Tusculum alumni sweep Teacher of the Year honors in Greeneville School System
Three Tusculum alumni have been chosen to be the system-level Teacher of the Year honorees for Greeneville City Schools for 2015. Finette Craft ’10 has been named the honoree for the pre-kindergarten-4 level; Aundrea Gunter ’08 for the grades 5-8 level, and John Morrell ’93 for the grades 9-12 level.
Craft is a third grade language arts teacher at Hal Henard Elementary School. She has been a member of the school’s faculty for eight years and participates on the differentiated instruction leadership team. She serves on the Hal Henard Leadership Team and is also the third-grade team leader.
Gunter is an eighth-grade science teacher at Greeneville Middle School. She has been a member of the GMS faculty for five years and has worked in public education for seven years. She is the GMS Science Team leader, the GMS Leadership Team and the district STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) team.
Morrell teaches Advanced Placement American, European and World History for grades 9-12 at Greeneville High School. He has 30 years of teaching experience with 25 of them being at GHS. He recently served as the Social Studies Department Chairman and was a member of the GHS Leadership Team.
Each school in the district selects a building-level Teacher of the Year, and a committee then selects the system-level representatives from those honorees. The system-level honorees advance the next level of competition for a chance to be named Tennessee Teacher of the Year in their respective divisions. The Tennessee Teacher of the Year Program is designed to promote recognition, respect and appreciation for teachers; stimulate interest in teaching as a career; and encourage public involvement in education. The program is sponsored annually by the Tennessee Department of Education and the Niswonger Foundation.
’50s
The Rev. Don Wright ’53 and Dorothy Jaynes Wright ’54 have moved into a new home in Canton, MI. Don has served 10 churches as an interim pastor. He is ending service to Erin Presbyterian Church in Roseville, MI, and is returning to service at First Presbyterian Church of Dearborn, MI. Don is pastor emeritus at the Dearborn church and will be serving it while the current pastor is on sabbatical leave and the church searches for a new pastor.
’00s
Craig Pritchett ’03 has been named the next head football at Brevard High School in Brevard, NC. Craig is currently a graphic arts teacher and the defensive coordinator for the football team at Ridgeland High School in Rossville, GA. He has served as an assistant coach at Ridgeland for the past 10 years and served as defensive coordinator for the past five years. In 2012, the high school played in the state championship and has won four regional championships since 2008. During his time at Tusculum, Craig was a four-year starter and team captain for the Pioneer football team. He was presented the 2003 President’s Award and was was named to the national American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team. He was inducted into the Tusculum Sports Hall of Fame during Homecoming 2014.
Rodney Ellison ’07 has been named Powell High School’s next head football coach. Rodney will join the Knox County, TN, school next August as the 2015-16 school year begins. Rodney began coaching football at Jacksboro Middle School from 1997 to 2002. He began coaching on the high school level in 2006 as an assistant coach at Bearden High School. Rodney was head coach and offensive coordinator at Wartburg Central in 2001 and has served as offensive coordinator for the past two seasons at Clinton High School in Anderson County. He is currently a physical education teacher at Norwood Middle School in Anderson County and will also teach physical education at Powell. He earned a master’s degree in recreation and sports science with an emphasis in coaching education from Ohio University in 2013. He and his Jocelyn, and their three children live in Oak Ridge, TN.
Brian L. Pike ’95 and his wife, Alexandra Mora, are celebrating the birth of their first child, Gabriel Alexander Pike. He was born at Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore on Jan. 6, 2015. Brian is stationed at the Naval Medical Research Center in Singapore.
’40s
Muriel Ann Olson Mason ’43 of Mandeville, LA, on Monday, Dec. 1, 2014. She had met her husband, John Mason, while she was volunteering for the USO during World War II. Upon his return following the war, they married and lived in New Orleans, New York and Annapolis, MD, until his death in 1991. She then spent a few years with a her sister in Tuscon, AZ, before joining her son, Dr. John D. Mason, and his family, in Mandeville, after he retired from the U.S. Navy. Mrs. Mason was a devoted housewife and mother as well as a Sunday school teacher, volunteer and antique shop proprietor. She loved politics and American history, especially about Native Americans and presidential first ladies.
Helen Bicknel Kinser Sparling ’47 of Sweetwater, TN, passed away on December 5, 2013. Mrs. Sparling was a retired engineering statistician who worked at E. I. DuPont. She was a lifelong member of the First Presbyterian Church of Sweetwater. She was a kind and loving neighbor and loved and cared for animals. She was a member of the Daughter of the American Revolution.
’60s
Louis William “Bill” Pilloni ’60 passed away on Jan. 12, 2015. Mr. Pilloni had served his Alma Mater a trustee from 1998 to 2005. He and his wife, Jane Shanks Pilloni ’59, have been true friends to Tusculum, supportive and engaged in the life of the College for many years, including serving in leadership roles in the Tusculum 2000 Campaign and Bicentennial Campaign. Mrs. Pilloni is currently serving as a Life Trustee of the College. Mr. Pilloni worked for Packing Industries and retired as a business manager with Prudential Insurance Company of Northern New Jersey. He was active in Bloomfield Presbyterian Church, the Newark Jaycees, the New York Society of Model Railroaders, the Sierra Club and the Glen Ridge Music Parents. Mr. Pilloni had coached a middle school boys basketball. He enjoyed sailing in Barnegat Bay, NJ, motor boating and water skiing. Healso had served as a life guard at Normandy Beach, NJ. After retirement, the Pillonis moved to Greeneville, attending many Tusculum events and Pioneer athletic games. Mr. Pilloni was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Greeneville, where he had married Jane in 1959. Memorial contributions may be made to the Pilloni Endowed Scholarship at Tusculum, which was established by the Pillonis in 1998 to assist deserving students with financial need.
’00s
Gregory Rex Hopson ’02 of Greeneville passed away on Jan. 22, 2015. Mr. Hopson was employed at Wal-Mart Regional Distribution Center.