Shopper Blog: For Teacher of the Year Rebecca Nutter of Bearden, education is in the blood

BEARDEN

For Teacher of the Year Rebecca Nutter of Bearden, education is in the blood

John Shearer, Shopper News

Rebecca Nutter has done a lot of dancing and working with dancers, and that has come in handy for this woman who also must bounce and skip around among her various duties at Bearden High School and at home.

Not only does she teach Advanced Placement human geography classes, but she is also the freshman academy dean, a lead teacher, the BHS dance team sponsor, and mother to two active young daughters.

But she loves it all, including being an educator. “It is definitely rewarding,” she said.

The feeling must be reciprocal, as she was recently named the Knox County Schools districtwide Teacher of the Year for the high school division. She and dozens of other teachers, including fellow districtwide honorees Jill Wise of Mooreland Heights Elementary and David Gornto of Holston Middle, were recognized in late February at a banquet at the Knoxville Convention Center.

As Nutter recently discussed her career and life, she admitted to being surprised to receive the districtwide distinction. “We have such a great staff at Bearden overall. I was just honored to be nominated from Bearden but didn’t expect to win on the county level,” she said.

She has been at Bearden 12 years and had previously interned at the school while finishing up her master’s degree at the University of Tennessee, where she had also done undergraduate studies.

Realizing she would likely pursue education came even earlier. Her maternal grandfather, Donald Yates, was a school superintendent in Cleveland, Tennessee, and later had a primary school there named for him. Her grandmother taught third grade, while her mother was a kindergarten teacher.

Her father worked in the railroad industry and that resulted in her family moving around a lot, a contrast to her long tenure so far at Bearden. After attending high school in Hershey, Pennsylvania, she came to UT and took part in the University of Tennessee Dance Company, now called BOSS Dance Co.

She said she enjoys both the subject of geography and the ninth-grade level of students she teaches, adding it's fascinating to teach about different populations, migration patterns, and politics, among other issues. She even once thought about becoming a journalist because she likes current events and how they relate to the subject. “There is always something interesting happening.”

She also enjoys working with ninth graders, even though many teachers might historically prefer older and usually more mature juniors or seniors.

“I just like ninth graders,” she said, adding that human geography is the only AP class offered for freshmen. “Ninth graders are still a little bit scared and have all of high school in front of them. It is an interesting time in their lives, and I enjoy being able to help them be more confident as students.”

A new duty for her this year has been serving as freshman academy dean as part of Knox County Schools’ 865 Academies initiative. In that role working with ninth grade principal Greg Adams, she has helped build the curriculum for the freshmen seminars. Those are 30-minute classes where the students learn timely skills and are guided in selecting pathways for the rest of their high school careers.

Nutter admitted it has been a lot of additional hard work, but they have the framework in place to make the program easier to enact in future years.

Her sponsorship of the Bearden dance team has also been rewarding, as the school recently won another national dance competition this year.

Away from school, Nutter enjoys spending time with her husband, Seth Nutter, who is now an assistant principal at Gresham Middle and whom she met at UT. Their two daughters are involved in dance, with the youngest also interested in the piano and gymnastics.

It is a full life, but she enjoys teaching and is thankful for the passion she has for it, she added.

“It’s the kind of work you have to be called to do,” she said.

WORDS OF FAITH

Those who abuse power are violating God's law

John Tirro, Shopper News

In Amos, the Lord speaks terrible promises − “Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be parceled out… you yourself shall die in an unclean land” (Amos 7:17) − to a people for saying, “We will make the ephah small and the shekel great…” (8:5).

What on earth is an ephah? What’s a shekel about? Why does this matter so much to God, that the prophet Amos would say such horrible things?

The short answer is they were setting things out of balance, using false weights to benefit themselves and in the process bringing “ruin on the poor of the land” (8:4).

This was − and still is − a direct breach of God’s law: “You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, large and small. You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, large and small. You shall have only a full and honest measure, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are abhorrent to the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 25:15-16).

Isaiah, too, is concerned about this. “Look, you serve your own interest… fight and… strike with a wicked fist” (Isaiah 58:3-4). By contrast, God wants us “to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free…” (58:6).

God wants us to level the playing field. “Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low…” (Isaiah 40:4). John the Baptist agrees, “make [the Lord’s] paths straight” (Matthew 3:3), as does Mary, “[God] has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly…” (Luke 1:47, 52).

It’s the main theme of all scripture: If you don’t use your power to care for everyone, God will give it to someone who will. Just read Isaiah. It can take a long, hard season of loss to understand what happens when you ignore the poor while fighting each other for political power.

In elementary school, I learned about gerrymandering, where someone named Gerry redrew voting districts until they looked like salamanders, to benefit his own side. Third-grade me thought, “Oh, we learned that was wrong, so we don’t do that,” but Google search “Tennessee house district map” and you’ll see, every region controlled by one party looks normal, but every urban center leaning the other way looks like a plate of spaghetti.

Spaghetti-monstering might be a more appropriate term. As has been pointed out by others, the map was recently redrawn so one minority representative’s home was no longer in her own district.

It doesn’t matter which party does it: It’s false measures.

John Tirro is pastor of worship at St. John’s Lutheran Church. Info: sjlcknox.org.

HALLS

‘A joyful experience, to connect with your baby'

Ali James, Shopper News

Jade Potter was a senior college student when she found out she was pregnant. That life-changing event ultimately altered her career path.

“I had not thought of becoming a nurse,” Potter said. “I was fortunate enough to stumble across Lisa Ross Birth and Women’s Center and have my first child there and fell in love with midwifery care…

“I had a really difficult breastfeeding experience with my first child,” continued Potter, who found that her breastfeeding experience was different with all three of her children. “That experience really humbled me, and the time I spent in the NICU really changed my perspective in the way we support infant feeding in general.”

Potter had a front desk job at Lisa Ross, before it closed, went to nursing school and after graduation worked at a hospital and gradually transitioned into a job in women’s health. “I moved into antepartum and postpartum and worked as a board-certified lactation expert,” she said. “I was the only one on night shift, covering mother and babies in labor and delivery, both NICU and ICU, on the floors and in the ER. I still felt really limited in making a lasting impact on breastfeeding.”

Next Potter worked as a bedside nurse at East Tennessee Children's Hospital as well as making home lactation consultations. “My first child had a bunch of health issues, and working at a hospital, especially during COVID, was awful,” she said. “I knew I had to be able to work my own schedule.

“I realized I could see more people if they came to me,” she said. Potter started Milk + Honey Lactation Services in Erika Biddix’s Aught entrepreneurial co-working space downtown. Her success meant that Potter soon outgrew it, and in January she shifted into an office inside 5344 N. Broadway. The building is opposite Fountain City Park and also houses Scruffy City Doula.

“The foundation of everything I do at Milk + Honey Lactation Services is mental health, to ensure you have every possible thing that you need for it to be a joyful experience, to connect with your baby,” she said. “I don’t care what it looks like: exclusive breastfeeding, pumping, nursing and pumping back to work. My people don’t have low supply, but if breastfeeding is not what is best for them or their family, then we help them wean safely and slowly and find the right formula.”

Milk + Honey’s goal is to support families through finding solutions that work for them and to make feeding their baby enjoyable.

“Most of the time as a lactation consultant our services involve breastfeeding,” said Potter. “I certainly work with bottle and  formula-fed too. Babies born preterm to full-term, babies with anatomical conditions, heart conditions, cleft palate, Treacher Collins (syndrome), tube dependent and everything in between,” said Potter.

She also assists adoptive parents, surrogates and parents with their own medical conditions or that are going through cancer treatment. “I have worked with both oversuppliers and undersuppliers.”

A monthly postpartum support group meets every other Thursday in Milk + Honey’s communal space. All mothers are welcome; it is not just a breastfeeding group. “You don’t have to have had a home birth and all feeding is welcome,” said Potter.

Milk + Honey Lactation Services is poised to expand if a potential Medicaid expansion occurs. Potter will rent extra office space next door and add more support people this June. “Health insurance covers consults outside the hospital. If the budget is passed this month, they will start covering services through TennCare as soon as June 1,” she said.

Schedule appointments, book classes, and view community event calendars through www.milkhoneylactationservices.com. Potter primarily communicates through her Instagram page @breastmilk.and.honey and also posts educational material on both her webpage and social media.

With three children ages 15 months to 10 years, “I am very much in the throes of young motherhood,” Potter said. “I have always had this deep devotion to the community, like the work we did at Lisa Ross. I will graduate at the end of next year as a women’s health practitioner. My goal is to do the primary GYN postpartum health care and breastfeeding medicine and expand our lactation consultations.”

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SOUTH KNOXVILLE

Fado Made creator customizes leather accessories with a retro vibe

Ali James, Shopper News

When Jamie Kowarick was 14, she started knitting, making hats and scarves. “It sparked my interest in accessories,” she said.

“When I was deciding where to go to college, I was also a dancer, but thought that fashion might have more (career) longevity. I was excited to find the accessories program at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) in New York. I had never worked with leather but liked it as a medium. It is so sustainable and durable. It comes in so many colors, textures and finishes.”

While at FIT, Kowarick learned about handbag construction and handmade stiletto and mule-style shoes. “I could have done more in men’s shoes, but I have always been drawn to women’s wear and making things I can wear as well,” she said.

“I probably draw the most inspiration from vintage accessories. I love the shapes and styles from the 1940s through the 1970s. The first handbag I made was the box bag, which is essentially cardboard or chipboard and you glue leather to it. I like the structure of it and felt it makes a bold and graphic statement.”After graduation, Kowarick moved back to Connecticut and launched Fado Creations with a limited number of styles in embossed cow leather. Fado, pronounced FAY-doh, is a family name from Kowarick’s mother’s side.In 2016, she relocated to Knoxville with her now husband. “My husband got a job opportunity he felt he couldn’t pass up,” she said. “We had always planned to move south because the winters up north are so long and cold, but I knew nothing about Knoxville.”To deal with homesickness and help pay for their wedding. Kowarick put her yoga teaching certification to good use. She met people and made friends in the process.

In the summer of 2020, she launched Fado Made, fully customizable, high quality leather goods with a vintage vibe. The business was often put on the back burner, until January this year. That is when Kowarick was let go from her job teaching yoga at a psychiatric center due to budget cuts.

“I had a lot of people approach me in person asking if I offered custom work,” she said, of the opportunity to focus full time on Fado Made. “It made more sense that they could get exactly what they wanted in shape, size, colors, stitching, number of pockets, hardware even down to the lining.”Kowarick puts her products to the test. Before a monthlong trip to Colombia, Kowarick made a more functional version of the fanny pack she loved when she was 5 years old.

“I think about the main function of whatever accessory I design,” she said. “The fanny pack ‘Cross your heart’ bag needed to be compact and close securely. It fits my phone, my smaller wallet, a pair of sunglasses and even a travel sized sunscreen, all of the little essentials you need on vacation.”

Fado Made’s online shop includes key chains, handbags in various sizes, cross body bags and baguette bags.

“The headbands have been pretty popular. They are leather wrapped for extra cushioning, so they don’t pinch,” she said. “I am dabbling in making sandals. They are more challenging to get the perfect sizing, but I have gotten good feedback on the few custom pairs I have made.”

Wallets are some of the hardest-working accessories, according to Kowarick. “Everyone pretty much has one, but you have to remember that it needs to be durable, reliable and not fall apart,” she said.

Kowarick hoped that her heart-shaped ‘Sweetheart’ bags would be popular. “I am pleasantly surprised that people have ordered it,” she said. “It is a fun item to produce, and I am in the process of making four of them for the spring shows I have coming up.”

Fado Made will be a vendor at the Dogwood Arts Festival April 28-30; Retropolitan Craft Faire May 7; and Southern Skies Music Festival May 20-21, 2023. Tellico Goods and Gear is opening this month and will also carry Fado Made.Kowarick is leading a Make Learn Grow: Wellness in Entrepreneurship workshop at the Knoxville Entrepreneurship Center, 6-8:30 p.m. on April 20.

“I will be going over certain techniques and practices I have learned through teaching yoga,” she said.

“I share how to create personal mantras, yoga poses, the emotional freedom of tapping to release certain emotions, how to lessen the intensity to feel more grounded with regulated breathing practices. Things I have found helpful for myself as an entrepreneur.”

More information is at Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/make-learn-grow-wellness-in-entrepreneurship-tickets-597796695007?aff=odeimcmailchimp&mc_cid=9eeae3edc9&mc_eid=0bac7def73

POWELL

Chiropractor couple put personal experience into practice

Al Lesar, Shopper News

When a chiropractor correctly diagnosed a medical condition that others in the medical community missed, Andy Scoles found a career path.

It was 1996 and 23-year-old Andy was hurting. The sudden onset of symptoms included severe pain in his hands and feet. Blood pressure and heart rate were elevated. Ultimately, he found himself in a wheelchair.

After examinations in the top medical facilities in the Midwest couldn’t find anything, he turned to a chiropractor. The exam found that a bone in the base of his neck was out of place, putting pressure on the brain stem. That pressure generated the symptoms. Once treated, they were resolved.

Andy had taken quite a spill water skiing a month earlier, which could have brought on the problem.

“The (medical doctors) never thought to look that high (on the spine),” Andy said. “The chiropractor used a plain film X-ray to see the whole spine. I always had faith I’d get better.

“That convinced me what I wanted to do.”

About 25 years later, Andy and his wife, Jennifer, who live in Powell with their 15-year-old son, opened Scoles Family Chiropractic.

Building a practice

Jennifer grew up in Indiana. It was a car crash that led to her first exposure to a chiropractor, but it hardly carried the same impact as Andy’s.

“After the accident, my dad suggested I get checked out by a chiropractor,” she said. “There was nothing serious, but I was still impressed with the exam.”

Andy and Jennifer met in chiropractic school near Atlanta. They graduated, got married, and opened their practice in the Karns area, all in 2002.

“It was a busy year,” Jennifer said.

Several months were spent living in an RV in the practice parking lot before they found their house in Powell.

“It was difficult to build a practice,” Andy said. “We did a lot of networking; a lot of ‘lunch and learns’ at businesses. It started slowly, but we’ve been able to grow about 10 times since then. That’s probably better than average for industry standards.”

Educating the public

The Scoleses have faced public misconceptions about chiropractors for years. Their teaching response hasn’t changed.

“Most people think it’s just for treating aches and pains,” Jennifer said. “They don’t realize that the nervous system controls everything.

“In grade school you learn that the spine holds you up. We want to re-educate people so they understand how important it is to have a functioning nervous system. There’s more to dealing with a problem than just popping a pill. What we do goes beyond medication. A lot of time, surgery is not really the best answer for a situation.”

Andy said it varies; they have a good relationship with some medical doctors, while others choose not to communicate.

“We’re there to keep people healthy,” Jennifer said. “A lot of people don’t realize that we see children and even babies. We can treat colic and ear infections with what we do.”

The Scoleses and their staff of three assistants and two associate doctors of chiropractic have office hours 2:45 p.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Thursday. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they see patients 9 a.m.-noon. Saturday is by appointment.

For more information, got to www.healthyknox.com, email info@healthyknox.com, or call 865-531-8025.

FARRAGUT

Kids don’t mind empty eggs at church Easter bash

Nancy Anderson, Shopper News

Most in attendance would agree that West Towne Christian Church knows how to throw an Easter party. The annual Easter Eggstravaganza went off without a hitch, filling the Family Life Center with smiling faces.

The yard was covered with 2,000 brightly colored plastic eggs, but there’s something different about those eggs: they’re empty. Most events fill their eggs with candy, but West Towne Christian Church trades the basket of empty eggs for a goody bag filled with candy, toys and games.

Sarah Brown, mom to little Ranen Brown (who seemed to thoroughly enjoy his first Easter egg hunt) said the system seems more fair for everyone.

“I really like that the eggs are empty. No one gets more treats than anyone else. The little kids collect one egg and examine it while the bigger kids collect them all. This way, they get the excitement of collecting the eggs, but then they trade them in for a goody bag. The whole thing is so well put together,” she said.

The Family Life Center was filled with inflatables and games, thrilling the kids of all ages. Even parents got in on the action during a sack race.

Volunteers Dani Krahn and Rob Krahn cooked up and served a large bin of hotdogs. The kids seemed to enjoy the hotdogs, and the Krahns wanted to keep it simple.

“Kids love hotdogs; well, adults do too … I don’t even know how many we cooked up. A lot, but we just wanted to keep it simple with dogs and chips,” said Dani Krahn.

Family Minister David Springer said the Eggstravaganza is a popular annual event.

“We kick off our Easter season with this event, which we hold the first Sunday in April every year. The kids love it. We keep them busy and they go home exhausted. The parents get to fellowship a little and watch the kids play with all the games.

“We have inflatables, cookie decorating, egg dyeing, just all sorts of fun for the kids. We have a hotdog lunch, then a devotional that’s really cute (that) the kids can understand. I take 12 plastic eggs and tell the story of Jesus as I open each one. Then we do the egg hunt and goody bag exchange. Everyone is happy.”

The church has several fundraisers on the books.

The annual Wheels and Deals car show and yard sale will be April 22 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

NORTH KNOXVILLE

Easter portraits help chained dogs go free

Carol Z. Shane, Shopper News

Area canines met up with area leporines – sort of – when The Bark and The Royal Bark Social Club, downtown Knoxville’s premier doggie day care services, held “take a picture with the Easter Bunny” events.

On Thursday, April 6, staff of The Bark greeted their portrait subjects in their brightly decorated lobby, where the Easter Bunny – The Bark owner Hanna Harris – waited on a park bench, trusting her expert trainer Auburn Showalter to get the dogs into position. Handler and treat-giver Hannah Engelman crouched nearby, camera in hand.

It’s a popular event among clients and friends of The Bark. “I think we are at capacity – we were only able to take 60 and we’ve got 60,” said Harris. Those who missed out had another chance, though. “Our Easter Bunny will be back for an egg hunt next week. We’re getting little eggs made from River Dog Bakery.”

The Bark will celebrate its first anniversary on May 14 with a big birthday party. Popular with the downtown residents who make up most of its clientele, The Bark features a 5,115-square-foot completely fenced-and-artificially-turfed outdoor play space, known as The Camp, as well as abundant indoor space. It’s also a social club for the dogs’ humans, with a bar offering a wide variety of locally brewed beer, ale, hard cider and nonalcoholic drinks as well.

Over at Merchants of Beer in the Old City, The Royal Bark Social Club (RBSC) held its annual Easter-season event, Peter Cotton Paws, on Saturday, April 1.

The RBSC is going on five years old. “We’ve been very fortunate,” said owner Alisa Hamby. “We have 55-60 dogs a day. A lot of our clients work downtown or at UT Medical Center.”

Hamby and her staff provide off leash play all day, boarding and grooming. “We like to use the ‘fear-free’ grooming,” she said. “We don’t tether to tubs or table. Instead, we sing to them, act goofy – whatever it takes!” Hamby said that she’s seen dogs who previously hated baths “keep coming.”

That tether-free philosophy extends to the recipient of the proceeds from the event. ChainFree Knoxville was formed as a nonprofit in response to the hundreds of chained dogs in the Knoxville community. Since the fall of 2021, they’ve freed 76 dogs from life at the end of a chain by offering free fence builds.

Hamby said, “I went to a build last year with a mom and her son. It was absolutely very touching to see these dogs come out from their house and see this fenced-in area and run and play. They were like different dogs.”

One of the organization’s TikTok videos garnered 2.2 million views, and the website has since become a fundraising source. “We’ve had people contact us from all over the country,” said co-founder Jana Cecil.

ChainFree Knoxville’s mission is further reinforced by new conditions established by the City of Knoxville, which place strict limits on tethering and emphasize specific humane requirements which, if not met, are punishable by fine, effective July 1.

Info: chainfreeknoxville.com

thebarkknoxville.com

royalbarksocialclub.com

OPINION

Parenting truths emerge late

Leslie Snow, Shopper News

It was all so familiar that at first I forgot myself. I approached the baseball diamond for Simon’s practice like I was one of the young moms, counting down the last few weeks of school and casually talking about summer camps for the kids. I looked for a mom who looked like me, someone who might be interested in a conversation about the stresses of end-of-the-year testing or buying the right teacher gifts.

But then I remembered. Nobody at practice looked like me. The truth hit me like a line drive, and I chuckled, quietly. “You’re the grandmother this time around, not the mom,” the voice in my head chided gently. “You’re the white-haired lady in the bleachers that nobody knows.”

Outwardly, I might have been sitting quietly in the bleachers, but inside, I was reeling from the swell of memories crashing into me. Zack, getting hit by a pitch early in the season, then trying to muster his courage at each at-bat that followed. Ethan, standing at the fence line longing to play ball alongside his brother.

There were so many perfect moments on these fields. Zack, overcoming his fears for his first base hit. Ethan, running to the dugout when the coach yelled “run home.” And that magical night when he caught a fly ball to win the game. Like a scene from a movie, Ethan held up his glove and watched the ball fall in.

I thought about the past while I watched Simon field ground balls in the infield. I shifted back and forth between the memories and the present in a dizzying wave of deja vu. Sometimes, snippets of familiar conversations interrupted my reverie. Years may have passed, but the stress of raising children has remained the same.

I listened to debates about the best second grade teachers and worries about younger siblings starting school. I heard stories about travel baseball conflicting with competitive soccer and discussions about the best leagues for the most talented athletes. I heard tired parents worry about how to fill the long days of summer and listened to a couple of working moms share ear infections stories while they waited in line for concessions.

I felt a surge of sympathy for all their parenting stress. I remembered those feelings. I remembered those conversations because I’d had them all before.

There’s such an intensity to that life stage. Raising young children is hard and sometimes it feels as if one wrong move could send your child down a bad path. The world seems so big and so small all at the same time. Every decision seems vitally important. Every choice could be the wrong one.

If I were free to talk to these strangers, I would tell them it’s OK.

It’s OK to play rec soccer. It’s OK to let your kids ride the school bus. It’s OK to eat Oreos before dinner every once in a while. It’s OK to struggle.

There were so many nights I stayed up late worrying about my parenting mistakes or fretting about the choices my kids were making. But even our biggest problems from those days have softened over time. They didn’t ruin us. Ethan found success even after he forgot to study his freshman year of college.

I wanted to tell all those young parents agonizing about the best summer camps that, in 20 years, they’ll wonder why they were so worried. I want to tell them every truth I know, but they won’t believe me. Not until they’re sitting in the bleachers, white-haired, the second time around.

Leslie Snow may be reached at snow column@aol.com.

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