I made an error on the time school is being dismissed on Wednesday for break, so I’m correcting it here. School will dismiss at 1:25 p.m., not at 1:00. Sorry about that! But here is another chance to read about some of the wonderful things happening in the Knoxville School District!
Riley Reid and Karlie Pettyjohn are FFA officers who love advocating for the organization.
I asked them what they like about FFA. Here is Riley then Karlie:
I'm an officer currently. I'm the president of our chapter and I like how close our officer teams can be, and like officer bonding like tonight…we're having our officer Christmas where we do Secret Santa so everybody buys for another person and just the different types of memories that you can make because one of my key quotes is you can outgrow the jacket but you can never outgrow the memories because your FFA blue corduroy jacket won't fit forever, but all the memories that you make going to events and being involved. Those will stay for longer.
What a great philosophy! Do you share that Karlie?
Yeah, I'm currently the secretary of the chapter at the moment. And I also enjoy the memories like the showing memories that you have with everybody and just like all the memories all the different events you get to go to because you're gonna meet new people and you can become close friends with them.
They also share how they like working with goats, the advice they have for any students thinking about joining FFA, and more. Below is our full interview:
Lots of work went into decorating the Christmas tree at the high school.



The choir room is all decked out for the season. The Christmas tree is to the left, then a decoration. The scarves to the right were worn while the choir was caroling at Wells Fargo Bank during Living Windows.
Meet Gordon the turtle, proprietor of Gordon’s Coffee Connection, a pop-up coffee and treat shop that opens on occasion in Anne Gullion’s classroom at Northstar Elementary.


Mrs. Gullion told me that they used the class pet, Gordon the turtle as inspiration for the name of the coffee shop. The students serve baked goods and coffee to the staff. Proceeds go to classroom supplies and to fill student needs.
The kids tell me that Northstar Principal John Keitges drinks A LOT of coffee! Here is our full interview:
School dismisses at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 20 for Christmas break. Break lasts until Thursday, January 4, 2024. Panther Tales will also be taking a break! We’ll be back on Monday, January 8. Enjoy the holidays!
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Panther Tales: Dr. Bob Goes Back to School. You will find it in your inbox early every Monday morning. If you enjoyed it, please share and encourage others to subscribe. Please consider being a paid subscriber. All proceeds go into the student activity fund. There are two subscription options. One is as an individual member, which is an investment of $5.00 a month or $50 per year. If you want to be a founding member, it’s a tax-deductible investment of $250 per year, and should you choose, we will recognize you at the bottom of every post for your donation. Please remember—it’s not a cost. It’s an investment. In our kids and grandkids, in Knoxville, and in our future.
Please share this newsletter with your family and friends!