Senior Shannon Smith Headed to Roane State

May 12, 2020 Evensville, TN --  Shannon Smith, lists parents as Layla Worthington, Randall Worthington, Charles Smith , and Amanda Smith.  Shannon is the oldest of seven children in her family.  She attend several different schools as young girl in Florida and began at Rhea County High School in her sophomore year at Rhea County High School.   Shannon played several sports growing up, including soccer, tennis and softball.  After graduation from Rhea County High School, she plans to attend Roane State Community College in Harriman, Tennessee and go to Emergency Medical Technician(EMT) training. What are your interest and Hobbies? "I am a Volunteer Firefighter for Rhea County and I love going on adventures outside like swimming and hiking." Who was your favorite teacher(s) in school? "Mrs. Hennessy my fifth grade teacher was my favorite.  She was there for me when I was going through a lot that year.   She was like a grandmother to me" What was the impact on loosing 3 months of school? "I lost a lot time to say bye to my cadets I was in JROTC as a Company Commander and not being able to hangout with my friends most of my friends all leaving the state for their careers." "COVID-19: has been a hassle on things we use to do normally . I find this whole thing annoying the Media has made it out to be so horrible." Do you have any words of wisdom for the upcoming freshman class? "I would like to tell the Freshmen to keep their head up it might be hard the first year of high school but you got this it’ll get easier." Talk about your JROTC experience at Rhea County High School. "JROTC is a great program in the high school   I had interest in  JROTC because my cousin was in it and she loved it .  It gives you a family feeling we all come from different backgrounds and to come into a classroom that didn’t judge is amazing. Me being one of the company commanders was one of the best experiences in my high school career.  My company was amazing.  They all were there for each other.  One of the best memories of JROTC was JCLC, a tough JROTC leadership class .  You learn how to survive in this crazy world." Talk about your time with the Voluntter Fire Department. "I joined the Volunteer Fire Department in mid 2017 as a Junior.  I always wanted to do volunteer fire stuff,  but in Florida we don’t have the Volunteer Fire Department.  When I came up to Rhea County and found out about I could get involved, I was all in.   I took about a year off for personal reasons, but now I am back in it as a Training Officer Assistant. at the Wolf Creek Fire Department.  In the future I would love to joing the Spring City Fire Department after all this COVID-19 stuff .   I love everything about the fire department.   There is never a dull moment."