Marshallville, GA – Chance Simpson of Marshallville signed up as a dual enrollment student at South Georgia Technical College at the start of his 10th grade year at Macon County High School. He graduated with his associate degree in Computer Networking Support just a few weeks shy of graduating from high school and earned acceptance into the elite and prestigious Johns Hopkins University (Whiting) School of Engineering. Now he is also employed by Johns Hopkins University as a student worker.
The Georgia Student Finance Commission featured Simpson and other outstanding dual enrollment students from across the county on their GAfutures website. The article about SGTC graduate Chance Simpson can be found out: https://www.gafutures.org/resources/student-resources/award-recipients/chance-simpson/
Simpson first heard about Dual Enrollment during his freshman year at Macon County High School. “I waited my sophomore year to start taking dual enrollment classes,” Simpson said, “since I wanted to take advantage of a free college education without having to pay money out of my pocket.”
Starting spring semester of 2019, Simpson began taking classes at South Georgia Technical College. He graduated with his associate degree in Computer Networking Support just a few weeks shy of graduating from high school.
Simpson soon learned he was one of 304 students admitted as part of Johns Hopkins University’s Early Decision II program. These applicants receive their admission earlier in exchange for committing acceptance if they’re accepted.
He earned a full academic scholarship worth $79,189 per year and worth $316,756 for four years. He plans to double major in Computer Science and Computer Engineering (research) with a minor in Computational Medicine on a pre-med track. And his education at South Georgia Technical College allowed him to secure his first job at Johns Hopkins University as a Computer Lab Assistant while he continues his education.
“His hard work at South Georgia Technical College is paying off and we are very proud of him,” said Chance’s father Ronald Simpson, whose son earned the full academic scholarship to the prestigious private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. “Who would have imagined Chance’s first job would be at Johns Hopkins University, an elite medical school, as a Computer Lab Assistant.”
“I always had a passion to work in the technology industry,” said Chance. “I noticed that I had a passion for coding, which made me want to expand my knowledge and learn more.” His goal by the end of the year is to become “efficient” in the many digital languages like HTML, Python, and Java. Simson’s advice is to enjoy how you plan to spend your time in the future.
“Find out what type of career you would like to pursue in life and try to find out the besbut something that you t major that will help you achieve your academic and personal goals,” said Simpson. “Don’t just pick a career based on the salary but something that you genuinely want to pursue after college.”
Chance is the son of Ronald B. Simpson and Kesha Simpson of Macon County and they are very proud of his accomplishments so far and are his biggest supporters for the next phase of his journey. For more information about the dual enrollment program at South Georgia Technical College, contact Vickie Austin, Dual Enrollment Coordinator at vaustin@southgatech.edu or 229-931-2866.
South Georgia Technical College is currently enrolling students for Spring Semester. For more information, contact the admissions office at 229-931-2394 in Americus or 229-271-4040 in Cordele or visit the website at www.southgatech.edu. SGTC has over 200 associate degree, diploma, and technical certificate of credit programs. Student may qualify to attend tuition free with Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship, HOPE Grant, HOPE Career Grant, and federal Pell financial assistance.