Elizabeth Atkins

Lower School Grades 2-5 Music

Elizabeth Atkins has 13 years of experience as a teacher and has taught at USJ for 10 of those years. She also taught at Greystone Elementary School and at the Hoover Alternative School in Hoover, Alabama. 

Mrs. Atkins believes that “music class is the place to broaden our horizons and perhaps find a few hidden talents along the way.” 

In her classroom, she wants to instill an appreciation for all styles of music. 

Mrs. Atkins has a bachelor of science degree in education from the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Not many people know that she sang the "Tanner for Tennessee" radio/TV jingle for her dad's election campaign in 1988. (Her father is U.S. Congressman John Tanner.) Mrs. Atkins enjoys singing, playing handbells, theatrics, and traveling in her free time. 

She and her husband, Kyle, have two children, both at USJ: Daughter, Abby, is in the eighth grade, and son, Tanner, is in the fourth grade. 

In May 2006, Mrs. Atkins was given an American flag that had been flown over a combat hospital in Afghanistan. Atkins was being honored because she sent 20 large boxes of clothing in response to a request from Dr. Douglas Pahl, acting commander at the 14th Combat Support Hospital at Forward Operating Base in Salerno, Afghanistan. Afghan patients who have undergone significant trauma from motor vehicle accidents, gun shot wounds, and other situations, are unable to obtain clothing before their discharge from the hospital. Major General Gus Hargett, Jr., the Adjutant General for Tennessee, presented the flag because Dr. Pahl was still working in Afghanistan.

Mrs. Atkins enjoys working at USJ, she says, because of "the family-style atmosphere, the fantastic faculty, and the supportive administration."

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