TRUE: “Just two more days until the FINANCIAL AID PRIORITY deadline for Georgia Northwestern Technical College.”
Now, here are some things you may have learned from your school days that really weren’t true at all!
Happy Monday, Cats Country!
GNTC’s Bueso, Herrera Also Place At National Event
(Northwest Georgia) – For the second straight year, Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) student Elisabeth Harp has been named one of the best in the nation in her field.
After placing third in Georgia in Networking Concepts at the state level of the Phi Beta Lambda Skills Competition this past spring, the Calhoun, Georgia native placed eighth nationally in the category this summer at the 2017 Phi Beta Lambda National Competition in Anaheim, California.
In 2016, Harp placed eighth in the Computer Concepts category at the national competition held in Atlanta, Georgia. This year, she and 10 of her fellow national qualifiers from Georgia Northwestern would make the trek to California to show off their skills.
However, Harp was not the only two-time qualifier from GNTC. Corey Carlile of Aragon, Georgia also qualified to compete on the national level each of the last two years. Georgia’s 2017 state champ in the Small Business Management Plan category competed in Anaheim and Atlanta, respectively, the past two years. Carlile was also named the college’s G.O.A.L. Student of the Year in 2016.
Two other entries from GNTC placed in Anaheim. Selena Spivey of Dalton, Georgia placed eighth in the nation in Computer Animation. Also, the team of Ronal Bueso and Jonathan Herrera, both from Dalton, Georgia, earned a Top-15 finish in the Business Sustainability category. Four years ago, Dalton, Georgia’s Mario Trejo earned the college’s first national title at the PBL Competition taking home top honors in the Justice Administration category.
After qualifying only six students for the national event last year, GNTC advisors Dione Waddington, Patty Hart, and Brittny Burns guided 11 students to qualify for this year’s trip to the West Coast to compete against the best. The University of Florida, the University of Alabama, the University of Maryland, the University of Utah, the University of Nebraska, Duquense Universtiy, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and many others from across the United States qualified along with Georgia Northwestern to compete at this year’s event. As a state, Georgia qualified 79 students for the competition.
Other members of the 2017 Phi Beta Lambda competition team were Cage Gary of Ringgold, Georgia; Amanda Teeters of Chickamauga, Georgia; Nicholas Post of LaFayette, Georgia; Allie Long of Ringgold, Georgia; Brett Notabartolo of Trion, Georgia; and Miguel Ramirez of Rome, Georgia. Ramirez was GNTC’s 2017 G.O.A.L. Student of the Year award winner.
More than 1,800 of America’s best and brightest college students traveled to Southern California for this year’s event. The Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) National Leadership Conference showcased participants from across the United States. As well as participating in more than 60 business and business-related competitive events, participants attended a week-long conference to enhance their business skills and expand their networks.
GNTC offers more than 200 programs online and on-campus. Campuses are located in Ringgold (Catoosa County Campus), Rome (Floyd County Campus), Calhoun (Gordon County Campus), Rockmart (Polk County Campus), Rock Spring (Walker County Campus), and Dalton (Whitfield Murray Campus).
Georgia Northwestern Technical College provides quality workforce education to the citizens of Northwest Georgia. Students have the opportunity to earn an associate degree, diploma, or a certificate in business, health, industrial, or public service career paths. This past year, 14,151 people benefited from GNTC’s credit and noncredit programs. With an annual credit enrollment of 7,956 students, GNTC is the largest college in Northwest Georgia. GNTC has an additional enrollment of 6,195 people through adult education, continuing education, business and industry training, and Georgia Quick Start. For more information about GNTC, visit us at GNTC.edu or contact a Student Help Center on any one of our six campus locations at 866-983-4682. For information online, visit the college at GNTC.edu, as well as on GNTC’s Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, WordPress, and YouTube channels. GNTC is a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia and an Equal Opportunity Institution.
GNTC’s Smith Recognizes First Two Male Grads In Her Program
(Walker County, Georgia) – Teaching Medical Assisting at Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) since 2001, Martha Smith has never seen a man graduate from her program on the college’s Walker County Campus. That is until now.
44-year-old Erin Inman of Rome, Georgia and 23-year-old Timothy “Zan” Thompson of Trion, Georgia paved the way for a new trend. “I worked in healthcare for a long time,” said Smith, Assistant Dean of Health Technologies at Georgia Northwestern. “Erin and Zan are the first two men I’ve ever seen come along and successfully make their way through the program.”
Inman served a Medical Assistant internship with Floyd Family Care in Rome. Thompson interned with the Redmond Wellness Center at Roper Industries in LaFayette, Georgia. Both locations were interested in hiring them beyond their internships through Georgia Northwestern. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Medical Assisting field is expected to increase its number of new positions by 23% over the next eight years. Medical Assistants serve in healthcare and administrator capacities for medical offices and facilities. They will often perform multiple clinical duties, as well as manage various administrative projects on a given shift.
GNTC’s Medical Assisting program is offered on the Floyd County Campus in Rome, Georgia and the Walker County Campus in Rock Spring, Georgia. The college offers a Medical Assisting Diploma and an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Medical Assisting. GNTC offers Medical Assisting and more than 200 other programs online and on-campus. Campuses are located in Ringgold (Catoosa County Campus), Rome (Floyd County Campus), Calhoun (Gordon County Campus), Rockmart (Polk County Campus), Rock Spring (Walker County Campus), and Dalton (Whitfield Murray Campus).
Georgia Northwestern Technical College provides quality workforce education to the citizens of Northwest Georgia. Students have the opportunity to earn an associate degree, diploma, or a certificate in business, health, industrial, or public service career paths. This past year, 14,151 people benefited from GNTC’s credit and noncredit programs. With an annual credit enrollment of 7,956 students, GNTC is the largest college in Northwest Georgia. GNTC has an additional enrollment of 6,195 people through adult education, continuing education, business and industry training, and Georgia Quick Start. For more information about GNTC, visit us at GNTC.edu or contact a Student Help Center on any one of our six campus locations at 866-983-4682. For information online, visit the college at GNTC.edu, as well as on GNTC’s Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, WordPress, and YouTube channels. GNTC is a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia and an Equal Opportunity Institution.
HAAS, Jeffreys Manufacturing Donate $17,500 To Georgia Northwestern
(Dalton, Georgia) – With graduates of Georgia Northwestern Technical College manning the machines at Densmore Machine in Dalton, Georgia on a daily basis, it’s easy to see where donations to the region’s largest college actually go in the end. Industry and local leaders stopped in at Densmore Machine on July 17 to celebrate a special gift from an industry leader.
After committing $20,000 to Phil Shirley’s Machine Tool Technology program at Georgia Northwestern Technical College in 2016, Jeffreys Manufacturing Solutions has presented the college with the Gene Haas Scholarship award for the second straight year. This time, the industrial machining giant donated $17,500 to the college’s program, benefitting the college’s program and the workforce it’s training.
The Gene Haas Foundation Machining Technology Scholarship is awarded to institutions which teach Machine Tool Technology and similar areas of study. The primary goal of the award is to help ease the financial burden of qualified students, allowing them to successfully complete their education and earn employment within their expertise.
“It’s all about the workers,” said Jimmy Densmore, Densmore Machine Operations Manager. “We have one man working the HAAS equipment right now that is a recent graduate of Georgia Northwestern. I’m also a graduate of Georgia Northwestern. The Machine Tool program at the college is a lot like our business. We need to be able to prepare for work that needs to be done or we go out of business.”
Densmore graduated from Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s Drafting Technology program. “I realized that working in my family’s business, I could use that drafting education to help us grow,” said Densmore. “I could draw up parts companies were ordering in 3-D. Then, I could have the machines make the parts to order.”
Two decades after first opening its doors, Densmore Machine would take a new direction. Starting out in a modest 4,500-square-foot building in the Dawnville Community of Whitfield County, this family-owned business made a decision. The economic collapse of the housing industry nearly a decade ago pushed companies across the country, including Densmore, to look at things with a whole new perspective.
“We learned we would have to be able to do a lot of things for a lot of companies to survive,” said Densmore. “It would require new equipment to do jobs we never had to do before. Jobs which required machines we never had to purchase before. We’ve been buying machines from HAAS ever since as the workload demands it. Of course, a change like that requires trained staff. We know GNTC’s Machine Tool program works closely with HAAS. It’s really kind of a partnership.”
A company that thrives today on the coming together of companies, a college, and a workforce, was little more than an idea just 33 years ago. One born in the mind of Densmore’s Grandfather, John Densmore, Sr. Shortly before the current Operations Manager was born, his grandfather made the decision to go into business for himself. With all the money he could gather, Densmore, Sr. hit the road to Detroit, Michigan to a closed down auto plant. It was there he would purchase the North Georgia company’s first two pieces of equipment.
Today, three generations of Densmore machinists later, the company has grown from its original rural machine shop in the outskirts of Dalton, Georgia to a 12,500-square foot facility right on Interstate 75 in South Whitfield County. Georgia Northwestern offers campuses in Dalton (Whitfield Murray Campus), Ringgold (Catoosa County Campus), Rome (Floyd County Campus), Calhoun (Gordon County Campus), Rockmart (Polk County Campus), and Rock Spring (Walker County Campus.)
GNTC offers more than 200 programs online and on-campus. Georgia Northwestern Technical College provides quality workforce education to the citizens of Northwest Georgia. Students have the opportunity to earn an associate degree, diploma, or a certificate in business, health, industrial, or public service career paths. This past year, 14,151 people benefited from GNTC’s credit and noncredit programs. With an annual credit enrollment of 7,956 students, GNTC is the largest college in Northwest Georgia. GNTC has an additional enrollment of 6,195 people through adult education, continuing education, business and industry training, and Georgia Quick Start. For more information about GNTC, visit us at GNTC.edu or contact a Student Help Center on any one of our six campus locations at 866-983-4682. For information online, visit the college at GNTC.edu, as well as on GNTC’s Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, WordPress, and YouTube channels. GNTC is a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia and an Equal Opportunity Institution.
(Rome, GA) – Southwest Airlines recently donated a CFM56-3B1 high-bypass turbofan aircraft engine worth approximately $100,000 to Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s (GNTC) Aviation Training Center to provide students with advanced training in troubleshooting, repairing, and maintaining industry-grade aviation equipment.
The donation of the turbofan engine will further GNTC’s ability to prepare students for a career in the fields of Aviation Maintenance Technology or Avionics Maintenance Technology.
“This is our first turbofan engine, a majority of our planes have reciprocating or piston engines,” said Jon Byrd, director of the Aviation Maintenance Technology program at GNTC. “There are so many different systems that we teach that are on this one engine so we can show students how it all goes together instead of, what we have had up until now, was individual components.”
The Aviation Training Center is located at the Richard B. Russell Regional Airport in Rome about 10 miles from the Floyd County Campus of GNTC.
According to Byrd, having this turbofan engine will also help to better prepare students to work for the major airlines upon graduation.
“All of the major airliners have planes with high-bypass turbofan engines on them,” said Byrd. “So this particular engine, which happens to be a pretty popular model, is used on many different airplanes.”
The Aviation Training Center is approximately 30,744 square feet with five classrooms and eight labs for Aviation Maintenance Technology and Avionics Maintenance Technology. The Center includes a large airframe lab, powerplant lab, five additional Federal Aviation Administration Curriculum labs, and a technical library/reference lab.
Georgia Northwestern Technical College provides quality workforce education to the citizens of Northwest Georgia. Students have the opportunity to earn an associate degree, diploma, or a certificate in business, health, industrial, or public service career paths. This past year, 14,151 people benefited from GNTC’s credit and noncredit programs. With an annual credit enrollment of 7,956 students, GNTC is the largest college in Northwest Georgia. GNTC has an additional enrollment of 6,195 people through adult education, continuing education, business and industry training, and Georgia Quick Start. For more information about GNTC, visit us at GNTC.edu or contact a Student Help Center on any one of our six campus locations at 866-983-4682. GNTC is a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia and an Equal Opportunity Institution.
Whitfield Murray Campus Ceremony Sets Stage For Construction Of New 80,000-square foot facility
(Whitfield County, Georgia) – “Education should lead to employment,” said Georgia Governor Nathan Deal at Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s Whitfield Murray Campus (WMC) Expansion Groundbreaking Tuesday. “We have accelerated the number of programs whose participants will have a job waiting for them. This is what education should encompass. We’re preparing people for the careers that are already available right here at home.” And, after the ceremonial shovels moved the first mounds of dirt, the construction of what many believe will help fill the skills gap between Georgia businesses and the workforce of Northwest Georgia is now officially underway.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Joe Yarbrough, Chair of the Technical College System of Georgia Board of Directors. “For more than a decade, there has been a skills gap between what our companies here in Whitfield and Murray County need and what our workforce was able to provide. Now, Georgia Northwestern will have the facility in place to help bridge the gap. The people of our region can get the skill sets they need for the careers already out here waiting on them.”
No one is more aware of this need than those who represent the taxpayers of Whitfield County, Georgia. With the rumors of a possible expansion of the Georgia Northwestern campus beginning to circulate in 2016, the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners voted to put its full support behind the project. Gifts in-kind toward site development and a commitment of $1,054,000 were both approved by commissioners last year. “We did this because we want to help our citizens obtain and retain higher paying jobs,” said Lynn Laughter, Chair of the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners.
This highly-anticipated expansion all started with a gift from the Whitfield County Board of Education three years ago. The donation of 21 acres of land from Whitfield County’s school system is the cornerstone of what will soon be an 80,000-square foot facility on the college’s Whitfield Murray Campus on Maddox Chapel Road in Dalton, Georgia. The new facility expected to offer programs such as chemical technology, engineering technology, machine tool technology, computer information systems, industrial systems, and logistics will be leading the way in helping train the people of Murray and Whitfield counties to fill vacancies in the companies of Northwest Georgia.
Now, with Phase II of the Dalton, Georgia-based campus set to open in either late 2018 or early 2019, the venture of bridging the workforce to the region’s companies actually began when the campus first opened in 2010. Whitfield County Schools agreed to share space with the college at its Northwest Georgia College and Career Academy. After the college outgrew the space allotted them by Whitfield County Schools, it wouldn’t be long before they’d move into their first new exclusive WMC building. And now, seven years later, the second phase of what will soon be one of the college’s larger campuses has begun.
With just one exclusive building in place at the WMC, the 2016-17 academic year saw the campus student body size swell to 1,000 students. “With this expansion, the campus will be able to accommodate up to 4,000 students,” said Pete McDonald, Georgia Northwestern Technical College President. Handling this growth in this amount of time takes cooperation from all parties. “In politics, for whatever reason, it is hard to put partnerships together,” said Governor Deal. “This has been a partnership.” Two months ago, Governor Deal signed legislation approving $18.7 million to pay for the expansion. The funding was part of the State of Georgia’s 2018 Fiscal Year Budget approved in Atlanta in May.
With the flooring industry among those really feeling the gap when it comes to finding skilled workers, Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner Gretchen Corbin feels the region has the right person leading the charge to change all of that. “To make a project like this campus expansion happen, you have to have a champion. We have had a champion in Joe Yarbrough.” said Corbin. Yarbrough, a resident of Dalton, Georgia for more than 45 years, has served as a Chairman, Vice President, and President of some of the largest manufacturing names in Northwest Georgia.
Administrators and officials are also anticipating more growth among high school students as a result of this latest project. GNTC is among the best in the state of Georgia when it comes to enrolling and educating the area’s teenagers by way of the “Move On When Ready” (MOWR) program. This is a state initiative which allows Georgia’s high school students to earn college credit at no cost to them or their families, while still attending their high school. Growing the GNTC site, a campus which currently sits next door to the Northwest Georgia College and Career Academy, will help expose more students to the program.
Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s Whitfield Murray Campus is one of six campuses the college offers in Northwest Georgia. The others are located in Catoosa County, Floyd County, Gordon County, Polk County, and Walker County, Georgia. Currently, GNTC offers more than 200 programs to nearly 6,000 students on-campus and online. GNTC has offered programs across the region for more than 50 years. Georgia Northwestern Technical College provides quality workforce education to the citizens of Northwest Georgia. Students have the opportunity to earn an associate degree, diploma, or a certificate in business, health, industrial, or public service career paths. This past year, 14,151 people benefited from GNTC’s credit and noncredit programs. With an annual credit enrollment of 7,956 students, GNTC is the largest college in Northwest Georgia. GNTC has an additional enrollment of 6,195 people through adult education, continuing education, business and industry training, and Georgia Quick Start. For more information about GNTC, visit us at GNTC.edu or contact a Student Help Center on any one of our six campus locations at 866-983-4682. For information online, visit the college at GNTC.edu, as well as on GNTC’s Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, WordPress, and YouTube channels. GNTC is a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia and an Equal Opportunity Institution.
From Criminal Justice To Education, Nix Finds Himself In The Principal’s Office
(Catoosa County, Georgia) – Seven years ago, Catoosa County’s Charles “Chance” Nix graduated from Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) with a plan. He would take his Criminal Justice Degree he earned in 2010 and turn it into a career.
Seven years later, the former Catoosa County Sheriff’s Deputy has done just that. Next month, when students walk the halls for the first day of the new school year at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School (LFO), the GNTC alum will be at the helm of Warrior Country.
It was more than a decade ago when Nix first worked in a high school. In 2006, he served as the School Resource Officer (S.R.O.) at LFO in Catoosa County, Georgia. It would be one of the school’s former principals, Jack Sims, who would nudge him towards education. “He saw something in me,” Nix said. “…and that turned everything around.” Now, Nix saw himself one day being a teacher. But never a principal.
Nix would then attend Georgia Northwestern Technical College in Walker County, Georgia. He would first earn a diploma (2009), and then, an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice (2010). “At Georgia Northwestern, I enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, friendly professors, and convenience to work and family life.” His first stop on the teaching circuit would be at Heritage High School in Ringgold, Georgia. Nix would teach Law and Justice classes at Catoosa County’s newest high school.
In an effort to pursue an administration career in the Catoosa County School System, the 46-year-old Ringgold man would later continue his education at Lincoln Memorial University (TN) and Valdosta State University (GA) to earn a Master’s Degree in Education and an Educational Specialist Degree, respectively. His first administrator role was at Westside Elementary serving as the assistant principal with Principal Dr. Mike Rich.
After serving first as an assistant principal at LFO, Nix officially got the call this spring to replace LFO administrator Terri Vandiver as principal in the 2017-18 school year. Vandiver came into office the summer of 2010 when she replaced long-time Principal Jerry Ransom. Serving also as a long-time coach, teacher, and administrator, Ransom served as the principal of LFO for thirty years.
Nix and his wife, Heather, have been married since 1994. She is a teacher at Ringgold Primary School in Catoosa County. They have two children, Hailey, 18, and Savannah, 15.
Applications to enroll in the Criminal Justice Technology program, or any of the more than 200 programs offered at GNTC, are due by July 24. For more information about GNTC, visit the college at GNTC.edu. You can also contact a Student Help Center on any one of our six campus locations at 866-983-4682. GNTC offers classes online and on-campus at the Catoosa, Floyd, Gordon, Polk, Walker, and Whitfield Murray Campuses across Northwest Georgia.
Georgia Northwestern Technical College provides quality workforce education to the citizens of Northwest Georgia. Students have the opportunity to earn an associate degree, diploma, or a certificate in business, health, industrial, or public service career paths. This past year, 14,151 people benefited from GNTC’s credit and noncredit programs. With an annual credit enrollment of 7,956 students, GNTC is the largest college in Northwest Georgia. GNTC has an additional enrollment of 6,195 people through adult education, continuing education, business and industry training, and Georgia Quick Start. For additional information, you may also visit GNTC’s Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, WordPress, and YouTube channels. GNTC is a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia and an Equal Opportunity Institution.
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