Stephens County Educators Tour NGTC
July 14 | Posted by editor | News, Stephens Tags: North GA Technical College
Clarkesville, GA – Educational administrators from Stephens County took a day to go back to college as their annual retreat. Lead by Superintendent Sherrie Whiten, administrators from the Stephens County K-12 school system gathered on the Clarkesville campus of North Georgia Technical College for a day of exploring the similarities of initiatives and the opportunities for strengthening partnerships between the two institutions.
“Your selection of this college to hold your retreat speaks volumes for your support of career pathways, technical education, post-secondary education, and student success,” said NGTC President Dr. Gail Thaxton. “We are proud and willing to show off our instructors and labs and demonstrate to you what we do every day for our students in this region.”
Principals from around Stephens County were already very familiar with some of the offerings, particularly those on the Currahee Campus. From Eastanollee Elementary’s Tech Nights at the college to Liberty Elementary’s wonderful experience with NGTC work-study students, it was clear that the college and the community have a strong partnership focused on student success.
“We are so appreciative of North Georgia Tech opening their doors and providing us with this meeting venue,” said Superintendent Ms. Whiten. “We are committed to a seamless transition for our students as they explore all of the postsecondary opportunities available to them.”
North Georgia Technical College has been working diligently over the last few years to solidify articulation agreements with high schools that allow students to apply their high school credits towards their college degree. This alignment of curricula is the result of a lot of hard work and dedication by both educational institutions.
At the same time, the college has been taking a serious look at the strategies for providing learning support to students who need some additional skill-building before enrolling in college level math or English classes. Working within the Complete College Georgia guidelines, it has become clear that students who have to spend time working through learning support classes are less likely to complete an entire program of study. “What we have been doing isn’t giving us the best results. As a college, and as a system, we are revising our course structures and shifting our teaching paradigms. Beginning in the Fall, students will have more individualized instruction and assignments based on their specific needs.”
Programs that served a purpose many years ago such as dry cleaning and watch repair have given way to programs that have stood the test of time, such as Welding, Machine Tool, and Photography. As we look to the future, programs continue to be explored and developed such as the recently started Engineering Technology program and the much anticipated Registered Nursing program slated to begin in the Fall of 2013.
The Stephens County administrators were taken on a tour highlighting six of the programs offered on the Clarkesville campus. In the Photography department, students were actively working on a variety of portrait methods and displayed finished digitally altered works that depicted abstract concepts. The Allied Health instructors had a special treat for the visitors, enlivening iStan, the college’s new high-tech patient dummy who interacted with the group complaining loudly of various ailments. From there, the tour moved to the Machine Tool shop learning about the wide variety of jobs in demand for graduates in this program. A stop at the newest facility on campus, the Welding building, showed the group how the college is striving to stay on the cutting edge of industrial state of the art equipment. On the other end of campus in the Automotive Technology building, an efficient demo of computer-aided wheel alignment was given. Finally, a walk through the Cosmetology Salon gave the educators a first-hand look at students performing what the college terms “live work,” a program that allows the public to receive services from students in training.
The Stephens County Administrative team enjoyed lunch in the Ramsey Hunter Dining Hall and then recessed to complete their day with a discussion on plans for the upcoming year.
Attached Photo: Stephens County and North Georgia Technical College get together to strengthen partnership.
