I’m retiring at the end of the year after spending about seven years with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Division of Communications and Marketing and around 40 years in journalism.
Shawn Ryan
While at UTC, I wrote about 850 stories and, truth be told, they weren’t radically different from those I wrote for the newspapers and magazines where I worked before coming to the University. I’ve spent most of my career writing feature stories about interesting people doing interesting things, and most of my stories at UTC have been the same.
Why did I become a journalist in the first place? I don’t know. I have no recollection of what made me decide that journalism was going to be my career. My first post-high school goal was to be an orthopedic surgeon, and I spent two years as a pre-med major. That fell through when tuition money and motivation ran out at about the same time.
Three years as a stock clerk at Kroger convinced me that the grocery business wasn’t my future, so I went back to college, no longer interested in being an orthopedic surgeon. Forty years later, I think I made the right choice. I haven’t made anywhere near as much money as a surgeon, but I’m pretty sure I’ve had more fun. As journalists, we may interview a U.S. senator one day, a world-famous musician the next, wade through a muddy creek the following and skydive on the fourth day.
I wrote the following 15 stories while at UTC and chose them as my favorites for a variety of reasons. In some, the people were simply fun to interview. In others, they had powerful stories of overcoming tragedy, battling illness or succeeding despite personal barriers. Some stories highlighted achievement due to hard work and ingenuity. And some were just a blast to report.
They’re listed in no particular order. You may remember reading a few of them. Others may be brand-new to you. Either way, I hope you enjoy them.
See y’all around.
Never giving up is only part of the story: Mocs win national student rocket competition
Members of the Rockets Mocs are, from left, Ben Shell, Jace Sullivan, Ashwyn Sam, Caleb Pace, Jordan Roberts, Austin Brewer and Dillon Grider.
Being rated No. 1 in the country as a rocket-making student team means hard work, hard thinking, dealing with failure … and watching out for snakes. The team members in this story are almost frighteningly smart (at least to me), but they’re a cool bunch of guys who never quit trying.
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Pat and Melody Ormond earn bachelor degrees from UTC
Pat Ormond and granddaughter Melody Ormond both walked at the Nov. 20, 2020, commencement ceremony to get their degrees. Pat earned her bachelor’s degree in anthropology after pursuing it little by little for 42 years. Melody earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology.
In 2017, 42 years after she took her first college class—then quit after a semester to raise a family—Pat Ormond enrolled at UTC. In her 70s. Her granddaughter Melody started at UTC the same year as Pat. Both graduated in the same month and received their diplomas in the same ceremony. An inspiring story of generational belief in themselves and each other.
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Journey from the past: Serretta Malaikham’s look back brings her forward
Serretta Malaikham graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communication from UTC in May 2022.
Serretta Malaikham was 3 years old and in the back seat of the car when her father shot and killed her mother and her uncle outside the car. “Yelling and bodies falling” are what she remembers. Her father later took his own life. I can’t even imagine what she has experienced, but she didn’t let it stop her. “This is actually the first time I’ve decided to be kind of upfront about my story just because I don’t like the whole pity feeling whenever I tell people what happened in my life,” she said.
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Down syndrome doesn’t keep Parker Davis from pursuing her dream of college
Parker Davis participated in December 2021 UTC commencement ceremonies.
A friend described Parker Davis as “sassy,” and professors said she was one of their favorite students. Parker said she was just enjoying herself. “It’s fun to learn about stuff,” she said. Parker knows she has a disability and knows it may limit what she can do, but she does what she can without feeling sorry for herself.
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College at 15: Older sister takes the plunge, younger sister does the same two years later
Shriya Purohit, left, gave her younger sister Prisha advice on what to expect when she arrived at UTC.
Shriya Purohit and her younger sister Prisha both enrolled at UTC when they were 15. Both are Honors College students. Their birthdays are three days apart. They both like ice cream. When the stars line up like this, it’s an irresistible story.
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Peas in a Pod camp makes science delicious
Peas in a Pod summer camp brought students in first through sixth grades to UTC to learn about science, engineering, arts, culture and several other topics through cooking techniques and food itself.
Watching kids do stuff they’ve never done and then be amazed by what they do is always a great way to spend a few hours. At the Peas in a Pod summer camp, students in first through sixth grades learned about science, engineering, arts, culture and several other topics through cooking techniques and food itself. Kind of like watching a live, junior version of the Food Network’s “Chopped,” complete with constant chatter, squeals and laughter
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Two Sisters, One Mom, One School: Family creating a ‘legacy’ at UTC
Kimiil Crutcher is organized and low-key; her sister Kiyanna is about as low-key as a firecracker. They were born 17 months apart but graduated from UTC at the same time. Their mother, Kimolin, also is a UTC graduate. The school became both a home and a legacy for the family. For a story, it’s impossible to resist a quote like this tongue-in-cheek one from Kimiil, for whom time is relative: “The queen can never be late; everyone else is simply early.”
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Seeking salamanders: Students research the amphibians near Chattanooga
Slipping and sliding through mud and across slime-covered rocks. Scrunching under SUV-sized boulders. Finding spider webs with your face. Searching for the green salamanders means heading out into the woods and isn’t a clean-clothes kind of research for Erin Gaylord and Nicole Cobb. Whether wandering through the woods, wading in a creek or trudging through mud, I’d rather be outdoors doing any of those – and have – than sitting at a desk on the phone when reporting on a story.
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‘Duty’ Calls: UTC gamer brings national attention to eSports team
Think eSports aren’t a big deal? Colleges are now offering scholarships to eSport players. UTC is. Student Ryan “Slim” Johnson has been ranked as one of the nation’s best in “Call of Duty.” Deaths in the game are temporary but bragging rights and skill levels remain. I don’t play video games—I’ve tried; I stink—but watching those who are better-than-good is exciting, even though sometimes it’s a blur of action that’s hard to follow.
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Return trip: UTC takes Vietnam veterans back to the Southeast Asia country
Bill Gauntt, sitting, shows Bill Raines the two POW camps in Hanoi where he was held after his plane was shot down during the Vietnam War in the 1970s.
Bill Gauntt and Bill Raines had not returned to Vietnam since they served there during the Vietnam War in the 1970s. A trip organized by Gary W. Rollins College of Business Dean Robert Dooley had Gauntt and Raines both excited, nervous and somewhat apprehensive. I was in my early teens during most of the Vietnam War, so I have a reference point for their stories and hearing the pair talk about what happened was harrowing.
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Determined amid devastation, Briana Brady has plans for the future
Briana Brady stands near her East Brainerd home Wednesday, May 6, 2020. Her family’s home was destroyed in the April 11 tornado that damaged hundreds of homes in the Chattanooga area.
Crammed into a coat closet with your mother, father, sister and brother while a tornado destroys your home is not something to be wished upon anyone. Two weeks after the tornado, however, Briana Brady learned she was a recipient of the Harold Love Outstanding Community Service Award for her outstanding social work. The award comes with a $1,000 prize, and Briana planned to give it to those who work at local family centers. Sometimes a person is simply inspirational and deserves recognition.
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UTC students’ research project controls drones using brainwaves.
A drone rises from the ground and hovers while a student nearby wears kind of a Frankenstein-y plastic hairnet and is controlling the drone strictly by brain waves. No cords or other attachments. C’mon, how could you not be absolutely awed by something like this?
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Feeding the homeless and hungry is a crusade for El Taylor
Every couple of weeks, El Taylor makes dozens of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches then heads out and gives them to the homeless. Photo by Elian Richter.
Every week or so, El Taylor makes about 100 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and then, about 10 p.m., heads into the downtown Chattanooga area and gives the sandwiches to homeless people. Not all are drug addicts or alcoholics; some are just way down on their luck, she says. Taylor puts her money where their mouths are.
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Custodians, groundskeepers, maintenance and other service workers offer friendship to students
Senior custodian Carla Mason sees herself as a friend and a mother figure to students. “I show them a smiling face and whatever else they need. I tell them, ‘Come to me if you just need to get it off your chest, I’m here.’”
We see them every day in campus buildings and on campus grounds. The custodians. The landscapers. The maintenance workers. The folks who keep the lights on, buildings clean and grass mowed. But they’re more than that. They also help take care of the people at UTC when help is needed. Unsung heroes deserve sung praises.
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‘There are still some vivid memories’: UTC alum was town manager during condo disaster in Florida
Andrew Hyatt graduated from UTC in 1989 a bachelor’s degree in political science with a concentration in public administration.
In June 2021, the collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, killed 98 people and garnered international attention. UTC alum Andy Hyatt was town manager in Surfside when the building fell and had to deal with the aftermath. Over the phone, you could feel the combination of his painful memories and simmering anger at the bureaucracy and legal wranglings that prevented him from figuring out what could be done to prevent a similar disaster. A powerful conversation.
