Oak Ridge Today

Steve Fritts seeks re-election to Anderson County School Board

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Steve Fritts

Steve Fritts

Steve Fritts is seeking re-election to the Anderson County School Board in District 7, which includes the Pine Valley, Glenwood, and Highland View precincts in Oak Ridge.

Fritts, who has lived in the district since his youth, was first elected in 2010, a press release said.

Fritts graduated from Oak Ridge High School in 1967, and he was an All-State football player, the release said. He graduated from Vanderbilt University with a bachelor’s degree in history. Fritts also served as captain of the Vanderbilt Commodore football team in the early ’70s.

Fritts worked as a carpenter until his retirement and was a member of Local 50. [Read more…]

Guest column: D.A.R.E. graduates 395 students

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DARE Logo

By Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Mark Whaley

The 2013/2014 Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program finished its instruction at the end of the school year. A total of 395 students successfully completed the curriculum. Each student earned a certificate of completion and was awarded a special D.A.R.E. T-shirt as an award.

For the first time, we were asked to start D.A.R.E. classes at the Clinch River Community School, where we introduced the program to the fifth and sixth grade students. The primary focus of this year’s D.A.R.E. classes was peer pressure and how important it is to make good choices. [Read more…]

Riley, 5, loves princesses but battles brain tumor

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Riley Mozingo

Five-year-old Riley Mozingo was diagnosed with brain cancer May 10, 2010. A princess-themed carnival was held Friday at Lake City Elementary School in her honor. All proceeds from the carnival will help fund her bedroom renovation. (Photos by Sara Wise)

LAKE CITY—“Come on, let’s go,” shouts Riley Mozingo as she drags her good friend, Anderson County Schools junior Emilee Hooks, toward the bounce house outside Lake City Elementary School.

Riley is a typical five-year-old. She loves princesses—especially The Little Mermaid, Ariel—and has big dreams to become a doctor when she grows up. But one thing sets Riley apart: she was diagnosed with astrocytoma grade 3.

She has had eight procedures since she was diagnosed with the brain tumor on May 14, 2010, and has undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Now, she has to attend physical therapy sessions because she has trouble with her left side. Her tumor hasn’t shrunk—it actually got bigger during chemo—but it’s stayed about the same size with radiation.

Riley Mozingo and Little Mermaid

Riley admires a Little Mermaid-themed game during the carnival.

But it’s not all bad for Riley. She’s about to have her bedroom renovated by Special Spaces of Knoxville. The nonprofit organization renovates rooms for sick children all across the country, especially those with life-threatening illnesses. Riley is getting a princess-themed room.

Melanie Lamberson of Special Spaces said that once she heard about a five-year-old with cancer, she knew she had to help. [Read more…]

ORAU awards $39,000 in education grants to East Tennessee schools

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ORAU Education Grants

Oak Ridge Associated Universities awards 27 teachers from 17 East Tennessee schools more than $39,000 during a recent grants ceremony. (Submitted photo)

Oak Ridge Associated Universities awarded more than $39,000 to more than two dozen teachers in 17 schools in Oak Ridge, Clinton, Norris, and Anderson County in a recent grants ceremony.

It was the 12th annual ORAU Education Grants ceremony, and 27 teachers received awards, a press release said.

The grant money can be used to buy educational materials and equipment such as microscopes, iPads, robotics kits, and computers that will help teachers “continue to meet rigorous, state-wide curriculum standards and enhance the learning experience of their students,” the release said. [Read more…]