Four South Georgia Technical College (SGTC) students have been selected as the college’s semi-finalists for the Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership (GOAL), according to Vanessa Wall, coordinator for the college’s GOAL program. These four semi-finalists will be interviewed by a panel of community leaders on Wednesday, March 17th to select the overall winner.
Chosen as semi-finalists are: Dawn Ammons of Ellaville, cosmetology; Michael Logan Driggers of Americus, computer support specialist; Elizabeth Guerrero of Ellaville, practical nursing; and Jesse Salazar of Americus, high performance engines/motorsports technology.
SGTC cosmetology instructor Dorothea Lusane-McKenzie nominated Dawn Ammons for the honor. Michael Logan Driggers was nominated by SGTC computer information specialist instructor Andrea Ingram and SGCT practical nursing instructor Jennifer Childs nominated Elizabeth Guerrero for the honor. Jesse Salazar was nominated by SGTC high performance engines/motorsports technology instructor Kevin Beaver.
GOAL, a statewide program of the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), honors excellence in academics and leadership among the state’s technical college students. GOAL winners are selected at each of the state’s 22 technical colleges.
GOAL winners from each college will compete in regional judging on April 27th. Three finalists from each of the three regions across the state will be announced in May and those nine students will compete for the title of the State GOAL winner. All 22 college winners will be recognized by the Technical College System of Georgia during the week of May 17th – 21st and one student will be named as the statewide GOAL winner from the nine regional finalists.
“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 Wall.
According to Wall, a screening committee of administrators at SGTC selected the four semi-finalists from a list of 17 students who were nominated by their instructors.
“The next step is for a panel of business, civic and industry leaders from the community to interview and evaluate these four students and select one to be the college’s 2021 GOAL winner,” explained Wall. “The one selected as the most outstanding will compete in regional judging on April 27th.
The community members who will serve on the SGTC GOAL committee include: Kim Christmas of PharmaCentra, Ty Kinslow from Magnolia Manor, Michael Coley, an SGTC graduate who retired from the Robins Air Force Base as an electronics technician; Charlene Pennymon of Citizens Bank, and Vicki Crew of Peoples State Bank.
The State GOAL Winner, TCSG’s Student of the Year, becomes the student ambassador for Georgia’s entire technical college system and receives a grand prize of a brand new car provided by Kia, the statewide corporate sponsor of Georgia’s GOAL program.