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Morristown Magazine 15 complete their schooling debt free while committing to the Hamblen County School System for the near future. Through the state’s “Grow Your Own” and the counties “Tomorrow’s Teachers,” prospective teachers are able to have their degree fully paid for while helping the school system retain young teachers. Through the program, would-be teachers can attend Walters State Community Colle- ge and earn an associate’s degree and then enroll at Western Governor’s University and receive their bachelors. The state pays for the first two years through the Tennessee Promise prorgram and Hamblen County pays for the last two years, and the county guarantees a job to the prospective teachers once they gra- duate to help fill empty teaching positions throughout the district. As the prospective teachers take classes for their teaching degree, they can work as a part-time teacher in Hamblen County gai- ning experience in the field. Dr. Matthew Drinnon, Human Resources supervisor, is an advocate of the program and has worked to help it expand. “I am very excited about the growth tra- jectory of our Grow Your Own “Tomo- rrow’s Teachers” program.” Drinnon said. “I have helped to lead an expansion from our original partnership withWalters State and Western Governors University to in- clude an Apprenticeship Program with UT Knoxville and an online ‘job-embedded’ tea- cher training programwith iTeach.” “This is in addition to our partnerships with local colleges and universities such as Carson Newman, Tusculum, and Lincoln Memorial.” Drinnon is working to find other ways to help prospective teachers earn a degree and find their home at Hamblen County Schools. ... we have five who finished up within those first two years and have started working for us in Hamblen County schools