Applicants to Georgia Highlands College (GHC) now have an opportunity to receive an immediate admissions decision for the spring, summer or fall 2021 semester by registering for an Instant Decision Day.

Instant Decision Day not only expedites the process for enrollment, but it also helps applicants save money by waiving the college’s application fee.

The events are all virtual, and participants can register at decision.highlands.edu

“Instant Decision Day helps applicants reduce the entire admissions process to one day rather than having to spread the application process over a course of weeks and/or months. We want to assist our students in any way, shape or form that we can,” Director of Admissions Maggie Schuyler said. “We are simplifying the admissions process and giving everyone more hands-on assistance.”

Applicants can participate in one of three virtual Instant Decision Days on the following dates:

• Register by Monday, Nov. 2, for an Instant Decision Day on Wednesday, Nov. 4
• Register by Monday, Nov. 9, for an Instant Decision Day on Wednesday, Nov. 11
• Register by Monday, Nov. 16, for an Instant Decision Day on Wednesday, Nov. 18

Applicants should request their high school transcripts via their high school guidance counselor to be sent to GHC Admissions. If they have attended another college or university, then they should request their transcripts from the institution’s Registrar’s Office to be sent to GHC Admissions.

All transcripts should be sent via an electronic transcript issuing services such as eScrip-Safe, the National Student Clearinghouse, or GAFutures.

“To expedite the process, Georgia Highlands College recommends applicants submit their required documentation electronically,” Schuyler said.

In addition, future students can meet with an admissions counselor via the GHC Virtual Hub (virtualservices.highlands.edu), Monday through Friday. They may also schedule a personalized on-campus tour at any GHC campus location in Rome, Cartersville, Dallas, Douglasville or Marietta by filling out an online form (visit.highlands.edu).

Head over to decision.highlands.edu for more information and to register for the next Instant Decision Day virtual event at GHC.

Georgia Highlands College (GHC) and the University of West Georgia (UWG) have signed articulation agreements to help students in GHC’s Recreation Administration or Sports Management pathways continue their education.

“This articulation agreement allows GHC graduates a seamless transfer to a bachelor’s degree in Sports Management at UWG,” Dean of Health Sciences Michelle Boyce said.

While students at GHC have a variety of courses they can take in the two pathways, the agreement has allowed GHC to identify the courses required to enter the bachelor’s degree at UWG. Boyce said this will help with advising students and prevent them from taking courses not needed.

“Students who graduate from GHC with a pathway in Recreation Administration or Sports Management now can have all courses taken in the degree program transfer to UWG, saving our students time and money,” Boyce said.

Students can pursue a variety of Sports Management and Recreation Administration careers. While enrolled in courses at GHC, students will design, develop and manage a chosen event or program. Faculty also incorporate guest speakers in the sports industry as well as tours, and GHC students have opportunities to access paid and unpaid externships in collaboration with UWG faculty.

Those who complete the Sport Management pathway may go on to work in sport finance and fitness administration, communications and media, facilities and event management, as well as sport finance, law, marketing and research. Recreation Administration graduates may go on to work for recreation centers, parks, cruise ships, gyms and other facilities that provide recreation and leisure services to the general public.

To learn more about the health science programs offered by GHC, please visit https://sites.highlands.edu/health-sciences/

As Georgia Highlands College celebrates its 50^th anniversary, the college’s library has made it possible for anyone to view historic college memorabilia from a computer or smart device through the creation of a digital archive.

The digital archive is available at 50years.highlands.edu

“We have items that highlight student organizations, marketing campaigns and events throughout the college’s history, such as a visor from our 30^th anniversary and a bookmark commemorating the addition of the academic building on the Cartersville site,” Librarian Melanie Vincent said.

Memorabilia also includes apparel, school spirit décor, as well as collectibles like drinkware.

“These items really showcase what type of memorabilia was expected to come from a college back then to now,” Archives Assistant Danielle Griesemer said. “Many of our items actually come from former students either through donation or on loan.”

By accessing the college’s digital memorabilia archives, visitors will be able to view unique items that would otherwise be lost if not for donations. However, building such an archive did not come easy, requiring the library to construct a small-scale photography studio and determine the best backgrounds and lighting for the items.

“Figuring out how to best arrange and photograph the items was the most challenging aspect of the project, but it was also rewarding because I enjoyed going through the items in our collection and the ones lent to us by the community,” Vincent said.

Once all the photos were complete, the library began creating the exhibit.

“Our archives’ webpage is still new, and the memorabilia collection is the first exhibit we built for the site,” Vincent said. “I’m excited to share the final product, and I look forward to adding on to it.”

Vincent said one of the most unique items in the collection is a Floyd Junior College windbreaker, as it is only one of two items associated with the college’s first name. The college started in 1970 as Floyd Junior College before the name was changed to Floyd College and then, after multiple new sites were opened throughout Northwest Georgia, to Georgia Highlands College.

For Griesemer, one of the more notable items holds a personal connection.

“I was able to offer a 2018 Student Government Association T-shirt from my time as a student,” Griesemer said. “It is a good representation of what the college has become since the first Floyd Junior College windbreaker.”

Griesemer received an Associates of Arts degree in History from GHC in May 2019. She initially began her role as Archives Assistant as an intern, but eventually was hired part time.

“Working in the archives ties in with my education because I get to see first-hand how GHC became the institution it is today,” Griesemer said. “On the other side of that, studying history teaches the importance of eye-witness accounts and the stories behind items. Archives is a fairly specialized field in history, so being handed this opportunity provides me with skills and experiences I will be able to use as I continue pursuing this field.”

To access the digital archives, visit the 50^th anniversary website, 50years.highlands.edu, click on the Memories tab, then select the Memorabilia image. An existing photo archive is available to view as well under the Memories tab.

Donations to the archive can be made by emailing Librarian Melanie Vincent at mvincent@highlands.edu

Georgia Highlands College (GHC) will present the virtual “Momentous Tuesday @ GHC Speaker Series,” beginning Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 1PM.

The three-week long series, which is free and open to the public, will feature local business owners discussing their businesses and the path to their chosen career.

“This speaker series is a collaboration drawing from GHC’s annual Pathway Exploration event along with an opportunity to speak to local professionals about unique careers,” Librarian Jessica Osborne said.

Due to COVID-19, the in-person “Pathway Exploration” informational fairs will not be held this semester. Instead, GHC faculty will be available to address questions and discuss education pathways and career options during the “Momentous Tuesday” events.

The speakers for the series work in a variety of different fields, ranging from photography and live-event painting to environmental preservation and a plant-based food service.

“These speakers are local professionals who came from backgrounds just like our students and were able to find satisfying careers in our area,” Osborne said.

Speakers will include representatives from businesses such as Rooted in the Loop, Cindy Harter Photography, IAmNotMaggie, Big Door Vineyards, Kris Lavender Wedding & Event Planning, Pettit Environmental Preserve and Pumpkinvine Gardens.

“We hope to generate interest in GHC’s pathways by educating students about previously unknown opportunities within each field,” Osborne said.

The series will be held Sept. 29, Oct. 13 and Oct. 27 at 1PM at the following link using the password “Business”: https://highlands.zoom.us/j/91863688130

Georgia Highlands College (GHC) is celebrating its 50^th anniversary year this fall after opening in 1970 as Floyd Junior College.

In fall 1970, Floyd Junior College opened in temporary offices in downtown Rome with the first college president David B. McCorkle leading 19 faculty members who taught 545 students.

Soon after, in 1971, students were welcomed back from winter break to a new 233-acre campus in Rome on U.S. Highway 27.

Decades later, GHC holds the second highest enrollment among state colleges in Georgia with hundreds of faculty members teaching thousands of students across Northwest Georgia at sites in Rome, Cartersville, Dallas, Douglasville and Marietta.

GHC is celebrating the long history and golden anniversary in several ways.

A dedicated website details the complete history of the college, campus events and more at 50years.highlands.edu

“Georgia Highlands College is an exceptional institution with a bright future and a continuous dedication to our students, the value of their study, and the elimination of any cost barrier to higher education,” President Don Green said in an opening letter on the website. “If I’ve learned anything in my time at GHC, it’s a community of people who take charge and who help others take charge, too. Please take time to review our 50th site for details on GHC’s history, upcoming events, and news surrounding this milestone year.”

As a part of the ongoing anniversary celebration, GHC will hold “50th Anniversary Celebration Stations” at each location for students, faculty and staff the week of Sept. 21 through Sept. 24. Each station is organized to be “grab and go” and will include a “celebration in a bag” so students, faculty and staff can commemorate the 50^th virtually, remotely and while continuing to follow campus guidelines.

Through a special section of the 50years.highlands.edu website, GHC is also inviting members of the community to join everyone at GHC in submitting memorabilia to the virtual GHC Archives. Currently, the college has several items on virtual display that span the history of the college from Floyd Junior College to Floyd College to Georgia Highlands College.

Students, faculty, staff, alumni, retirees and members of the community are also invited to submit a personal video to be included in the “GHC 50th Celebration Video Memory Book.”

More details about that project and an example video can be found by visiting 50years.highlands.edu and clicking the link at the very top of the page that says “Share a memory.”

Visit highlands.edu for information on GHC or stop by 50years.highlands.edu to read more about all the great things happening around the 50^th anniversary year this fall.

Picture: Students attending the college in the 1980s.

Georgia Highlands College is currently celebrating its 50^th anniversary this fall. Since 1970, students, faculty, and staff at GHC (formerly Floyd Junior College and Floyd College) have worked to expand the college in a number of ways, including some long-standing areas in student publications and the Rome-based television station.

From 1972 onward, two student publications have published consistently throughout GHC’s history: the student literary magazine called the Old Red Kimono (ORK) and the student-run newspaper called the Six Mile Post (SMP).

Additionally, since the early 90s, GHC has operated a television station called Georgia Highlands Television (GHTV).

As GHC celebrates its 50^th anniversary, pioneers and leaders of these areas reflect upon their impact and success.

Six Mile Post

In a typical year, the SMP student newspaper publishes seven print editions and regularly publishes online stories. The newspaper has received awards from organizations such as the Georgia Press Association since 1975.

Since 1972, the SMP has provided a historical account of the college’s milestones, documented student life and athletics and has addressed current issues important to students.

Now-retired English Professor Kristie Kemper began serving as the SMP’s faculty adviser in 1980.

“The Six Mile Post is an interesting reflection on changing cultural styles and issues, but it also reveals the things that stay the same — the students striving to get ahead and having fun at the same time,” Kemper said.

Kemper said moving from manual page layouts to computer layouts was one of the biggest changes she saw while serving as faculty adviser.

“Originally, staffers had to cut out each story, put hot wax on the back and paste it on a layout page,” Kemper said. “They used a machine for making the headlines, typing sight unseen and printing out strips of headlines developed through a chemical bath.”

Years later, SMP became one of the first Georgia college student newspapers to go online.

Over the decades, the SMP has received numerous awards from the Georgia Press Association, the Georgia College Press Association, the Southern Regional Press Institute and the Associated Collegiate Press. Individual students have been recognized for writing, photography, advertising, art and graphic design.

To help expand their skills, staffers have attended journalism workshops across the U.S. and have interned at area media outlets and institutions. Some have even spent a summer at the Institute for Political Journalism in Washington, D.C. or covered women’s softball during the 1996 Olympics.

“While the main goal of the SMP has always been service to the college community, taking part in competitions and workshops and press institutes has given the students on the SMP staff additional motivation to strive for excellence,” Kemper said.

Former SMP staff members have gone on to distinguish themselves as journalists, public relations specialists, teachers, hospital administrators, wildlife biologists, lawyers and more.

“I have seen, and students have told me, that the skills and confidence they gained working on the SMP staff have been important in their careers and their lives,” Kemper said.

After 40 years of service as the SMP faculty adviser, Kemper retired and passed the role on to Assistant Professor of Journalism and Communication Allison Hattaway in the fall of 2019.

In addition to the SMP earning 11 awards during Hattaway’s first year as adviser, Hattaway guided the staff through rebranding, a new logo design and updated look at the start of 2020, as well as helped launch “The Student Spin” podcast.

Old Red Kimono

Old Red Kimono is GHC’s student-edited literary magazine that annually publishes the work of GHC’s writers and artists since 1972.

Professor of English Nancy Applegate began serving as faculty adviser for ORK in the late 1990s.

“I had worked on the literary journal at my previous school and wanted to continue that work when I came to GHC,” Applegate said. “I’ve stayed with it because it’s one of the truly fun things I get to do, and the students we attract are a motley and interesting bunch.”

As the creative writing offerings have grown at GHC, so has the ORK.

“In the early days, the magazine was mostly a vehicle for the creative writing class, with only one creative writing class being offered each year,” Applegate said. “But now the college offers multiple sections of creative writing, and we get a good number of submissions from students at large.”

In addition to growing interest and content, the ORK has seen its annual receptions expand as well. Applegate said prior to COVID-19, the ORK held annual receptions on every GHC site, with the event on the Rome campus event drawing up to 150 people.

“Our themed receptions have been some of my most memorable experiences with ORK,” Applegate said. “In 2012, we released our apocalypse issue, and the table decorations were zombie-themed. In 2019 we had a superhero issue, and the table decorations included action figures and comic books.”

The ORK is also known for bringing the arts to the local community through public poetry readings and for helping its writers prosper.

“A couple of years ago, three of our poets were featured in Northwest Georgia Living Magazine,” Applegate said.

As a long-time institution of GHC, the ORK’s success had depended upon the hard work of many contributors inside and outside of the magazine’s pages.

“One of the more bittersweet memories is the time my husband, Joe, spent helping with ORK; he used to bring food to the meetings sometimes, and he always helped with parties and receptions,” Applegate said. “His death in December of 2018 was a tremendous loss for ORK. More than a dozen former ORK editors came to his memorial. We also lost former ORK Faculty Adviser LaNelle Daniel in 2018. The 2019 issues featured portraits of Joe and LaNelle, painted by Art Editor Anna Holley.”

GHTV

Originally launched on Sept. 6, 1994 as FCTV after Floyd College, GHTV helped begin the process of providing remote learning options at GHC as well as a wide range of programming.

Retired Professor of English Carla Patterson helped start GHTV and worked with the station until 2001. At the time, Patterson worked in GHC’s Extended Learning department, which produced and delivered video lectures from professors.

“I worked in TV, radio and print news prior to starting my career in education,” Patterson said. “The plans for a 24/7 TV station, and academic television, seemed to be an exciting blend.”

Dwight Cassity, a now-retired Political Science professor, taught American Government at FCTV from the fall of 1993 to the spring of 2005. His class was shown four times a day.

“To spice up my classes at the studio, some semesters I would either have a weekly news quiz or a one-hour program in which I would cover the news on a weekly basis,” Cassity said.

Cassity served as reporter, producer, director and host, collecting and sharing news stories and providing commentary.

Patterson said one of her most memorable times at the station relates to the 1996 Olympics.

“We were able to help deliver live news from Latvia, EU, to its weight lifters who were training on our Floyd site, produce ‘Welcome to Rome’ promos in eight languages, follow the torch relay through Rome and ensure our students could still access their lectures during the schedule shifts mandated by the games,” Patterson said.

In addition to pioneering remote learning through course lectures, GHTV programs have included campus tours, orientations, professor introductions and videos on faculty, staff, students and athletes, as well as coverage of college events.

Since 1994, GHTV has produced a total of 111 college-credit video-based courses, totaling approximately 4,085 hours of academic productions. The station is provided by Comcast to the local community and to all of Georgia by AT&T U-verse.

Visit 50years.highlands.edu for more on the college’s anniversary or visit highlands.edu to learn more about GHTV, SMP, or ORK.

PICTURE: Floyd Junior College staff members for the Six Mile Post in 1974

The chemistry research of Georgia Highlands College (GHC) Pre-Engineering Pathway student Muhammad Hanzala will soon be seen by a larger audience following its acceptance into the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).

Hanzala’s road from research to publication began during his Chemistry 1 class with Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Hanzala’s research advisor Erin Shufro.

“Professor Shufro and I were looking for research projects to do and I noticed at my work that the amount of pentane, an expensive chemical, being used in fragrances was excessive,” Hanzala, who works as a media and marketing analyst for a fragrance company, said.

Hanzala said after discovering the problem, he and Shufro brought the method to GHC labs, refined it and made it cost effective, successfully reducing the price of an extraction.

“The experiment involved a lot of chemistry, so it was befitting that the research was done as a part of a chemistry class,” Hanzala said.

Shufro explained that while the research was done outside of the normal lesson plan, it did require advanced chemistry knowledge, so she was proud to support Hanzala’s efforts.

“While our equipment is on-par with what is standard for most colleges and universities, we do have a resource that is invaluable – the human resource,” Shufro said. “Our students here at GHC are individuals, not just one of the crowd, and as such I can offer them my time and energy to help them be successful.”

After extensive research and discussion, Hanzala and Shufro decided the complexity of the experiment and its end result was something that should be submitted to NCUR for presentation.

According to its website, www.cur.org, “The National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) is dedicated to promoting undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activity in all fields of study by sponsoring an annual conference for students.”

Hanzala said he was surprised and excited to learn that his research had been accepted by the organization and that GHC gave him the tools he needed to take his research to the next level. This includes not only labs and technology, but faculty as well.

“One of the most important things that GHC has is very easy access to brilliant professors who are always ready to guide and connect with me,” Hanzala said. “Throughout the research, the practice for presentation and the effort to submitting the research for publication, I always felt like I had the backing of all of GHC’s faculty.”

Hanzala is a member of GHC’s Honors Program, lives in Cartersville and attends classes at the Cartersville site.

For more information on GHC’s Pre-Engineering Pathway, please visit highlands.edu.

For the past 21 years, Georgia Highlands College’s George White has made a considerable impact on local communities through his efforts as the director of the Continuing Education program.

“My goal was to make Continuing Education a valued part of GHC,” White said. “I really enjoyed becoming the director of the department because it let me become more involved with the communities and help to recruit academic students to GHC from my Continuing Education classes.”

For White, overseeing the college’s Center for Continuing and Professional Education was a career in which he could use his personal experience to help others reach their goals.

“I completed my degrees later in life, so my favorite memories were being able to get some of my older students to also go back to college and complete their degrees,” White said. “I had several students to complete their bachelor’s degrees and go on to complete their master’s degrees.”

In addition to helping establish the Continuing Education program, White was at the forefront of bringing more accessible technology to students.

“In order to do computer classes at the former Cartersville site, I had to set up laptop computers for the Continuing Education students in a regular classroom,” White said. “I believe we got our first computer lab around 2002.”

White saw the college expand as a whole and had a first-hand perspective watching the Cartersville site grow.

“When we moved into our new Cartersville site in 2005 it became the largest GHC site,” White said. “Bartow County is one of the largest counties in Northwest Georgia, and because of that growth, I was able to develop a Continuing Education industrial and business cliental to over 100 companies.”

White’s success at GHC led him to serve a two-year term as the marketing director for the Georgia Adult Education Association, helping to recruit members and planning the organization’s annual conference.

Now in retirement, White says he plans to become more active with the Cartersville Canes Touchdown Club, an organization of volunteers who support the Cartersville High School football team, the Purple Hurricanes.

“I was a three-year letterman and captain of the 1963 Cartersville High School baseball team,” White said, adding he joined the Cartersville Canes Touchdown Club when his daughter was a cheerleader at the school. “I have been a Hurricanes football season ticket holder for over 42 years and my wife, Faye, always makes some type of dessert for the press box at the home football games. Their favorite is banana pudding.”

As for Continuing Education, White encourages anyone seeking to advance their career options to consider enrollment.

“Continuing Education is a great place to start your career with one of our certificate programs,” White said. “Even if you have a degree, it is an excellent resource to upgrade your skills and build your resume.”

Please visit highlands.edu for more information on Continuing Education and the Center for Continuing and Professional Education.

This fall, Georgia Highlands College’s School of Business and Professional Studies will present a guest speaker series featuring entrepreneurs who have served in a variety of roles, including the design team for the 2018 Marvel Studios film “Black Panther,” the owner of the first Chick-fil-A in Brooklyn, N.Y., and a former Air Force Officer with global corporate marketing experience turned business founder.

This virtual event series is free and open to the public.

“This monthly series provides GHC students, alumni and the surrounding business community an opportunity to learn from successful entrepreneurs and prominent business and nonprofit leaders,” event moderator and Assistant Professor of Business Administration Shanika Wright-Turner said.

The Entrepreneur Speaker Series will connect successful entrepreneurs with students and the community to share stories and advice in a virtual format.

Speakers to be featured during the series include Carl Ulysses, a master tailor to the stars, who has worked on over 30 films and was part of the Oscar award-winning “Black Panther” design team and whose showroom is located in Buckhead; and Brandon Hurst, owner of the first Chick-fil-A in Brooklyn N.Y.

In addition, GHC’s School of Social Sciences and Education Curriculum Coordinator Pat Manna, an entrepreneur who has been involved in three startup companies with one culminating in an initial public offering, will be speaking during the series.

“Being an entrepreneur isn’t just about coming up with an idea, but being able to sell your idea to investors,” Manna said. “Unfortunately, because of technology we are losing the art of business communication.”

Manna will speak from his own experience as an entrepreneur while helping participants learn that entrepreneurship is a method for clearly creating and communicating one’s ideas throughout daily life.

“Entrepreneurship is a mindset not only for starting a business, but for improving an existing business and taking it to the next level,” Manna said. “You have to be an entrepreneur in everything you do.”

The series will run virtually from 12PM to 1PM on Sept. 16, Oct. 14 and Nov. 18. Please visit ess.highlands.edu today to register.

Georgia Highlands College will host its first Motivation and Mindset Summit on Oct. 1. Funded through a University System of Georgia (USG) STEM Grant, the online summit coincides with USG’s Momentum Approach to cultivate a productive academic mindset, which includes growth mindset, purpose and social belonging.

GHC’s School of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Division Chair Jayme Wheeler said the event will help participants better understand learning as a process.

“By attending the Motivation and Mindset Summit, faculty, staff and students should be able to learn how to implement strategies that they can use immediately in their classes, advising sessions and studies to improve learning,” Wheeler said.

The summit will feature workshops by Saundra McGuire, director emerita of the Center for Academic Success and retired assistant vice-chancellor and professor of chemistry at Louisiana State University.

McGuire has authored the books, “Teach Students How to Learn” for instructors and “Teach Yourself How to Learn” for students. Wheeler said both give strategies that aim to increase student success through metacognition and growth mindset and that McGuire’s strategies appeal to all disciplines taught at GHC.

For details on times, presentations and additional events related to the summit, please visit mindsetsummit.highlands.edu