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Tennessee Reconnect and Promise. Graduating high school seniors can attend tuition-free. Free tuition for adults.Tennessee Reconnect and Promise. Graduating high school seniors can attend tuition-free. Free tuition for adults.
Online degrees available. Choose from seven completely online programs.Online degrees available. Choose from seven completely online programs.

News: Roane State student is also a skilled angler

Brienna Qualls

May 22, 2018

By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer

CROSSVILLE, Tenn. – When she’s not hitting the books at Roane State Community College, this student is hitting Middle Tennessee lakes, rivers and ponds, in search of the ones that don’t get away.

Brienna Qualls has been fishing since she was a little girl, reeling in fish of all kinds, from crappie to bluegill, walleye to muskies. She has a freezer full of fish to prove it.

She and her dad, Mark Qualls, take to the family’s fishing boat just about every weekend, and her expertise landed her a picture posting on the Facebook page of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

“It’s both exciting and relaxing, as well as fun,” said 21-year-old Brienna, who lives in Cumberland County’s Pleasant Hill community with her folks. Her mom is Jody Qualls.

One of the biggest lunkers she’s landed was a muskie, which tipped the scales at around 20 pounds.

All anglers have stories about the ones that got away, but Brienna’s favorite fish story is about a muskie that nailed her jig lure right when she was retrieving it.

The strike next to the boat caught her completely by surprise, and “the fish started going nuts,” she recalled. The lunker dove under the boat and vigorously thrashed around until her dad managed to net it, she said.

Her favorite fishing spot? The Rock Island State Park area near McMinnville.

Qualls just finished her first year at Roane State.

Brienna is a 2014 graduate of Cumberland County High School and took to the road after graduation, seeing numerous sights out West.

She said she decided to enroll at Roane State’s Cumberland County campus last year because it’s local and she has friends who’ve gone there.

She’s wrapped up the first year of studies and is majoring in wildlife and fisheries, with a long-term goal of becoming a park ranger.

“I’ve always thought it would be awesome to be a park ranger,” she said. “It sounds like a great job.”

With her initial Roane State year under her belt, Brienna has her own report card of her experiences. “I really like it,” she said of the college. “Everybody’s friendly, and the teachers are really good.”

She gives high marks to biology professor Annell Fields and said she enjoyed both biology and a course she took in anthropology.

After Roane State, Brienna said she’s planning to go to Tennessee Tech in Cookeville and obtain a bachelor’s degree in biology.

To learn more about Roane State’s Cumberland County campus, visit roanestate.edu/cumberland or call (931) 456-9880. Remember, eligible adults can now attend Roane State tuition-free with the new Reconnect grant. Learn more at roanestate.edu/reconnect.

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