Lighthouse
Institute Winners
Posted August 2004
Exemplifying
excellence and commitment to the mission
of DTAE (Department of Technical and
Adult Education), WGTC is proud to
announce its two Lighthouse winners:
Pam Hawkins and Hattie English.
The Lighthouse Institute Award is
an annual award which recognizes excellence
in teaching at technical colleges in
Georgia. It helps to provide opportunities
for teachers to share the teaching
techniques they utilize in their own
classrooms.
Ms. Hawkins is an instructor in the
Business Office Technology program
and Mrs. English is an instructor in
the Practical Nursing Program. Both
will attend the Lighthouse Institute
week long educational session in Jekyll
Island, Georgia in September.
Photo Caption: Lighthouse
Institute Winners, Ms. Pam Hawkins
(left), BOT Instructor and Ms.
Hattie English, Practical Nursing
Instructor.
Return
to Top
Michael Solomon:
2004 - Associate of the Year
Posted August 2004
Michael
Solomon was recently voted WGTC's 2004
Associate of the Year. As the winner,
he is considered by his peers to demonstrate
great customer service. He exemplifies
real excellence in day-to-day interactions
with students and staff alike. He received
$100 and will have his own parking space
(of his choosing) for one year.
Solomon, Director of WIA (Workforce
Investment Act) came to WGTC less than
two years ago, with intentions to start
a WIA program on the campus. He has done
that...actually his program now serves
46 students, who are graduating with
degrees and certificates.
The WIA is a federal
grant program which focuses on students
from age 16 to 21.
Funds are used to recruit, retrain, and
track graduates for two years, students
who have experienced barriers to education.
Solomon states that "these students
are getting well-paying jobs because
of the educational opportunities at West
Georgia Technical College. The WIA program
helps them to provide for themselves
and their children. When some of these
students come back to see me, after they
have turned their lives around, they
thank me. I really do feel rewarded."
Photo Caption: Michael
Solomon, WGTC's 2004 Associate of
the Year.
Return
to Top
Habitat house leads
to GED
By Karen Mortensen Staff
Writer, LaGrange Daily News
Posted: Saturday, June 12, 2004
One
year ago, Habitat for Humanity volunteers
from West Georgia Technical College helped
David Shore build a new home – and a new
life – for himself and his family.
Some of the same volunteers helped Shore
reach another important milestone, one
that has nothing to do with a hammer and
nails.
Shore was among nearly
200 graduates honored at the school Friday
for receiving
a GED in the past year. He enrolled in
the college’s Adult Literacy Program at
the encouragement of WGTC staff members
who worked on his house.
While he said the volunteers helped motivate
him, the 41-year-old construction worker
had wanted to finish school for a long
time.
"I really wanted to carry on my
education. I just never found the time
or ambition before," he said. "It
seemed easier to go to a place where I’d
met people and they helped build our house."
Shore began the literacy
program in August, not long after his
house was completed.
He passed the GED exam in May, earning
a spot in Friday night’s commencement ceremony.
Ginger Booton, executive
director of West Georgia Tech’s preparation consortium,
said she saw Shore’s potential while working
on his house, and she’s thrilled that encouragement
from her and her co-workers contributed
to his success.
"He seemed like a smart guy," Booton
said. "And if we hadn’t been there
building his house, he may have never gotten
his GED."
Shore said he hasn’t
been in school since his last day 25
years ago in Birmingham,
Ala.
"I was at the age where rebellion
takes over realism," he said. "Discipline
was no longer an option."
After leaving school, Shore immediately
joined the workforce, and he now works
construction at Daniel Hamilton and Associates
in LaGrange.
With a GED under his belt, he aspires
to take college classes at West Georgia
Tech and further his career.
"I’ve accomplished a lot of things
in one year, so I would like to continue
in school," he said.
Fellow Hillside residents
also seem to notice the intelligence
and work ethic
shared by Shore and his wife, Susan. They
were elected to leadership positions in
the Hillside Homeowners’ Association, the
Habitat house residents’ organization – Susan
Shore as group facilitator, and her husband
as architectural committee director.
With everything that
has happened since last summer, Shore
said he couldn’t have
done it without the support from friends
and staff of WGTC.
"Those people stood behind me when
work was getting hectic," he said. "They
always told me, ‘Don’t give up.’"
Photo Caption:Mike
Jacoby / Daily News
David Shore was recognized Friday night for
receiving his GED through West Georgia Technical
College. Volunteers from the school helped
build his house at Hillside a year ago and
encouraged him to continue his education.
Return
to Top
Students: Adult Literacy
Program made difference
By Karen Mortensen Staff
Writer, LaGrange Daily News
Posted Thursday, June 10, 2004
High
school classes ended a couple of weeks
ago and sandy, sun-filled senior trips
are coming to a close, but one graduation
ceremony has yet to occur.
Almost 200 graduates
of West Georgia Technical College’s Adult
Literacy Program will march across the
stage at the Callaway Center
on campus Friday to commemorate their completion
of the program. The ceremony recognizes
all those who received a GED in the past
year.
The program, established
in 1988, assists those who did not complete
high school
by offering a curriculum tailored to each
student’s needs.
Some students require only minimal preparation
for the five-part GED exam. Others study
for months or even years.
They can remain enrolled "as long
as it takes to get their GED," program
director Kevin Cain said.
With this year’s commencement ceremony
just around the corner, three graduating
students tell how – and why – they worked
to earn a chance to don a cap and gown.
Mary Ann Prestridge wanted her 10-and
11-year-old grandsons to have a reason
be proud of her, and now they do.
"I came back (to school) so I could
help my grandsons," she said. "They
are so proud that I finished."
Prestridge, 55, spent about six months
at West Georgia Tech preparing to take
the GED exam. She keeps a bag filled with
assignments and homework she completed.
"When I looked back, I couldn’t
believe all the work I had done," she
said. "I enjoyed the work and the
people, so it didn’t feel like it was work."
Prestridge, who lives in Heard County,
grew up and attended elementary school
in Mobile, Ala. Though she attended junior
high for a short time, she never completed
the eighth grade.
She said the curriculum
was difficult for her to understand,
and the teachers
couldn’t devote enough individual time
to students.
"I couldn’t grasp (the material),
so I just quit," she said.
In addition to classes and household
responsibilities, Prestridge also juggled
caring for her grandsons, who live with
her and her husband. But it was worth the
effort, she said.
"I wouldn’t take anything for it," she
said. "If you want to work toward
getting an education, I’ve never seen anything
better. I’ve gained true friends and more
self-esteem. When I came here, I had none."
Prestridge scored in the 95 th percentile
in the reading comprehension portion of
the GED exam.
She now hopes to take
further classes at West Georgia Tech,
with hopes of obtaining
a clerical job. Inspired by his mother
success, Prestridge’s 29-year-old son has
decided to pursue his GED there, too.
Though her eyes reveal
a hint of regret about years passed,
a beaming smile gave
away Prestridge’s excitement about recent
accomplishments.
"It’s an answer to a long prayer
and a dream come true," she said.
"I feel like I’m
making a step toward something successful."
That’s how 20-year-old
Justin Caldwell described his two-month
experience in the
literacy program. The Atlanta native is
graduating Friday and eager to pursue a
career as a networking specialist.
Caldwell moved to
LaGrange in November after a serious
case of "senioritis" caused
him to fail his final year at Morrow High
School in Atlanta, he said. He was reluctant
to go back because of what other students
might think.
Caldwell and his mother
decided to move, so he could "get
away from his friends and focus on school."
His focus became clear as he enrolled
at West Georgia Tech, signing up for classes.
Photo Caption:Mike
Jacoby / Daily News
Justin Caldwell, left, of LaGrange
and Mary Ann Prestridge of Greenville
are graduating
Friday night at West Georgia Technical College
along with about 200 others from the college’s
adult literacy GED program.
Return
to Top
Document, The
Ladylee Furnace Project
Posted May 2004
In
April, West Georgia Technical College was
pleased to bring to its campus internationally
acclaimed scultpor, George Beasley, Professor
of Fine Art, Sculpture Area, at Georgia
State University. He installed his sculpture
entitled Document, The Ladylee Furnace
Project in the atrium of the college's
Callaway Center for International Business
Development, where it will be housed for
the next year. Professor Beasley's lecture, "My
Own Work" was complete with a slide
presentation, showing the making of some
of his artwork, including Serpentine
Line: Iron After Goldsworthy and Five
Points Monument #3.
Diane
Lachney, a Business Office Technology student
at West Georgia Technical College, has been
named local winner of the Georgia Occupational
Award of Leadership (GOAL) recognition. She
is studying to be a medical office specialist
and is a member of the college's Phi Beta Lambda
and National Technical Honor Society. She will
receive an all-expenses paid trip to Atlanta
where she will compete with students from 33
other technical colleges and divisions in Georgia
for the title of State GOAL winner, the GOAL
medallion, and a new automobile (as the grand
prize).
Pam
Hawkins has recently been named as West Georgia
Technical College's 2004 Rick Perkins Teacher
of Excellence Award Winner. She has been with
the college since 1992 as a Business and Office
Technology instructor and has served as the Business
Technology Division Chair for three years. She
received her B.S. in Business Education and her
M.Ed. in Business Education from Auburn University.
She is a member of Who's Who in American Education
and has served as the Phi Beta Lambda local advisor
for WGTC since 1994.
A
new show on the local government channel aims to
expose Troup County children to reading at home
through TV. 
LaGrange
High School recently received the Program of Study
National Award for Public Safety – where officials
from the high school, West Georgia Technical College,
Youth Apprenticeship, West Georgia Tech Prep Consortium,
local fire, police and EMS departments, the Public
Safety Advisory Boards, and students and their
parents gathered for the occasion. The award (given
by the Programs of Study Clearinghouse) offers
national recognition to LaGrange High’s dual enrollment
program, taught by West Georgia Technical College’s
Public Safety Department – which includes Fire
Safety, Criminal Justice, and Emergency Medical
Service Departments. It is given for exemplary
programs of study in healthcare science. Dual enrollment
is a program where a student can attend a post-secondary
college and a high school at the same time, earning
credits from both institutions. WGTC offers several
dual enrollment classes at the six high schools
throughout Troup, Heard, and Meriwether Counties.
This award is well-earned. Two months ago, Heard
High School was also honored for its Patient Care
dual enrollment program, earning the POS Award. 
