Wiregrass Georgia Technical College Military and Veterans Services Coordinator, Tabora Temple, was among four colleges in the Technical College System of Georgia recognized recently with a resolution by legislators in Atlanta.  Temple traveled to the state capital for the special occasion.   The resolution recognized Wiregrass Tech for being ranked 13th in the nation as a military-friendly technical college.  Temple was named in the resolution for her outstanding work on behalf of our brave veterans and extended best wishes for continued success.  Temple had a 24-year career in the Air Force and retired as a Master Sergeant.  She shared this about the honor, “Receiving this recognition only highlights the steps that Wiregrass has taken and will continue to take to improve veteran support services at the college and within the community.  Wiregrass has afforded me much flexibility in devising recruiting strategies and programs to attract veterans to our college. For our active duty component, we have stayed current on what it takes for them to be successful Airmen by offering individualized education programs that may be completed at home or while deployed.”  While in Atlanta, Temple and the other college military coordinators spoke to the Military Affairs Committee headed by Representative Dave Belton.  The panel is looking into implementing successes of Wiregrass’ Veteran Services and the other technical colleges into the K-12 public school environment for military children to further identify the state of Georgia as a military-friendly state.  
 
Active Duty Military, National Guard, Reserve, Veterans and their dependents regardless of discharge type receive assistance from the Veterans Support Services Center at Wiregrass. The center assists students in understanding their veteran educational benefits, helps minimize the anxiety of transitioning from military life to civilian life, offers class advising, and many other services. Temple understands that many veterans with PTSD, traumatic brain injury, or any other physical or mental disorders want to succeed and not be singled out from their peers.  She has implemented accommodations to assist those identified veterans with disorders by partnering with Wiregrass Special Populations to create individualized education plans for each veteran.
 
Wiregrass offers a Fast Track plan on Moody AFB. This is where students can complete their general education course requirements for the Community of College of Air Force in just two to three semesters through Wiregrass Tech.  Our Moody AFB campus also houses one of the Top 25 Testing Centers in the nation, where military members and veterans can take college credit exams to assist in completing their education goals sans the classroom environment.   
 
The other technical colleges honored were Savannah Technical College ranked 1st in the nation, Gwinnett Technical College ranked 19th, and Central Georgia Technical College ranked 25th.  Wiregrass was also recently named a Bronze Award-level Military Friendly School Award Recipient in the Community College category.