Gov. Phil Bredesen, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Commissioner of Education Tim Webb, and Sen. Jamie Woodson joined together in Knoxville earlier this week to announce the First to the Top Coalition, a statewide alliance with more than 30 partners, which includes Blount Education Initiative. Wednesday’s news conference was part of a three-day, statewide launch of the coalition’s public awareness campaign, “Expect More, Achieve More: Raising the Bar in Tennessee Schools” in support of Tennessee’s new tougher standards. These standards will help Tennessee and its students be more competitive on the global stage. Read more about it here.

The educational partners in Innovation Valley are hosting the second annual Educators in the Workplace — Lunch & Learn series and invite area educators to participate, but you must register, and seating is limited. This is an opportunity for educators to learn more about how local businesses operate and what they are looking for in future employees. Educators will be provided lunch along with a presentation about the company and a tour of the facility. While this is more geared to middle and high school teachers and counselors, other educators are welcome also. Please note that one program was added after the registration form was created. The Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority will host a Lunch & Learn from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. July 14. If you would like to attend this one, please indicate it in the email when you submit your registration form.

The series starts June 9 and ends July 14. Registration deadline is May 21. For more information and the registration form, click here: 2010 Flier Lunch and Learn Registration. Here’s an at-a-glance calendar of the programs: 2010 Lunch and Learn Calendar. We hope you’ll take advantage of this opportunity.

Our high school seniors once again show that they understand the value of education through Blount Education Initiative’s Senior Survey of graduating seniors from all four high schools. For the results of the 2010 Senior Survey, please click here BEI 2010 Senior Survey results. To read our news release about the survey, please click here 2010– Senior Survey Release.

To review survey results from 2009, please click here:2009_Senior Survey Results

Students from Heritage and William Blount high schools wait to hear who has won in the competition.

About 30 students from the two schools were put through the paces of demonstrating different skill sets and then had to take a written test. After a pizza lunch, prizes were awarded to students receiving the highest scores. Airgas provided the prizes and made sure that every student received at least a door prize.

Prizes lined up on the table

 Tennessee Sen. Doug Overbey and Blount County Commissioner Steve Samples stopped by to congratulate the students. Heritage High School won the overall competition. 

State Sen. Doug Overbey talks to the students before the winners are announced.

DCS owner Chris Combs said that different businesses sent volunteers to help judge the welding competition.

 “It’s a neat collaboration of small and large businesses,” Combs said. “It provides an opportunity to see what a welding career would look like and encourages them to consider a welding career.”

State Sen. Doug Overbey listens as DCS Electronics owner Chris Combs talks about the days events.

Blount County schools held their 20^th Career Day at Heritage High School March 5, 2010. Representatives from more than 50 career paths attended and set up booths.

Students talk to someone in the hair styling business.

A representative from DENSO talks to students.

Eighth graders from Heritage, Union Grove, Carpenters and Eagleton middle schools and Maryville Christian School participated in the event.

Career Day gave students an opportunity to interact with professionals from all walks of life in private industry as well as from government, military and nonprofit fields. Students were required to fill out a form on several careers by asking the representative questions such as level of education needed, types of additional training required and expected entry level salaries. The students were also able to ask their own questions, which hopefully gave them some idea about the career to evaluate it for their own interest.

In addition, Heritage High School seniors also set up booths to encourage students in construction and agriculture.

Heritage High School seniors watch as an eighth grader hammers a nail.

Heritage High School senior Johnna Davis shows off Maggie the calf.

William Blount High School Ninth Grade Academy Assistant Principal Cassandra Dowd waits to greet students.

It was a great opportunity for BEI to encourage students to stay in school and pursue their dreams.

Blount Education Initiative Director Bonny Millard has the opportunity to talk to students about BEI and about the importance of staying in high school.

The school system is always looking to expand their offerings so if your company would be interested in participating next year, call Jane Morton, supervisor of grades 6-12, at 984.1212.

Pellissippi State Community College’s Blount County Campus remains on schedule for offering the first classes in fall 2010, and the Pellissippi State Foundation has raised more than $1.85 million toward its completion.

Community members visit the site in November to see the campus' progress.

The two-story, 70,000-square-foot building has space for the college’s new Nursing program, as well as for science and computer labs and classrooms, including one for distance education. Faculty and administrative offices and a manufacturing training center, physical education facility, 100-seat auditorium, library, and student lounge are all part of the design.

The new campus has 600 parking spaces and can accommodate 1,500 students. More than 1,800 students from Blount County are enrolled at Pellissippi State. Plans for a walking trail, amphitheater and courtyard with a fountain also are on the board.

Funding for the $22 million state-of-the-art campus comes from the state, sale of the old Blount County Center property in Alcoa and private donations generated through Connecting Communities, Changing Lives Major Gifts Campaign. The fundraising effort, conducted by the Foundation, has earmarked the Blount County Campus as one of the college’s top priorities.

The campaign goal is a minimum of $2 million. Gifts and pledges to date are $1,855,240. 

The college broke ground in May 2008 on the 39.5-acre site, located at 2731 W. Lamar Alexander Parkway (U.S. Highway 321) in Friendsville. The college marked progress on construction with a “Raise the Roof” celebration on Nov. 6. More than 130 people signed a final truss for the building and then watched as a crane lifted it into place.

“This is just a great day,” Allen Edwards, Pellissippi State president, told the attendees. “This facility would not be a reality without the tremendous support of our state and local officials. They have been battling for us to get the money for this project, and I thank all of you. I thank each and everyone who has supported this. Your donations have made this possible.”

Pellissippi State President Allen Edwards talks to visitors in November about what the new campus will have to offer students.

Pellissippi State students performed for the crowd.

Tennessee’s prospects to overcome its low national educational rankings surfaced as one of the hot topics at the Blount Education Initiative’s (BEI) gubernatorial forum on education Oct. 26, at William Blount High School in Maryville, Tenn.

Candidates participating in the forum included Nashville businessman Ward Cammack (Democrat); Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam (Republican); former Tennessee House of Representatives Majority Leader Kim McMillan (Democrat); and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp (Republican).

Among a host of issues posed to the candidates, the economic impact of Tennessee’s long-time public education standing arose as a key point of concern.  Several candidates cited the competitive difficulty of recruiting desirable business and industry to Tennessee, given the state’s national reputation for having a lower-educated workforce.

The candidates also spoke to the recent release of the Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) report on raising Tennessee’s educational standing to first place among Southeastern states.  Various candidates voiced either optimism or guardedness about the state’s realistic ability to achieve such an aggressive improvement within five years, as called upon by SCORE.

The purpose of the BEI forum was to explore the topic of “Making Education Tennessee’s Top Priority: The Roles of State Government, Local Governments and all Tennessee Citizens” among gubernatorial candidates.

BEI’s leadership cited the success of the event in bringing educational issues to the forefront of the community – not just in Blount County but also throughout East Tennessee and hopefully statewide.

“With more than 250 people attending the event and many more viewing it via Knoxville’s WBIR-10News2 live broadcast, the forum successfully brought educational issues to the forefront throughout our regional community,” said BEI Executive Director Bonny Millard.

BEI’s recent Gubernatorial Community Forum generated a lot of interest in the community and resulted in some broad-ranging questions for the candidates who participated. The candidates included Ward Cammack, Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam, Kim McMillan and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp. For more information on the forum, click here. While candidates were answering questions in front of an audience of about 250 people in William Blount High School’s auditorium plus those watching it live on WBIR’s 10News2 and their Web site, WBHS senior and Student Council representative Candice Lawtonwas taking pictures of  the event for BEI. Here is a selection of the photos that she took.

Candidates Bill Haslam and Ward Cammack

Candidates Bill Haslam, Ward Cammack and Kim McMillan and moderator John Becker

Candidate Kim McMillan

Candidate Zach Wamp

Candidate Bill Haslam

Candiate Ward Cammack

Candidates Kim McMillan and Zach Wamp

Moderator John Becker and candidates Kim McMillan and Zach Wamp

Students listening to the candidates.

All the candidates

volunteers with the League of Women Voters of Blount County assist with the questions.

Audience members waiting their chance to ask a question.

The decorations WBHS students put up for the event.

BEI Executive Director Bonny Millard

The Big Read activities abound in Blount and Knox counties, and the initiative will continue in the community through Oct. 15. Please scroll through the photographs.

If you didn’t get down to Last Friday Art Walk this past weekend (Sept. 25), you missed a wonderful reading by the Alcoa High School students of English teacher Kelly Wallace. Not only did the students read selections from the book, but they also offered some interpretation of different aspects of the book based on their classroom discussions.

Alcoa High School English teacher Kelly Wallace explains some of the book’s themes and how the students are grouped. Wallace said out of 42 students, 40 students loved the book, and that she plans to use it for future classes.

While AHS students were reading, Spanish III students from Maryville High School Spanish teacher Deb Lamine’s class worked with younger children to create Hispanic crafts including worry dolls made from clothes pins. The children had a great time as evidenced by rounds of giggling.

Alcoa High School senior Taylor Crosby, a member of the school’s tech team, videotaped the entire event to be shown on Alcoa School System’s Channel 3, Charter Communictions. Thanks Taylor!

Check back soon for additional photos of The Big Read activities.

Students at Carpenters Middle School have had a unique opportunity to view wildlife on their school grounds this year thanks to the donation of two trail cameras.

In the summer of 2008, Carpenters Middle School initiated a wildlife management project using the forest on the grounds of both CMS and Carpenters Elementary School.

The area behind CES has been previously used for science classes to conduct wildlife studies such as habitat exploration and population counts. To expand these studies, Moultrie Products, a leader in wild game outdoors products such as feeders and trail cameras, donated two trail cameras to monitor the area for wildlife.

Since last fall, pictures have been regularly collected from the cameras and posted on a school website. Wild animals such as deer, turkey, foxes, squirrels, skunk, and raccoon have been photographed. The website has catalogued many of the pictures.

In addition, students have been responsible for maintaining the cameras, photos, and adding content to the website, such as an instrumental music selection compiled by eighth grader Taylor Breeden. The area and cameras have also allowed students to study wildlife habits, such as feeding times, travel routes, and communication signs.

CMS and CES plan on adding a walking trail and foot bridges to the area to aid in watching wildlife.

Mike Crabtree, Assistant Principal, Carpenters Middle School