Instructors at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College have nominated 31 of their students for the Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership (GOAL) competition, according to Lydia Hubert, coordinator for the college’s GOAL program.
GOAL, a statewide program of the Technical College System of Georgia, honors excellence in academics and leadership among the state’s technical college students. GOAL winners are selected at each of the state’s 24 technical colleges as well as one Board of Regents college with a technical education division.
Chosen for recognition by their instructors are Bruce Bassett (Coffee), Robert Cannon (Lowndes), Michelle Clark (Berrien), Allison Cooper (Lowndes), Trey Cureton (Lowndes), Austin Danielski (Lowndes), Olivia Davis (Ben Hill), Megan Dover (Lowndes), Keith Dowdy (Tift), James E. Harden IV (Ben Hill), Cody Healey (Brooks), Curtis Hensley (Lowndes), Lorraine James (Lowndes), Andrea Johnson (Coffee), Ashley Langston (Lowndes), Frances Ann Layton (Lowndes), Maria Llamas (Colquitt), Christine Mays (Lowndes), Matt McMillan (Wilcox) De’Mariah Newsome (Lowndes), Bobbie Pajerowski (Echols), Kelli Paulk (Berrien), Christopher Pierce (Berrien), Angela Price (Lowndes), Ronnie Ricketson (Coffee), Kayla Smith (Coffee), April Stephens (Lowndes), Jo Ann Temples (Berrien), Jon Thacker (Lowndes), William Thomas (Lowndes), and Jessica Webb (Cook).
“The purpose of the GOAL program is to spotlight the outstanding achievement by students in Georgia’s technical colleges and to emphasize the importance of technical education in today’s global workforce,” said Hubert.
A screening committee of staff at Wiregrass will review each of the instructors’ nominations then conduct personal interviews with the students in December. After the nominees have been ranked, four finalists will then be chosen to compete to be the Wiregrass’ GOAL winner for 2015.
The four finalists will then take part in another round of interviews and evaluations by a selection committee of representatives from local business and industry in January. That panel will consider the students’ qualities like academic achievement, personal character, leadership abilities and enthusiasm for technical education.
The student judged most outstanding will be designated as the college’s GOAL winner and move on to the regional competition in February at Moultrie Technical College, Tifton campus. Then three from each of the three regions will make up the nine regional finalists, who will be named in April at the state GOAL conference in Atlanta. The nine regional finalists will then move to the state level and compete for the title of state GOAL winner.
The state GOAL winner becomes the student ambassador for the Technical College System of Georgia and receives a grand prize of a new car provided by Chevrolet, the statewide corporate sponsor of Georgia’s GOAL program.
-Submitted by Wiregrass Georgia Technical College