Bios, Board of Education 5th District

Lauren Morgan

“I am from Knoxville. I lived here almost my entire life. My husband and I did spend about two-and-a-half years in the (Washington) D.C. metro area. I did my postgraduate work at the University of Maryland. I went to Knox County Schools K-through-12, and then I went to the University of Tennessee after that.

“Lke I said, I went to the University of Maryland where I did my dietetic internship. So I practiced as a registered dietitian for a while before life brought me in a different direction. So now I run a nonprofit. I’m the director for Project Gabriel. We support women who’ve lost a baby through pregnancy loss or infant loss, and I am honored that I get to do that.

“And then my husband, Tommy, and I have three kids that are in Knox County Schools. They’re actually in three out of the four Farragut schools, which makes it impressive that he and I are both here right now after getting them all three dropped off.

“My kids are 12, 10 and 8, and my 10-year-old would want you to know that next week is her birthday.”

Terrye Whitaker

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been to the Farragut Chamber Speaker Series. I used to be very involved in this group. My husband and I have been in Knoxville for roughly 20 years, but over three times. I’m originally from Texas.

“We have one daughter who graduated from Farragut High School in 2005. And so it’s been a while since I’ve been involved in the school system. But as a retired teacher I felt like it was important for me to try to give back. I’ve always been a believer in public service, and I think if you work in an organization like the school system that that’s exactly what you’re doing. When we first moved here, I worked for the ’82 World’s Fair, so had a great time doing that.

“We have lived all over the country. It seems like we lived in New Jersey, we’ve lived in Virginia. … We lived in Colorado and we’ve lived in Washington state. So I love East Tennessee.

Her favorite subject growing up was “history, I loved history, and I did a lot of reading about previous presidents and things of that nature. So you would think I would have majored in history … but ended up with education. And then I have an MBA on top of that.”