Two Wiregrass employees were recently honored for their dedication, hard work and leadership skills by the faculty and staff of the college. Wiregrass employees annually nominate a staff member and a supervisor for their exemplary performance on the job.  The nominations are narrowed down by a committee and the finalists are interviewed by a panel of judges to decide who will be honored.

Mary Donna Pippin, press operator, was awarded the fifth annual James A. Bridges Vanguard Award for the staff member of the year.  Mary Donna is described by her peers as being knowledgeable about her job, and gets orders completed in a timely manner. One nomination for Mary Donna stated “she really goes above and beyond including working weekends to be sure print jobs are completed.” As the press operator, Mary Donna is responsible managing the college's print shop to include overseeing the press room, completing daily print jobs submitted by internal customers, designing live work orders, and overseeing print shop employees.

The James A. Bridges Vanguard Award was created in honor of former Valdosta Technical college president, James A. Bridges. Bridges served the people of Valdosta and Lowndes County for 40 years, first as the vocational director of Valdosta High School, and then as president at Valdosta Tech. During his tenure, Bridges provided leadership as Valdosta Technical Institute became Valdosta Technical College. A strong believer in work ethics, he was the co-author of Georgia’s renowned work ethics curriculum. Thanks to his leadership, work ethics is not only taught at every technical college in Georgia, but also at post-secondary institutions all over the world.

DeAnnia Clements, dean for academic affairs- allied health, was awarded the fifth annual Lewis I. Brinson, Sr. Leadership Award for the supervisor of the year. One nomination for DeAnnia stated “she is an outstanding leader.  Her door is always open and she is readily available to assist students, faculty, and staff. She listens to ideas and acts quickly on implementing any that will help improve service to our students or help us do our jobs better.  She genuinely cares about her employees and strives to be inclusive in her decision making process.”   As the dean for  academic affairs- allied health, DeAnnia is responsible for supervision of allied health programs including the development, review and revision of courses, advisement, registration, and orientation of students, coordinating program improvement plans, maintaining equipment, and serving as liaison to other departments within the college.

This award was named in honor of Lewis I. Brinson, Sr. for his visionary leadership, his unquestionable integrity, and his passion for technical education. Brinson was the founding director (president) of Ben Hill-Irwin Tech. The World War II veteran taught in the Ben Hill County School System for 20 years. During these 20 years, he served as the vocational director at Fitzgerald High School. Based on his integrity and outstanding leadership qualities, in 1968, the Board of Directors of Ben Hill-Irwin Tech selected Mr. Brinson to serve as the first director of the school, a position he filled for the next 15 years, retiring in 1983. Brinson was responsible for overseeing the construction of what is now the 100 through 400 wings of the Charles Harris Learning Center as well as hiring the original faculty and staff of the college.