At Scale Newsletter: February 2026
Welcome to the latest edition of the At Scale Newsletter, where we highlight the impactful programs and initiatives falling into one of our three priorities — all designed to drive our mission to Build Tennessee’s Future Workforce.
Click to read each section!
Day on the hill
Thank you to the Tennessee General Assembly for welcoming nearly 40 tnAchieves students to the Tennessee State Capitol for our annual Day on the Hill! These students were able to get an up-close look at how our state government works.
Students from each grand division of Tennessee were able to meet with multiple representatives and senators who are forming our state’s laws and policies. Across the day, groups of students were criss-crossing the state capitol to meet with about 40 members of the general assembly. Students were able to ask questions and chat with lawmakers directly representing their hometowns.
Thank you, specifically, to Chairman Mark White and the House Education Committee who recognized our students during their meeting! You can see that special moment in the picture; to see more pictures from Day on the Hill, check out the tnAchieves feed on X/Twitter!
This year, tnAchieves is grateful to Chairmen Mark White and Dawn White for sponsoring HB148/SB686. This piece of legislation makes tnAchieves COMPLETE a permanent part of TN Promise. COMPLETE students are nearly 4X more likely to graduate from college than their peers!
Workforce Mentors Officially Begin Working wIth Students
In continued efforts to Build Tennessee’s Future Workforce, tnAchieves is now in its first year of expansion to its statewide volunteer mentoring program. For the first time, second year college students are now working with Workforce Mentors across the state to focus on career readiness.
Student & Mentor Testimonies
“I am a current sophomore at Vol State. I recently connected with my Workforce Mentor, and she has been the biggest blessing. I have struggled getting job-shadowing hours for the Radiologic Technology program I am wanting to apply to at APSU. Once I connected with Beth, my Workforce Mentor, she was able to connect me to the resources I needed to reach the required hours for the program! She even sent me a contact where I had previously called for job shadow hours and they said they would get back to me. She has been incredible and answers all my questions. With this connection, it was an easier pathway. I can't wait to meet her in person! As a first-generation college student, it has been hard to navigate this alone. I cried when I found out I was able to get job shadowing hours!”
Hade Rodriguez, tnAchieves COMPLETE Student
”I have proudly served as a mentor with tnAchieves since its inception because I firmly believe education changes lives by opening doors to meaningful careers and long-term economic mobility. I was excited to learn last fall that tnAchieves was expanding the mentor program to support community college graduates as they transition into the workforce or continue their education at a university. That next step—bridging education to career—is critical, and I am grateful to be part of an organization that recognizes the importance of walking alongside students not just to graduation but into their future.”
Beth Duffield, tnAchieves Hall of Fame Mentor (‘22)
Workforce Mentorship is career-focused and industry-driven. 76 percent are working with a mentor who has direct ties to their industry of choice in the student’s region, while 99 percent of students are paired to someone in their industry in general. This mentorship is designed to provide students with a real-world perspective on their career of interest and the skills needed to succeed in the workforce.
It’s already working. Beth Duffield is part of our Mentor HOF (Class of 2022) and has been making an impact as a mentor for years. This year, Beth switched to become one of our inaugural Workforce Mentors.
To best serve students and encourage them to think critically about their path to success following graduation, Workforce Mentors, like Beth, are working in a nearly 1:1 ratio with students. In its inaugural year, 1,088 people volunteered to become Workforce Mentors and 1,356 students opted-in to work with one of these mentors.
Throughout their time, these mentors will help provide career exposure and connection to their own networks for students. Data shows this career exposure is critical for students. tnAchieves students who complete job shadowing of any kind are 24 percent more likely to graduate in three years. These graduates will go on to become healthcare professionals, educators, business owners and other essential contributors to our state’s economy. Thank you to all of our mentors who are helping students across Tennessee take their next steps!
Knox Promise/Knox Access Early Grad Event
Taking a human approach to Building Tennessee’s Future Workforce means creating wraparound supports for students from high school to college and into the workforce and then guiding them to and in between each step. In Knox County, our Knox Access Coaches hosted an event for high school early graduates to meet their Knox Promise Coaches in-person. This created a hand-off so these students will know a familiar and supportive face when they walk onto a college campus for the first time.
Knox Access works alongside guidance counselors in every Knox County high school to ensure students are meeting college access goals like applying for TN Promise, filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and applying to college. These coaches work to make sure every student has a clear pathway from high school to a post-secondary institution. Then, once these students enter college, they are handed off to a Knox Promise Coach who supports them through college completion.
At this event, early high school graduates were able to meet their Knox Promise Coach in-person. Knox Promise Coaches help students successfully navigate their way through college by pairing high-impact, relational coaching with critical resources like emergency aid funding to help students overcome barriers to college completion. Knox Promise serves as the pilot and model for our statewide COMPLETE program.
Data shows these supports are working. In Knox County, this model has made students nearly five times as likely to graduate as their peers, with a graduation rate that would rank third in the nation if benchmarked against state averages! These students then enter the workforce more skilled, more educated and more prepared to sustain Tennessee’s thriving economy.
