Carter Grad First To Achieve State Designation

Former Carter High School student Kendra Craig stands in front of the Carter library

Kendra Craig graduated from Carter High School in the spring, but she’s bringing an impressive credential into the next phase of her academic career.

Craig was the only student in Tennessee to achieve state certification in a pilot program focused on dietetics and nutrition that was launched last year.

The state-specific certification, which is now in its second year as a pilot program, aims to ensure students are college- or career-ready, and also provides three hours of college credit at an accredited Tennessee university.

The certification encompasses three high school courses with a focus on cooking, diet and nutrition science, and is capped by a 100-question, multiple-choice test.

Now a student at Walters State University, in Morristown, Craig said that last spring she spent the better part of three days studying for the test, using color-coded note cards.

“I don’t think I’ve ever studied for anything as hard as I did that one,” she said.

The work paid off. Out of 37 students in Tennessee that sat for the certification exam, Craig was the only one who passed.

“She is self-motivated, and she puts everything she’s got into everything that she does,” said Heather Wade, Craig’s nutrition teacher at Carter. “She just is a natural born learner and I think that’s why she did so well. She wanted to learn.”

Craig is still learning as a student at Walters State, but one day she hopes to stand in front of a classroom. Her current goal is to become a kindergarten teacher, preferably in East Tennessee.

Craig said that during her senior year at Carter, she was a peer tutor in her former kindergarten teacher’s class, and that experience was a highlight of her day.

“I just loved all the little kids,” she said. “I still remember their names and I still have all their little cards that they made me.”