Roane State Community College

Theresa McKenrick is sharing what Roane State gave to her.

McKenrick was the first in her family to earn a college degree. Thirty-five years after she enrolled at Roane State in 1975, establishing a legacy of education for her family, McKenrick’s son, Patrick, graduated from Vanderbilt University.

Roane State’s faculty inspired McKenrick and gave her confidence. During her 30-year career in education, McKenrick has given that same encouragement to her own students.

“It’s a perpetual thing,” said McKenrick, a highly regarded special education teacher at Harriman High School. “Roane State and my family gave to me. I gave to students, and I was also able to give more to my son in encouragement because I knew what was possible.”

For her accomplishments in the classroom and in the community, McKenrick has been named Roane State’s 2010 Outstanding Alumna.

McKenrick lives in Oak Ridge with her husband, Don. She graduated from Oak Ridge High School in 1974 but was uncertain whether she could succeed in college.

“I wasn’t sure I had what it took to be a college student,” she said. “During my high school years, my focus was my mother’s health. She had terminal cancer. We dealt with surgeries and remissions and recurrences, so I was marginal academically. I waited for a year to enroll at Roane State, and I fell in love with the campus. The faculty had more confidence in me than I did. It was during that first year that I changed my major to education, because of the influence the faculty had on me.”

After a year at Roane State, McKenrick transferred to the University of Tennessee. In 1979, she graduated with honors with a bachelor of science in special education (K-12). 

McKenrick taught in Knoxville and later worked as an educational diagnostic therapist. She joined Harriman High School’s faculty in 1990 as a special education teacher and has stayed in that role.

McKenrick’s goal is to help her students become productive citizens. Never settling for less, she strives for her students to earn regular education diplomas instead of special education diplomas. She researches and introduces new methods in the classroom, and she has organized a school store to help lower-functioning students acquire job skills.

“It’s like a puzzle,” McKenrick said of working with special needs students. “You can’t just pick one way, and it works. You have to find what works for each student and what doesn’t. You have to drop back and punt quite often and find another way to say something and another way to do something. I felt like I got that foundation at Roane State because I didn’t have good study skills.”

McKenrick is the Special Education Department Chair at Harriman High School, where she serves as a mentor for special education faculty members. She has presented at local and state conferences and has received numerous honors for her work. In 2005, McKenrick was named a Josten’s Teacher of the Year, and in 2007, she was recognized as Harriman High School Teacher of the Year and Roane County Schools Teacher of the Year (secondary level). 

She was instrumental in developing the Prom Closet Boutique, a well-known program at Harriman High School that provides special education students with formalwear for the school prom.

“I feel like I can make a difference because Roane State’s faculty made a difference with me,” McKenrick said. “After thirty years in the classroom, I am still inspired to reach out and encourage students because I personally know that it does make a lasting difference in their quality of life.”