Blount County students travel different roads to graduation

By her own admission, Flowers' route to her degree was anything but short.

“It's been a long journey for me,” she said. “But I stuck it out. I was determined.”

“I was wild,” she said. “I was into the adolescent thing—no restrictions—and my grades dropped.”

Long before reaching graduation, she dropped out, got married and became a mother of three by the age of 22.

“I devoted my life to raising my children,” she said, “and I was fortunate to be able to do that.”

But when her children, now all in their early 20s, were grown, she decided, “It's time for me now.”

So she enrolled at the Blount County Center in the spring of 2001.

“That first week I thought I was on vacation. It was so much fun,” she said.

Due dates and tests soon arrived, however, and the hard work began.

“My hardest class was English,” she said. “I had forgotten so much.”

Flowers says Pellissippi State instructors, though they never relaxed their academic requirements, were always helpful to a struggling student who truly wanted to succeed.

“Instructors would make time for us,” she said. “They had a heart for us.”

Carla Rayburn agrees wholeheartedly. After graduating from Alcoa High School in 2001, Rayburn enrolled at the Blount County campus because of its size.

“Coming from a small high school, I thought it would be too shocking to go to a place as big as UT,” she said. So she chose Pellissippi State.

Her expectation was that college professors would not take an individual interest in their students' progress, but Rayburn was in for a pleasant surprise.

“I had always heard that you are just a number when you go to college, that the instructors didn't care if you showed up or what kind of grade you made,” she said. “I found out that wasn't true at Pellissippi.”

In fact, the individual attention given to students is what Rayburn considers to be Pellissippi State's greatest asset.

“The instructors will help you outside of class even if it's not their office hours,” Rayburn explained. “They'll do whatever they can to help you out.”

Maryville High graduate Jonathan Craig concurs and is amazed that some students never take advantage of help outside of class.

“I would never have made it through calculus without going to my instructor's office for help,” he said.

Craig did not attend Pellissippi State immediately following his 1998 high school graduation. Instead, he headed off for basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, while many of his high school friends began their freshman year of college.

Following basic training and another eight months at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, Craig became a member of the 228th Combat Communication Squad of the Tennessee National Guard, headquartered at McGhee Tyson.

He enrolled at Pellissippi State in the fall of 1999 and chose to attend locally.

“I liked the fact that it was in Blount County,” he said.

The small class sizes were also an attraction for Craig.

“The small class atmosphere is one of Pellissippi's strengths,” he said. “There's opportunity for more one-on-one attention from the teacher. In a big class, students are a lot more hesitant about asking questions. All of my teachers did a good job of including people in discussion.”

In addition to his National Guard responsibilities, Craig always held a part-time job while attending school, as did Rayburn. Flowers participated in a work-study program, which involved helping Mary Blount Elementary students with reading skills. Keeping up with both work and school was challenging, and Craig acknowledged, “You have to sacrifice some stuff, and sometimes study time is one of those. My employers don't care that I have a test tomorrow.”

Each of the students began by taking at least one developmental course to prepare for college-level work, and they unanimously agreed those courses are valuable. For Flowers, facing college after more than 20 years away from the classroom, the refresher courses in English, math and study skills provided both information and a time for adjustment.

“People like myself need that,” she said. “You forget things when you don't practice those skills every day.”

Even students like Rayburn and Craig, who entered college within a year or two after high school, see the need for some review of basic skills.

“In high school, sometimes you're finished with math your sophomore year, and you forget a lot of it by the time you get to college,” said Rayburn.

Craig said his developmental math classes prepared him for later, more difficult courses. “If you don't have the basics, you're a fish out of water,” he said.

Their associate's degrees completed, all three are determined to further their educations at the University of Tennessee. Flowers will major in Speech Pathology/Audiology, Rayburn is seeking a degree in Retail and Consumer Sciences, and Craig plans to study business.

With the support and instruction they have received at Pellissippi State, they feel ready. Rayburn admitted to being both “excited and apprehensive,” and Flowers said, “I know I'm not going to be at Pellissippi. I'm getting ready to catch my own self if I fall.”

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