Class of 2024: Cap and gown pickups begin April 15 at the Harriman and Oak Ridge bookstores. Bookstore hours are 8am-4:30pm ET Monday-Thursday. Visit the commencement ceremony webpage for additional info.
Members of Roane State’s Student Tennessee Education Association chapter are shown with their Angel Tree project to benefit children in foster care. From left: Kayla Dishman, Matthew Sims, Jill Kesterson, Sedona Harrell and Earl Davis. Front row, from left: Gabby McCarty, Gioconda Duran and Adreinne Hannah. Not pictured are chapter members Jessica Evans, Morgan Tucker and Sydney Hudgins.
November 27, 2019
By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer
This Roane State student organization may now be small in numbers, but it’s big in activities and worthwhile community service projects.
It’s the community college’s STEA, or Student Tennessee Education Association, which is under the auspices of the National Education Association.
The club, now with 10 members, is for students who aspire to become teachers, and advisors are Roane State associate education professors Stacie Bradshaw and Cody Miller.
The club president this year is Kayla D. Dishman. “This is a club that I’m very passionate about, and I love what we are learning and accomplishing,” she said.
For Dishman, the decision to follow a career path leading to teaching was marked by a few detours. She changed majors three times, extending her Roane State stay by a year, before deciding that elementary education was the profession for her.
After graduating from Roane State this May, she intends to enroll in the “2+2” program, where she’ll remain on Roane State’s Roane County campus. There, Tennessee Tech educators will instruct a cohort of students seeking bachelor’s degrees in education.
For now, Dishman is deeply involved in STEA, which meets on the third Tuesday of the month, alternating locations between the Roane County and Oak Ridge campuses of Roane State.
During those get-togethers, students have heard from several teachers at various stages of their careers. They also brainstorm fundraising ideas, “but our biggest thing that we do are our service projects where we try to do something good for communities,” Dishman said.
Last year, STEA spearheaded a drive for new and gently used winter coats, and more than 100 were delivered to Morgan County’s Sunbright Elementary School for distribution.
This year, STEA members have created an Angel Tree that’s in a workroom next to Prof. Bradshaw’s classroom in the O’Brien Building on the Roane County campus. General information about children in foster care was listed on laminated paper ornaments. Those who took an ornament then bought presents for the child, and those gifts were distributed early this month.
“I really have enjoyed being part of a great club with great people,” Dishman said. “I honestly thought I would never be able to be a president of any club, but I think I’ve done a pretty good job.”
“We are very proud of what we do,” she said of the STEA group. “It’s a team effort, and I’m very excited about the future of our club.”
Roane State is a two-year college providing transfer programs, career-preparation programs and continuing education. Founded in 1971, the college has campuses in Crossville, Harriman, Huntsville, Jamestown, Knoxville, LaFollette, Lenoir City, Oak Ridge, Wartburg and Clinton. For more information, visit roanestate.edu or call (865) 882-4554.
Remember, eligible adults can now attend Roane State tuition-free with the new Reconnect grant. Learn more at www.roanestate.edu/reconnect.
Roane State Community College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, ethnicity or national origin, sex, disability, age, status as protected veteran or any other class protected by Federal or State laws and regulation and by Tennessee board of Regents policies with respect to employment, programs, and activities. View full non-discrimination policy.
