Instructors at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College have nominated 19 of their students for the Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership competition, according to Lydia Hubert, coordinator for the college’s GOAL program.
 
GOAL, a statewide program of the Technical College System of Georgia, honors excellence in academics and leadership among the state’s technical college students.  GOAL winners are selected at each of the state’s 22 technical colleges as well as one Board of Regents college with a technical education division.
 
The Wiregrass 2017 GOAL Nominees are listed with their program areas by county:
 
Ben Hill – Amy Roberson (Business Management– Human Resources Specialization)
 
Berrien- Barbara Rosales (Cosmetology), and Christine Smith (Business Management)
 
Clinch – Amber Elliott (Criminal Justice Technology)
 
Coffee- Rhonda Anderson (Practical Nursing), Craig Diamond (Industrial Systems Technology), Tonjanika James (Business Technology), and Trista Merritt (Business Technology)
 
Colquitt- Maria Macias (Cosmetology)
 
Lowndes – April Bradford (Medical Assisting), Kytranna Cole (Practical Nursing), Ashley Emery (Radiology), Eli Metts (Associate of Science in Nursing), Chase Miley (Associate of Science in Nursing), Jamie Mize (Health Information Technology), Brooke Simmons (Radiology), Arthur Smith (Auto Collision Repair), and Candace Zakar (Health Information Technology)
 
Hamilton County, FL- Jana Wojcik (Associate of Science in Nursing)
 
"The purpose of the GOAL program is to spotlight the outstanding achievement by students in Georgia's technical colleges and to emphasize the importance of technical education in today’s global workforce," said Hubert.
 
A screening committee of staff at Wiregrass will review each of the instructors’ nominations then conduct personal interviews with the students this week.  After the nominees have been ranked, four finalists will then be chosen to compete to be the Wiregrass GOAL winner for 2017.
 
The four finalists will then take part in another round of interviews and evaluations by a selection committee of representatives from local business and industry later this month. That panel will consider the students’ qualities like academic achievement, personal character, leadership abilities and enthusiasm for technical education.
 
The student judged most outstanding will be designated as the college’s GOAL winner and move on to the regional competition in February at Southern Regional Technical College, Tifton Campus.  Then, three from each of the three regions will make up the nine regional finalists, who will be named in April at the state GOAL conference in Atlanta.  The nine regional finalists will then move to the state level and compete for the title of state GOAL winner.