotics academy, but it’s really an engineering academy,” Douce said. “Our main goal is to get the students to work with others, think logically and solve problems.” [Read more…]
