Roane State Community College

February 11, 2022

By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer

All it took was a peek through a special microscope focused on the back of an eye. “That was it,” recalled Dr. Whitley (Pollard) Shoemaker, of her job shadowing experience with Dr. Natalie Frasier at The Eye Center of Wartburg.

“The first time I used one of those (microscopes) and saw the back of the eye, I was sold. I was in,” she said of her decision to pursue a doctor of optometry degree. “It was so neat and interesting.”

Shoemaker said her experiences with Roane State’s dual enrollment program at the community college’s Morgan County Campus provided the crucial launching pad for her career.

After obtaining her bachelor’s degree from Tennessee Tech University, she graduated with a doctorate in optometry from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in May and promptly started her job at The Eye Center of Midtown in Roane County.

Shoemaker graduated from Wartburg Central High School in 2013. During her high school career, she decided to take Roane State dual enrollment courses, driving to the nearby Roane State Morgan County campus.

“It was a huge advantage for me to be able to step into a university after high school and have numerous dual enrollment credit hours already under my belt,” Shoemaker said. “It made the transition from high school to college more comfortable.”

She received college credit at Roane State in classes such as Composition I and II, along with algebra, psychology, and speech.

Shoemaker gives high marks to her Roane State instructors. She said her speech teacher was Sammie Mowery, who is now retired. “She made speech and public speaking fun,” Shoemaker said. “She made it an environment that was not intimidating, especially in a college setting.”

Former adjunct Terri Honeycutt, also now retired, taught algebra classes across several campuses and created a “great environment for learning,” Shoemaker said.

Zandy Knox, now principal of Wartburg Central Elementary School, previously taught Composition I and II and English. “He was a great instructor and the fundamentals that were taught in his course prepared me well for my undergraduate courses at Tennessee Tech,” Shoemaker said.

Deb Miller, recently retired from Roane State, said in an email that she was “pleasantly surprised” when she met Shoemaker, who replaced her long-time optometrist after he retired.

“When she saw I’d retired from Roane State, she immediately starting singing the college’s praises,” Miller wrote. “She talked about the lessons she learned in those early dual enrollment classes and how they set the stage for her ongoing success in college.”

“Not only was this a great experience with a new eye doctor, but once again made me proud to be a part of the Roane State family,” Miller wrote.

For additional information on dual enrollment opportunities with Roane State, visit roanestate.edu/dualstudies.