Piper returns to Farragut in new, yet familiar, Town role
The Farragut High School 2013 graduate and former Town Parks and Recreation Department intern returned to the same department Thursday, Jan. 20 — but this time taking on the full-time role of Special Event and Program coordinator.
“I interned here in the fall of 2017 and I loved it,” recalled Piper, who was not yet married to her husband, Jordon Piper, and went by her maiden name Dodge. “I went to school here and my parents still live in Farragut.”
Piper actually enjoyed it so much, she stayed on as a Parks assistant for several months after her internship ended and continued to “volunteer a lot” even after she stopped working for the department.
Piper majored in child and family studies and community outreach, and said she realized she wanted to work with kids but didn’t want to teach.
“I was always interested in the programming side of things,” she added. She went on to work for the University of Tennessee Extension office for nearly four years, “But I always kept tabs on (Farragut Parks and Rec). I always loved the people who worked here, and also kept looking to see if a good opportunity might ever be open for me.”
Piper found that very option late last year, when Brittany Spencer, former Special Event and Program coordinator, resigned to work for the Town of Gatlinburg’s Parks and Recreation department.
She had overlapped with Spencer briefly four years ago, as her time with Farragut was ending as Spencer’s was just beginning.
“I saw the opening and went for it,” Piper said with a grin.
She is “thrilled” to be back in familiar territory.
“I had worked with Sue (Stuhl, Parks and Rec director) and Lauren (Cox, now Parks and Athletics coordinator) before, and getting to know everyone ‘new’ has been great,” she said.
Many changes have come to the department since Piper’s initial tenure, most notably the Town’s acquisition of the Community Center, where all Park and Rec employees have moved and Town programs have so much more space.
“There is so much more you can do now,” she said. “Now, instead of just the Community Room, we have (three) rooms (and a gym, time shared with West Knox County Senior Center), where we can have a real diversity of classes. We also have all of our parks.
“I feel like the opportunities are endless now.”
Piper said she is still getting familiar with her job’s responsibilities and requirements, and is looking forward to her first “big” event, the Saturday, March 5, Shamrock Ball (see separate story).
Although she and her husband live in the Powell community with their two dogs, Luna and Tonks, Piper said it’s nice to be able to visit her parents, Greg and Merritt Dodge, the latter an FHS Class of 1982 graduate, on this end of Town.
