Tag Archives: Tennessee Reconnect

By Bob FowlerRoane State staff writer Losing a job and the pandemic hitting in March 2020 were catalysts for Laura Looney enrolling in Roane State. Now she’s got her associate degree in paralegal studies, having graduated with highest honors in May 2022. “I was really scared to get back in …

By Bob FowlerRoane State staff writer This is a paradox. While she couldn’t stomach the sight of blood and didn’t want to be a nurse at first, Roane State student Brittany Irwin is on the road to becoming a registered nurse. One reason: “When I set a goal, I always …

Roane State student Justin Fritts is shown with his family, wife Milicent, son Kayman and daughter Mila. By Bob FowlerRoane State staff writer Justin Fritts was well on his way to becoming an elementary school teacher when serious crash changed the course of his life. Fritts was critically injured on …

By Bob FowlerRoane State staff writer The Tennessee Reconnect program, which makes it possible for Tennesseans age 24 and older to attend community colleges tuition-free, was life-changing for Knoxville resident Myneshia “Neshia” Fears. Enrolling at Roane State “is the best decision I’ve made so far,” she said. “I would recommend …

By Bob FowlerRoane State staff writer As one of Roane State’s success coaches, “I continually get these moments of confirmation where I think, ‘This is where I need to be,’” Kim Scarbrough says. Scarbrough, a Knoxville resident, has been with the innovative success coach program since 2018, when she and …

Shown is the cover of the self-published book available on Amazon and written by Bella Hope Shiloh, the alias adopted by a Roane State Community College student. By Bob Fowler Roane State staff writer As a child, she endured years of physical and sexual abuse by her father. At age …

Wartburg Central High student Chloe Jones checks out the hydraulic instrumentation module in the new mechatronics lab in the Learning Center at Roane State Community College’s Roane County campus By Bob FowlerRoane State staff writer Roane State’s new mechatronics lab is buzzing with activity this semester as students take advantage …