Class Notes

Kevin L. Fowler ’08 graduated from Lamar University in December with a doctorate in Global Education Leadership.

Jason Lambert has been named the head baseball coach at Loudon High School in Loudon, TN.

Metro Drug Coalition's board president, Jim LaPinska, receives Young Professionals of Knoxville's Outstanding Young Professional award on November 15, 2019. Pictured L to R: Deborah Crouse, MDC's Media Relations Director and Jim LaPinska, MDC's Board President.

Stevenson University Director of Athletics Brett Adams announced that John Mackersie, a 2008 graduate of Maryville College (Tenn.), has been hired as the new head strength and conditioning coach. Mackersie has over 10 years of experience in college athletics as both a player and a coach.

premiered with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst in March. While studying with Vinson Cole at the Cleveland Institute of Music, she starred as Blanche in Dialogues of the Carmelites and as Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel. For her portrayal of Niece 1 in Peter Grimes this summer, the Aspen Times acclaimed her as one of “a fetching pair of nieces in Auntie’s fold. Their Act 2 quartet with Ellen… was a waft of unexpected warmth.” Other major roles include Anne in A Little Night Music, Cathleen in Riders to the Sea, and Naiad in Ariadne auf Naxos. April he has been chosen for summer programs in Austria, Germany, Italy, and the US. In March and October of 2012, she sang the roles of Katrina and the Old Woman with the Canton Symphony in David Gooding’s opera The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. She began work on an Artist Certificate at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in August. April earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Maryville College in 2008. Her mother, Genie Martin, graduated in 1979 with a degree in Sociology. She is the pastor at Springwood Presbyterian Church in Burlington, NC. Ms. Martin will be giving an “informance” this Sunday, January 5 at 7:30 pm in the Lambert Recital Hall. In addition to performing a few selections, she will also discuss the audition process and graduate school experience.

April Martin was the guest soloist for the Homecoming Choir Concert in October.

are expecting their first child, a boy, in August of this year.

Hannah started a new job in April 2023 at Second Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tn as the Director of Communications and Family Care.

Joe Norskov’s L&N STEM Academy ultimate frisbee team placed 7th in the nation in June while competing at an invite-only national high school tournament in Rockford, Illinois sponsored By UP Cleats and Discraft.

Joe Norskov ’08 has been given a local award — 2019 Knoxville Class of Rising Stars from Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He is motivated by engineering alumnus, Chris Allen ’09. Joe and Chris met at Maryville and are still friends today. Chris has been fighting Cystic Fibrosis his whole life. Joe is currently in 1st place for the class of 9 Rising Stars: Here’s Joe’s blog post he wrote with more information

works in Knoxville with Sorenson VRS, KCD, and other agencies as an interpreter and at Maryville College as an interpreter and AEI interpreting skills mentor with interpreting students. While at Maryville College she worked on dual majors in AEI and ASL/Deaf Studies. Megan is now NIC (National Interpreter Certification) Certified

and Joe Fitzgerald ’05 presented at AOCC (Alumni of Color Conference) February 27-28, 2015. AOCC is a conference created and held by the Harvard Graduate School of Education every year. Their workshop was about black males with learning disabilities and best practices for this population. In the workshop they frame the discussion around their experiences and then using critical race and critical disability theory, to analyze the narratives. They collectively represent Prosper & Partners International Consulting Firm, LLC.

Tracie Witherspoon Russell ’08 has been promoted to Senior Associate Professor of Mathematics at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, WA.

Aaron Schmissrauter ’08, managing partner of Restaurant Linderhof, recently learned that his Knoxville restaurant has been nominated to be featured on the Food Network TV show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” hosted by Guy Fieri. Read more: http://www.farragutpress.com/articles/2017/08/6416.php

works in Morganton, NC as a community and educational interpreter and is NIC (National Interpreter Certification) Advanced.

writes in to say that she has a new job as an Event and Trade Show Coordinator for Alltech, North America.

Saray Taylor-Roman ’08, a Knoxville-based portrait photographer won 1st place in Teen & Senior category at The 2019 Portrait Masters Awards. Out of 8609 worldwide entries, she took the top six spots. This year she earned a total of 10 silver awards in three different portrait categories. It’s important to mention that only 2% of all entries received a silver award. Each images is judged anonymously by a panel of 11 international photography judges. Then, their scores are averaged, and the images are ranked. Saray received her Associate’s with The Portrait Masters in 2017. And in the summer of 2018, she was one of five photographers worldwide to receive their Master’s Accreditation. What set her apart was the fact that she reached her Masters with all silver awards. As of now, no other photographer with The Portrait Masters Accreditation can claim to have done the same. Currently Saray is working to achieve her Grand Masters title by the end of this year. Her clients, both abroad and local, can’t say enough about the images she creates for them. Check out her Google Reviews Page. Saray is a Maryville College graduate, a board member of teh MC Alumni Association, a first-generation immigrant, and has called Knoxville home for the last 14 years. She is involved in her local church and loves to volunteer around town. She graduated in 2008 with a double degree in Education and International Studies, was a recipient of the Dean Award several times as well as one the top 4 Seniors of her class. She took a couple of photography courses at Maryville College. And this video shows an excerpt from the Awards Ceremony this year held in Los Angeles, CA. https://youtu.be/dMcfEZorJIU.

was one of the five members of the VIEO web design team nominated for Big Wigs Award, from the the American Advertising Federation of Knoxville. Emily was nominated for Best Blogger. The Knoxville Big Wigs recognize the people behind the best marketing and advertising in East Tennessee.

Jesse Zabal ’08 has been named Loyola Head Volleyball Coach. She formerly was MC Assistant Volleyball Coach. Read more here: http://bit.ly/2pjksOz

This year, Jesse’s team won the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) regular season championship title, and it was the first time for her volleyball program to win the SSAC during one of their most difficult seasons to date. Jesse explained in an interview that “when Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans, we evacuated with our entire team and were on the road for two weeks. We hopped from hotel to hotel across two states and did what we could to keep our season going. We returned to New Orleans to a devastated sports complex and have yet to practice or compete in our own gym since we left for evacuation. We practiced in high schools around the city and played home matches in every college gym in the city except our own, and we were still able to compete at a very high level and earn this title for our program. Due to our success, our team earned conference awards for Player of the Year, Co-Freshman of the Year, Assistant Coach of the Year, and I earned my first Coach of the Year award. We also had seven players earn All-Academic awards.”