ATC Honors GOAL Winners

On May 9th, ATC hosted a luncheon in honor of the Georgia Occupation Award of Leadership, or GOAL, representatives for the Southeast Consortium of the Technical College System of Georgia.  This includes, Shawna Morrison from Altamaha Technical College, Cindy Stephens from Coastal Georgia Community College, Laura Nottingham from Ogeechee Technical College, Selena Strickland from Okefenokee Technical College, Stacey Benaske from Savannah Technical College, and Daysha Phimphone from Southeastern Technical College. 

ATC President, Lorette Hoover, was one of the speakers for the event.  She spoke about technical education and the growth and change it has experienced over the last twenty years.  Hoover also mentioned the success of technical college graduates saying, “They can be presidents of colleges, owners of small companies, or CEOs of large corporation, and many are doing just that.” 

The second guest speaker was Keara Reilly, the 2006 Savannah Technical College GOAL winner.  Reilly, who placed in the top twelve in last year’s GOAL competition, was able to give the this year’s competitors an inside view of what they need to expect when they go to Atlanta in a couple of weeks.  When talking about how the competition affected her, Reilly said, “Going to GOAL will change you.  I made many new friends and also discovered a new found self confidence.  So much so that I did something I always wanted and opened my own business.”

According to Cindy Brown, ATC’s GOAL Coordinator, “I wanted to give the GOAL winners of our consortium a chance to come together, meet, and become more prepared for the competition. I am looking forward to Atlanta and meeting all of the GOAL representatives, the energy and excitement is contagious; I always come away with a new found respect for technical education.”