By Reginald Owens

Cherry trees are among the first to bloom in the spring.

Lookout Mountain, GA (UTC)— As the spring season settles itself in and the cherry blossoms bloom, Lookout Mountain’s Rock City venue is the place to be as major conservation groups come together for “Earth Dayz”.

Starting April 4^th, Rock City Gardens will be hosting “Earth Dayz”, an outdoor event exploiting the wonders of natural fun. As Rock City’s 4, 100 ft. walking trails boasts a flurry of caves, gardens, and rock sculptures, the added entertainment will be a pleasant bonus for attendees.

On the list of activities is the Rock City Birds of Prey Shows, offered three times a day at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. During the shows people will be able to interact with the rare likes of a hawk, an owl, and the majestic bald eagle.

Jim Pfitzer, “Chattanooga’s Storyteller”, will be on duty along with mascots Rocky and the Gnome. On top of that, the Critter Classroom will offer kids hands-on environmental art activities.

Andrew Kean, president of See Rock City, Inc., looks forward to the event.

“As Rock City Gardens partners with conservationists like Jim Pfitzer and John and Dale Stokes with Save Out American Raptors (S.O.A.R.), one of the most wondrous natural settings in the southeast comes to life in new ways,” Kean said.

“Our growing festival and event calendar is a testament to how serious we are about providing high level cultural entertainment to our hundreds of thousands of guests, all while creating memories worth repeating.”

Rock City is hosting an Earth Day celebration.

As Rock City is largely committed to recycling, they have teamed up with Orange Grove Recycling for the second year. Orange Grove will provide park-wide recycling pickup during the Earth Dayz event.

Beginning the first week of April, event times and dates are as follows:

·      April 4-12; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

·      April 16-19; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

·      April 23-26; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The event’s schedules merits time for gemstone panning, Fairyland Forest Makeovers, and rock climbing among many other activities. Also, an outdoor sculpture by Roger Halligan called “Iron Age” is set to be onsite during the event.

To buy tickets to Rock City’s Earth Dayz, click here. For more information about Rock City and Lookout Mountain, take a look at this. 

By Reginald Owens

Participants in the P.A.W.S. program.

CHATTANOOGA(UTC)—  At First Christian Church UTC students mentor elementary school students from the neighboring school Brown Academy for the P.A.W.S. mentoring program. With a catchy acronym, the program is sure to be a success:

• P- Positive
• A- Action
• W- With
• S- Success

“P.A.W.S. means Positive Action With Success. It’s a mentoring program. We’re here to teach the kids about college. Being so close to campus, that is exactly what we want to do. We want to, at this early age- 4^th and 5^th graders, we want to let them know that you can go to college and want to get that in their heads right now,” P.A.W.S. director Wendy Yates said.

UTC’s Phil Odem explains the impact a college degree can have.

“A college graduate, in their life time will earn on average $1 million more than a non-college graduate,” Odem said.

“Knowing that I’m getting ready to go to college, its help them to prepare themselves,” parent T.J. Doyle said.

Volunteers help kids through the P.A.W.S. program.

Volunteers express their feelings about the program.

“I volunteered because I love children and I think it’s a great program to interact with the kids and it’s a great way to give back to the community and I love it,” volunteer Poscha Boyd said.

P.A.W.S. volunteer Whitney Wyatt said, “I really like to help them and see what they get out of it, the success rate that comes from programs like this.”

Children are excited to come back to the program this year.

“ I got to meet new people that were in college and learn more about college.”

To find out more about Brown Academy, click here.   Also, UTC’s website lists other developmental programs on their informative website here. 

Vice Chancellor Richard Brown presented a plaque to the First Christian church, showing appreciation for their

partnership. See a behind the scenes look at the P.A.W.S. Mentoring program in the video below.