Every Hamilton County charter school will soon have a school resource deputy watching over its students and staff. There are eight charter schools in the county, two of which the Soddy Daisy Police Department is staffing.
Hamilton County Sheriff Austin Garrett intends to staff the remaining six charter schools shortly after the beginning of 2024, according to a news release from his office.
A new statewide school resource officer program grant Gov. Bill Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly are funding made the expansion possible. The grant will allow local law enforcement entities to place one full-time, Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission-certified school resource deputy in each K-12 public school and public charter school in Tennessee.
Local law enforcement agencies are eligible to apply for up to $75,000 in funding per year, per deputy, per school.
See Rock City extends Howard investment
See Rock City plans to invest an additional $250,000 to the See Rock City Institute of Hospitality and Tourism Management, a Future Ready Institute at The Howard School. The investment expands on Rock City’s partnership with Howard over the next five years, providing students with the opportunity to explore careers in hospitality and tourism.
Founded in 2019, Rock City’s FRI provides pathways in both culinary arts and hospitality and tourism management. Rock City most recently celebrated the completion of a new commercial-grade kitchen at The Howard School this spring.
This May, the Howard kitchen partnered with Clumpies Ice Cream to create a summertime flavor for the Rock City brand. Students split into teams to brainstorm their own treats, of which Arroz Leche was ultimately chosen.
The See Rock City Institute of Hospitality and Tourism Management at The Howard School is one of 28 FRIs offered at Hamilton County Schools. Through local community and business partnerships, FRIs provide workplace learning opportunities for students interested in specific career paths and better equipping students for college and the job market.
La Paz announces awards finalists
The 2023 Latino Leadership Awards will take place the evening of Thursday, Sept. 21, at The Westin Chattanooga (801 Pine Street). The event will include new award categories intended elevate Latino leaders who are making a noticeable impact in the Chattanooga area. Purchase tickets at lapazchattanooga.org/awards.
Latino Leader of the Year nominees include Paulo Hutson Solórzano of A Medida Communications, Liz Gibbons of the Chattanooga School of Language and Iris Negrete-Regagnon of the Hamilton County Schools International Welcome Center.
Chattanooga’s Choice nominees include Dylan Rivera of the city of Chattanooga, entrepreneur and consultant Arnold Alexis Ruelas, and Viridiana Marin of the Chattanooga Community Fridge and the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition.
Latino Community Champion Award nominees include The Enterprise Center, Hamilton County Schools, Cempa Community Care, Brewer Media (Tu Radio) and the Hamilton County Health Department.
Emerging Latino Leader Award nominees include Daisy Hernandez Puac of Howard School, Mateo Jimenez of The Enterprise Center and Liliana Trejo Zavaleta of Red Bank High School.
La Paz Volunteer of the Year Award nominees include Velvet Hernandez-Johnson for leadership in Tech Goes Home Spanish classes, Raiza Barahona and Amira Marquez Moreno for helping launch the La Paz food pantry and Ashton Jolley for support in building efforts for Latino student success.
Latino Business of the Year nominees include The Local Juicery+Kitchen, Supermercado El Sol and LogistiX.
Latino New Business of the Year nominees include MR Construction, CulturAlly and Ayelet’s Style Indigenous Mexican Art.
UTC exceeds fundraising efforts
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga raised $14,113,826 from 6,100 donors during the fiscal year 2023, exceeding the university’s fundraising goal by more than $3 million. This tally represents a 38% increase from the previous fiscal year and a 115% increase from two years prior in dollars raised to support students, faculty and staff.
Mocs Give Day in October resulted in $1,209,301 raised from 1,475 donors in 24 hours. Debuting in 2020, Mocs Give Day is an annual one-day fundraising event.
With gifts as small as $5, the 6,100 total donors represent an increase of more than 9% from the previous fiscal year and a 36% increase in young alumni giving. Alumni were also the largest group of donors to UTC for the fiscal year representing more than $4.4 million in gifts.
In addition to dollars raised and the number of donors, UTC engaged 44,793 alumni, a 16% increase from the previous fiscal year – the highest percentage increase for any campus in the UT system.
UTC Athletics had a record-breaking year, raising more than $800,000 for Mocs Club, the annual and priority fund for the department, which was a 13% increase from the previous year in addition to raising almost $3.9 million total, which is also a record and growth of nearly 18% from the previous year.
UTC to host tours with Spanish-speaking guides
UTC will offer Spanish-language campus tours starting this month. The inaugural guided tour, led by UTC students, will take place Friday, Aug. 25, at 5 p.m. Buses will pick up prospective high school students and their families at 4 p.m. from La Paz Chattanooga (809 S. Willow Street), as well as The Howard School, Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy and East Ridge High School.
Register for the tour.
“When an Hispanic student comes for a campus tour, they bring their family. With first-generation students, their parents might not be able to understand the majority of what’s said in an English tour,” says Dr. Niky Tejero, associate dean of the UTC College of Arts and Sciences.
Tejero and Brandalyn Shropshire, associate director of engagement in the UTC Office of Undergraduate Admissions, have partnered to break down the language barrier and create the first university’s Spanish-language campus tours.
Participants will receive a full tour of the campus and students will be able to complete an application for free. After the initial tour, plans are to offer Spanish-speaking tours every other week.
Fed grant to help nurse practitioner students
The federal Health Resources and Services Administration has awarded a $2.6-million grant to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School of Nursing to prepare advanced practice nurses to meet the needs of rural and underserved communities in the Chattanooga region.
Dr. Amber Roaché, assistant professor and coordinator of the UTC nurse practitioner concentration, secured a four-year grant through the HRSA Advanced Nursing Education Workforce Program for a project named “Clinical-Academic Partnerships: Breaking Down Barriers to Care.”
Overseen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, HRSA is the primary federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, geographically isolated and economically or medically vulnerable.
An essential component of the HRSA ANEW grant is that UTC family nurse practitioner students will be offered funding for traineeships and support practice readiness upon graduation through long-term clinical placements and online and in-person simulation experiences. Each semester of their program, the students pursuing Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees will receive approximately $8,500.
An FNP is an advanced practice nurse specializing in providing primary health care services to patients of all ages. FNPs maintain patient records, perform physical exams, order or perform diagnostic tests, prescribe medications, develop treatment plans, and treat acute and chronic illnesses, conditions and injuries that fall under primary care.
FNPs have long been in demand, but a recent shortage of family practice physicians has increased the number of primary care positions that FNPs are filling, particularly in rural and underserved populations.
CHI Memorial offering Aquablation therapy
CHI Memorial is the first in the Chattanooga region to offer Aquablation therapy for the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms due to benign prostatic hyperplasia or enlarged prostate.
Aquablation therapy is performed by the AquaBeam Robotic System, the first FDA-cleared, surgical robot utilizing automated tissue resection for the treatment of LUTS due to BPH.
Aquablation therapy combines real-time, multi-dimensional imaging, automated robotics and heat-free waterjet ablation for targeted, controlled and immediate removal of prostate tissue.
Combining both cystoscopic visualization and ultrasound imaging, surgeons can create a personalized treatment plan tailored to each patient’s anatomy. Once the map is complete, the robotically-controlled waterjet surgically removes the prostate tissue, avoiding critical structures to preserve sexual function and continence.
BPH, or an enlarged prostate, is a non-cancerous condition where the prostate has grown to be larger than normal. One in two men ages 51 to 60 has BPH, and the incidence increases every decade of life.
If left untreated, BPH can cause significant health problems, including irreversible bladder or kidney damage, bladder stones, and incontinence.
Current BPH surgical treatments often force men to choose between symptom relief and side effects.