Alyssa Barnes
Nokian Tyres is honoring Alyssa Barnes and Taylor McCoy, Rhea County High School graduates, as its 2023 Nokian Tyres Scholars. Ms. Barnes and Ms. McCoy will each receive financial support from the company in their freshman year of college – Ms. Barnes at UTC and Ms. McCoy at Tennessee Wesleyan.
“I’m normally the only girl in my field,” said Ms. Barnes, who plans to major in electrical engineering at UTC. “I want to stand out and make a difference, and Nokian Tyres is doing that here in Dayton.”
Since elementary school, Ms. Barnes has enjoyed taking things apart and putting them back together. Now, she plans to pursue her dream job of managing a power grid in a large city.
“I’ve job-shadowed for electrical engineering, and how it works behind the scenes fascinates me,” Ms. Barnes said. “It’s like a big puzzle.”
Nokian Tyres’ core value of sustainability resonates with Ms. McCoy, who plans to major in biology at Tennessee Wesleyan and launch a career as a wildlife biologist.
“I want to help animals in Southeast Tennessee’s conservation areas,” Ms. McCoy said. “It makes a huge difference to have people who are investing in my college career.”
Ms. McCoy’s childhood home in Rhea County is next to the forest, and at a young age she fell in love with the area’s rich array of wildlife and scenery. She balanced time in nature with a busy calendar as a standout ballerina, softball player, fisher and pageant queen.
“If you’re gonna do something, do it 110 percent,” said Ms. McCoy. “Juggling a bunch of different hobbies comes with great parents who are willing to go to the ends of the earth for me.”
Nokian Tyres is proud to support Ms. Barnes and Ms. McCoy’s collegiate journeys as part of the company’s Road to Sustainable Success, through which the global tiremaker:
Taylor McCoy