Employees, students brave cold to walk in MLK parade

Thirteen Pellissippi State faculty, staff and students turned out in freezing temperatures January 21 to participate in the annual parade commemorating the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The parade route ran along Martin Luther King Drive.

“To my knowledge, this is the first time that Pellissippi State as a whole has participated in the Martin Luther King parade, involving all the campuses,” said parade coordinator Yolanda Roebuck, Business and Computer Technology secretary and Support Staff Council secretary.

“This year Support Staff Council decided to make it a collegewide effort,” said Roebuck, “and we were very pleased with the turnout. Next year we hope it will be bigger and better. We had a lot of people working behind the scenes to help make it a success. The hand-held posters and fliers were a big hit.”

Pellissippi State parade participants also included Rick Bower, Jerry Bryan, Sydney Gingrow, Cathy Hurrell, Ellen Keene, Ann Kronk, Beth Richardson, Remonda Swafford, Rosalyn Tillman and Lori Warneke. Two students, David Townsend and Yelena Vishnivetskaya, also helped represent the College.