Scholar Stories

Each Roan Scholar has a unique story – with no two exactly alike. This past year one Scholar shared the story of her journey to ETSU and the Roan with a national audience, while two other Scholars charted distinctive paths of entrepreneurship and ‘citizen science.’

Blazing New Paths: Scholar Stories

Roan Scholar Featured on The College Tour

KeiAndra Harper ’23 never imagined the story of her journey to ETSU and the Roan Program would become widely known– but thanks to a new partnership between Amazon and ETSU, her story is available for streaming to households around the country.

KeiAndra was one of eight students and two alumni featured in an episode of The College Tour, released earlier this spring. The College Tour is a new nationallybroadcast TV series that is a cutting-edge alternative to the traditional, in-person college tour. The show is designed to provide viewers a look at what a college or university is really like.

KeiAndra was invited to share her story for the ETSU episode. “My biggest take away from my participation was reflecting on how many great opportunities I had had in less than half of my time at ETSU—and during a pandemic. It was cool to think about all the things that led me to the Roan and ETSU and how it has really affected the person I am today,” she said.

She also enjoyed meeting the other students featured in the episode and says the reaction to the episode has been very positive. “People are learning so much more about ETSU and what it has to offer though each of our segments,” KeiAndra said.

The first season of The College Tour is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Roku. It can also be viewed at www.etsu.edu/admissions/getconnected/the-college-tour.php.

Rising Business Star

Adam Rosenbalm

’21 was named to the ‘40 Under Forty’ class announced by the The Business Journal of TriCities TN/VA in 2020 - and he made that list with plenty of time to spare. Adam was just 22 years old, making him among the youngest-ever 40 Under Forty recipients, along with his classmate, Austin Ramsey ’21, who was named to the 2019 list.

A Finance major, with minors in Storytelling and Accountancy, Adam was recognized as a rising star among the region’s community business leaders for his work with Good Batch Mama, a family-owned catering and meal delivery business that Adam has helped grow over the last several years.

The Business Journal’s profile of Adam captures his remarkable accomplishments as a young entrepreneur, engaged campus leader, and outstanding student: “Still an undergraduate student at ETSU, Adam’s work with Good Batch Mama has transformed this local family catering and meal delivery business, leading to significant growth and success in 2020 despite an extremely challenging economic environment. Adam’s bio describes him as ‘the resident numbers guy, work(ing) behind the scenes to build the business.’ And build it he has, leading to organic revenue growth of 105 percent over the past year, the opening of a new location (with Adam serving as the project manager), and rapid adaptation of their meal delivery and catering model to meet new COVIDrelated demands. Adam, a Roan Scholar at ETSU, has done all this while maintaining a 4.0 GPA, serving in key student government leadership roles, and interning with Eastman’s corporate strategy team.”

Having graduated in spring 2021, Adam will continue his work with Good Batch Mama. “I have a vision for Good Batch Mama as a southeast regional company serving families in dozens of cities across multiple states,” he said.

Bringing Nature to the People

Anyone – expert or not – can advance our scientific knowledge of the natural world. That’s a core belief of Cade Campbell ’24, who embraces the ideas of “citizen science,” typically defined as scientific research conducted, in whole or in part, by amateur scientists.

While Cade might have begun as an amateur citizen scientist, his expertise has grown exponentially over the years. At just 19 years of age, Cade is already an incredibly wellrespected and accomplished naturalist in the Appalachian Highlands, known for his extensive knowledge of the region’s flora and fauna, along with his engaging nature presentations, photography, and writing.

In the past year alone Cade has contributed articles to the Tennes-Sierran newsletter, led a tour for the Tennessee Sierra Club at Rocky Mount State Historic Site, and been invited to write for the Tennessee Conservationist magazine. He also received a grant to record the singing insect biodiversity at Roan Mountain, spoke to various nature organizations, and led a variety of nature field trips. Technology plays a key role in Cade’s belief in how ordinary citizens can contribute to scientific knowledge. He, for example, established a “Natural History Database” using iNaturalist software, which, he explains, is “a community science platform that continues to explode in utility and popularity.” The database now contains over 6,000 records of 1,400 different species, made by almost 1,000 individual observers.

Another example of fostering citizen science is the Northeast Tennessee City Nature Challenge, which Cade managed this year. The weekend event, part of the international City Nature Challenge and facilitated through iNaturalist, invites ordinary citizens to submit images of non-domesticated animals, plants and fungi, which are then identified by iNaturalist’s community of experts. “By the end of the weekend, and especially after the week-long identification period, we surpassed the Knoxville Area City Nature Challenge (which included the entire Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and all the affiliated organizations) by over 1,000 observations,” said Cade.