Tag: Local

Boating, Chattanooga, Chattanooga Audubon Society, community, Daily Life, Entertainment, Environment, Family, History, Love, outdoors

Replicating History

Written by Hannah Godel

Cathy St. Georges takes the helm while Jerry Lee Jones offers a wave from the stern as they navigate the Tennessee River. The 31-foot custom cruiser represents a multi-year commitment by Jones. Wednesday April 22, 2026 (Photo by Hannah Godel)

Jerry Lee Jones doesn’t need a map to find his favorite stretch of the Tennessee River; he follows the sun. With fiancé Cathy St. Georges at his side, the engine’s hum fades into the background, replaced by the rhythmic rush of the water against the hull. For a few hours, the rest of the world is just a dock they’ve left behind.

After decades navigating the corporate landscape at IBM, Jones has traded the glow of a computer screen for the grain of polished wood. Having spent years quietly crafting hulls in his garage, the retiree now has the one thing his career couldn’t provide: the freedom to follow the river whenever the water calls his name.

Woodworking has been a part of Jones’ life for as long as he can remember. At ten years old, he and his father built a kayak together, a project that sparked a lifelong obsession. That project did more than just teach him how to join two pieces of wood; it instilled a standard of beauty that the modern world rarely meets.

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Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Daily Life, Diversity, Environment, Healing, LGBTQ+, outdoors, Rockclimbing

Finding Footing

Written by CJ Copeland

Liz, Morgan, Iris, and Austin prepare for a route at Wauhatchie Woodlands. The four are a part of the Queer Climbing Club in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and meet to climb as a group. Monday, April 13, 2026 (Photo by Cj Copeland)

Chalk dust drifts through the air as climbers gather around a cluster of boulders, spotting each other and mapping out routes on rough stone. Laughter cuts through the quiet of the outdoors, mixing with the sounds of shoes scraping rock and people calling out encouragement from below. For some, it’s just a day of climbing. For others, it’s something more: a space where they can exist as themselves.

Morgan started climbing in college after moving to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Drawn in by the physical challenge and problem-solving, they quickly found a love for the sport. “I felt pretty closed off in the climbing community when I first got here, just because I didn’t know anybody,” they say. “Sometimes it can be hard to sort of break into it.”

That feeling isn’t uncommon. Climbing communities, especially outdoor ones, often rely on word-of-mouth, and shared experience. For someone new, not just to climbing, but to the area, it can feel like everyone else already knows where they belong.

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Malcolm Key Audio, Uncategorized

Rising Rock Radio Showcase 2026
Graphic by Kylee Boone

Rising Rock is excited to showcase some of our best audio stories from this past semester in a continued partnership with Scenic Roots.

Check out the individual audio stories here or listen to the entire showcase on WUTC. ADD LINK HERE

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Chattanooga, community, Daily Life, Family, Healing, Health, Nurses, women

A Heart of Steel

Written by Zoie Denton

On June 1st, 2019, Rhonda Gilliland died during a heart cath procedure. She was shocked back to life and later received a heart transplant. She speaks on the importance of faith and family through the recovery process and what a second chance at life means to her.

Before everything changed, Rhonda Gilliland was simply a daughter saying goodbye to her father. Within hours of his passing, she faced her own life-threatening crisis, entering what she describes as a peaceful place between worlds before returning to a long, painful recovery.  A life-saving heart transplant ultimately reshaped how she understands time, loss, and what it truly means to live.

On June 1, 2019, Gilliland sat beside her father as his life quietly slipped away. The room, heavy suspended between breaths and memories. Machines hummed softly in the background, but Gilliland barely noticed them. Her focus was on her dad, the man who had always been her anchor. She held onto each moment, unwilling to let go.

Then, without warning, everything changed. Gilliland’s chest started to physically hurt.

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Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Daily Life, Diversity, Environment, Family, Health, Love, Malcolm Key Audio, outdoors, Uncategorized

Hands that Push, Hearts that Lead

Written by Kayelyn McCaslin

A group of adventurers navigate paths with adaptive gear. Each chair is built to handle the challenges of the trail. They’re able to enjoy access, freedom, and the joy of being outside. Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (Photo by Andromeda Stewart)

A steady rhythm of metal and motion cuts through a quiet trail, the soft clicking of chains, the hum of wheels as hands push left, right, left along a path through Greenway Farms in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Somewhere between effort and ease, mechanics and mountainside, Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors’ Therapeutic Recreation department is bridging a gap. With the help of brand new GRIT adaptive junior wheelchairs, it’s not just about access to local trails, but a sense of belonging that all youth deserve.

Making Chattanooga’s scenic trails accessible to all is no single effort. It is the result of collaboration and dedication shared between GRIT Freedom’s All-Terrain wheelchair technology, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation’s quality-of-life grant, and the Chattanooga Therapeutic Recreation department’s intimate team. “Really zooming out and saying, all right, so we know it can be done, but it’s how is it gonna be done?” Therapeutic Recreation Department Head Elaine Gossett said. “Chattanooga is a great place to get outside, but it doesn’t necessarily make every trail accessible.”

Ellie Heinichen speaks at the Tennessee Riverpark. She aims to teach the audience about the Therapeutic Recreation Department as well as the many adaptive programs that are available for her son David. The Rec Department organizes adaptive biking and now offers all terrain wheelchairs.

At its core, the initiative addresses a simple, but substantial roadblock: traditional wheelchairs just aren’t built for outdoor trails. GRIT Freedom Chair CEO Derek Johnson explains, “Traditional wheelchairs get stuck on almost anything…rocks, cracks, sticks, stumps, mud, sand… They just aren’t suitable for off-road trails.” 

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Animals, Chattanooga, Entertainment, Family, Healing, Health, outdoors, Photography, Sports, UTC

Chattanooga’s Dock Diving Dogs

Written by Clara Paulson

Angie Young tracks the flight of her 1-year-old German Shepherd, Epic, as she jumps for her floating bumper. Epic is a beginner at dock diving. Monday April 6, 2026 (Photo by Hannah Godel)

The words “let’s go swimming!” barely escape Angie Young’s lips before her dog bursts across the backyard dock, eyes transfixed on the red toy she just tossed toward the pool. The four-legged athlete soars over the edge, never losing sight of the prize, even as gravity takes hold, sending him back to earth with a refreshing splash.

What resembles an exciting game of fetch is actually deliberate training for an upcoming dock diving competition at Southern Kingdom Diving Dogs. This backyard setup in the suburbs of Soddy Daisy is one of only two training grounds in the state of Tennessee that aims to transform pets into high-flying competitors. 

Angie Young, the owner of Southern Kingdom Diving Dogs, trains local pets how to dock dive and hosts dock diving competitions. Young speaks on all her backyard business has to offer, what dog dock diving is, and how to get started.

Angie Young, the business owner, just finished cleaning the pool and is preparing to begin swimming and dock diving lessons throughout April, in which she’ll instruct local dogs to take a leap of faith and jump as far as they can across a pool.

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Animals, Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Environment, Farm Life, farming, Healing, Health, outdoors, Photography, UTC

Critter Clinic

Written by Delaney Holman

Jerry Harvey kisses Bonnie the raccoon. Bonnie was a retired education animal. Thursday, March 26, 2026 (Photo by Corbin Winters).

From a sleepy neighborhood street in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Opie Acres appears as an 800-square-foot home with a small shed jutting out of the woods. However, behind the privacy fences and the flourishing green backyards, a bustling rehabilitation farm filled with raccoons, opossums, squirrels, and even skunks can be found. 

Opie Acres, a nonprofit wildlife rehabilitation farm, is bursting at the seams with more animals than a team of two full-time caretakers and volunteers can handle. The farm provides life-saving medical care to ill, injured, and orphaned Virginia Opossums and other wildlife. Even providing a sanctuary home for animals who can no longer live on their own to spend their last days in the peace and caring arms of Opie Acres. 

Isabella Thomson, a volunteer at Opie Acres, speaks about the Wildlife and Opossum Rehabilitation nonprofit and the role volunteers play in rescuing orphaned wildlife. Their organization serves as a safe space for injured animals that are often ignored and seen as pests. They provide medical care and educational resources for the Chattanooga, Tennessee, community, so the animals are not seen as a nuisance but rather as extraordinary animals.

Jerry Harvey, the President and Chief Rehabilitator at Opie Acres, has woven together careers as a veterinary technician, paramedic, comedian, and hairdresser throughout his life, yet the one through line has been his love for animal rehabilitation. “Dealing with people and dealing with different situations of all kinds made a really great wildlife rehabilitator, in my opinion,” said Harvey.

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Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Daily Life, Entertainment, Family, outdoors, Sports, Uncategorized, UTC

Wheels of Hope

Written by Zoie Denton

Blake Pierce washing a bike outside of the WOBC warehouse in preparation to give it away at the Traffic Garden Jamz event. Pierce is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of WOBC. Friday, April 3, 2026. (Photo by Ashlyn Yoes)

In the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, a quiet yet powerful movement is taking place. It is not built on grand gestures, but on simple acts of generosity and connection. White Oak Bicycle Co-op may look like a modest operation at first, but behind its doors, lives are being repaired one bike at a time. White Oak addresses two major challenges at once: access to transportation and access to physical activity.

At the center of it all is Blake Pierce, the executive director and co-founder, whose vision continues to guide the organization. What started as neighbors fixing bikes in garages has grown into something much bigger. For Pierce, White Oak is more than just a bike shop; it’s a direct response to real needs within the community.

White Oak Bicycle Co-op is a local Chattanooga non-profit that specializes in providing bikes and repair services to underprivileged and children in the community. Produced by Kara Newstreet.

“We saw early on that transportation was one of the biggest barriers people were facing,” Pierce says. “A simple bike can remove that barrier almost immediately.”

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Chattanooga, Chattanooga outreach, community, Daily Life, Entertainment, Malcolm Key Audio, outdoors, Photography, Sports

Skatepark Flattened

Written by John Talley

Jackson Gammon soars above a wooden half-pipe outside of Cassette Skate Shop. The business held its grand opening of a temporary skatepark in February. Friday, February 20th, 2026. (Photo by Andromeda Stewart)

Chattanooga, Tennessee, is home to a vibrant skate community currently undergoing immense changes. What was once a cultural hub, practice grounds, and the only legal spot designated for skating, ChattTown Skatepark is currently reduced to being a dirt lot. While only a temporary inconvenience, skaters from far and wide are searching for a gathering place while the $4.4 million skate park renovation is underway.

The dilapidated wooden structures hadn’t satisfied local skaters for decades. A need for a new park was brought to light by local skaters who spoke up about how the previous wooden ramps just weren’t cutting it anymore. The Chattown Skatepark officially closed for reconstruction on November 10, 2025, and is set to reopen in late 2026. 

Gene Haman, the owner of VW Clubhouse, shares how Thursday nights have welcomed a community of displaced skateboarders in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A backyard car shop turned haven with a simple half pipe, these skateboarders stay resilient amidst the current renovation of ChattTown skatepark.

Despite not having a main skate park for the next few months, the Chattanooga skate scene is still thriving and finding any and every opportunity to go out and skate together. It’s community players that work behind-the-scenes, offering their own business parking lots and backyard shops to Chattanooga skateboarders that act as the glue for skate culture while ChattTown is closed.  

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Broadcast, Chattanooga, UTC

UTC Turning Point

By Kayelyn McCaslin

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Student Government weighs in on the committee decision to recognize Turning Point USA as a student organization. This follows the university’s recent decision to dissolve DEI programs to align with Tennessee state law.