{"id":855,"date":"2024-12-19T14:57:53","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T14:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/?p=855"},"modified":"2024-12-19T14:57:53","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T14:57:53","slug":"three-family-members-graduate-from-pellissippi-state-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/?p=855","title":{"rendered":"Three family members graduate from Pellissippi State together"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Tim Dabney,<\/strong> right, and his stepchildren Lexi<\/strong> and Zane Douglas,<\/strong> from left, graduated from Pellissippi State together on Saturday, May 7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jennifer Dabney of Maryville had three good reasons to be at Pellissippi State Community College\u2019s spring 2022 Commencement: her husband, her daughter and her son. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Dabney,<\/strong> 41, and his stepchildren Lexi Douglas,<\/strong> 24, and Zane Douglas,<\/strong> 22, earned their associate degrees at Pellissippi State, walking across the stage May 7 to a cheering section that included two sets of parents, an aunt and several friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy wife was the first to notice that we had the opportunity to finish our programs at the same time, and she pushed us to do it,\u201d said Dabney, who met his stepchildren when they were 3 and 1 years old and married their mom when they were 8 and 6. \u201cShe said, \u2018We\u2019ve got to have a party, and we\u2019re all going to the ceremony.\u2019 She was the one who recognized how unique this was and a big deal.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dabney and Zane started Pellissippi State together in fall 2018, taking advantage of the Tennessee Reconnect last-dollar scholarship for adults who never finished their college degrees and the Tennessee Promise last-dollar scholarship for college students coming straight into higher education from high school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor Zane and me, it had a lot to do with economics,\u201d said Dabney, who works as a team leader at DENSO. \u201cWe knew we could get our associates for free, plus having a campus here in Blount County helped, too.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During their first semester, Dabney and Zane had English 101 together, but after that, they didn\u2019t cross paths at Pellissippi State. Dabney was taking night classes in Business Management while Zane was studying Mechanical Engineering Technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was apprehensive about going back to school at first, but it honestly wasn\u2019t that bad,\u201d said Dabney, who has been in management at DENSO for about 11 years and wanted to get his associate degree to open future opportunities with the company. \u201cI was able to pull from both my experience at DENSO and the courses I\u2019ve taken here at work. Time was the hard part.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That meant long days for Dabney, who gets up at 4 a.m. to be at work by 5. Attending classes after work meant late nights, driving home having not had dinner and falling asleep just to start over again. Dabney eventually moved to taking his classes fully online his last couple of semesters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat scared me to death at first, but it worked out really well,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, a couple of things happened in their household: Zane left Pellissippi State for a full-time job before he finished his degree, but Lexi came to the community college after having started at Maryville College. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe second I talked to the advisors here, they said I\u2019d only have to finish a couple of semesters to have my associate degree,\u201d said Lexi, who also is employed by DENSO. \u201cI was really impressed with the professors here, they were so nice and clear, and Will Buck<\/strong> in the Blount County Campus library was always helpful, too.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zane resigned from his job so that he could finish the degree he started, which put all three of the family on track to graduate. Dabney earned his Associate of Applied Science in Business Management, Lexi graduated with a General Associate of Science and Zane completed his Associate of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering Technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a great idea to try to finish together, but it was a little bit hectic,\u201d Dabney said, laughing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Degrees in hand, Dabney and Lexi are still employed with DENSO, and Zane\u2019s goal is to get on with the company as an engineering tech, he said. Lexi added that she is using her job as a DENSO associate to help her pay for a bachelor\u2019s degree in marketing or business analytics in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGoing forward, if either of us decide to finish our bachelor\u2019s degrees, DENSO has programs that will help us pay for that,\u201d Dabney noted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, however, Dabney has his eye on a different level of education: K-12. He\u2019s running for Maryville City Schools Board of Education in August. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow that the kids are grown and I\u2019ve finished my degree, I have more time to serve the community,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

### <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Dabney of Maryville had three good reasons to be at Pellissippi State Community College\u2019s spring 2022 Commencement: her husband, her daughter and her son.  Tim Dabney, 41, and his stepchildren Lexi Douglas, 24, and Zane Douglas, 22, earned their associate degrees at Pellissippi State, walking across the stage May 7 to a cheering section […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=855"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":857,"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855\/revisions\/857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policies.pstcc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}