Students, faculty and one member of the local business community spent nine days in China this summer on a “Business and Culture” study abroad program.

The group visited the cities of Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai, including historical and cultural sites such as the Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden Palace, the Terracotta Army museum and the Shanghai Tower.

“Our trip to China was a great success,” said Associate Professor of History Bronson Long, who is also the director of global initiatives and study abroad. “It was a tremendous learning experience for everyone who participated.”

Additionally, the group visited a hospital in Shanghai called St. Michael Hospital.

CEO and President of Floyd Medical Center Kurt Stuenkel, who joined the GHC group as a business traveler, met with the CEO of St. Michael Hospital.

“China has a large public health care system that addresses the needs of most all of the residents, with large urban facilities and clinics as well as providers for rural areas,” Stuenkel said. “China also has other providers, some of whom have ownership and collaboration with organizations from other countries. We visited such an organization in Shanghai. It is a smaller hospital and it caters to visitors, hotel guests, and to some residents from the area. It was interesting to learn more about how medical care is delivered in this facility and to learn about Chinese health care.”

The trip concludes a yearlong academic focus on China for GHC.

“We decided to have a whole host of China-related events at GHC locations during the 2017-2018 academic year,” Long said. “In essence, this made China our ‘theme country.’”

Activities for students included creating a bamboo garden, watching the Atlanta Chinese Dance Company perform, learning how to cook Chinese cuisine with Chef Egg and more.

In addition to these events, Long stated that GHC also hosted a major academic conference in October, which featured guests/attendees from across the University System of Georgia and the northwest Georgia business community, as well as speakers on China from several prestigious institutions.

To learn more about study abroad opportunities at GHC, please visit: highlands.edu

Maggie Schuyler has joined Georgia Highlands College as its new director of admissions to work with future students and the community, as the GHC Admissions team launches new community events and a revamped campus tour program called Charger Tours.

Schuyler graduated from Georgia Southern University with a master’s degree in higher education administration. Prior to GHC, she worked as the assistant director of admissions at Middle Georgia State University.

Originally from Moultrie, Georgia, she has over 10 years of higher education experience under her belt and looks forward to her new position at GHC.

“There is a sense of family here,” she said. “My goal is to increase awareness of the great educational opportunities that GHC has to offer its students.”

One way the Admissions team is looking to open up GHC’s locations throughout Northwest Georgia in Rome, Cartersville, Marietta, Dallas and Douglasville is to begin a new campus tour program called Charger Tours.

Senior Admissions Counselor Maggie Jackson says the new tour program is a “great way to get an intimate look at GHC.”

“We keep the maximum registration numbers low enough to allow for quality, one-on-one interactions,” she said. “We hope that each potential student leaves feeling how excited we would be to include them in our GHC family.”

Jackson explained students can easily register by filling out a form at visit.highlands.edu where they can list which location they would like to visit and receive parking and sign-in instructions.

Charger Tours begin with GHC’s “Taking Charge” video and a brief admissions presentation, then participants are guided around campus by current GHC students.

To sign up for one of the new Charger Tours, go to: visit.highlands.edu

Schuyler, Jackson and the rest of the team are also working on a new community event to run alongside traditional Preview Days at GHC, which will include a number of activities, games, food, and raffles. The pilot event is slated for fall in October at the Rome location.

To learn more about this event or others or to begin working with an admissions counselor one-on-one via a personalized website, please visit: go.highlands.edu

Georgia Highlands College has received a total of $4.1 million in state funding to renovate its Winn Building in Dallas near the current Paulding instructional site. The project will transform the facility into a modern academic building and expand degree and program offerings in the area.

“We would like to especially thank our legislators for all they do to support GHC, the USG and education in the state,” said Vice President for Advancement Mary Transue, who also serves in GHC’s Government Relations role. “Without their tireless support and dedication, this venture would not have been possible.”

GHC was approved for funding under the fiscal year 2019 state budget which was approved by Legislature and signed by Governor Deal.

The Winn Building, a former bank building, was gifted to GHC in 2010 from Paulding County.

GHC President Don Green stated the renovations will help raise graduation and retention rates as well as grow the site by increasing the capability for students to earn degrees and graduate on time without needing to leave Dallas.

“The new academic building will include more classrooms, a physical education lab, an academic success center for tutoring and advising and a new chemistry lab to accommodate students who take classes at our Paulding location,” Green said.

Increasing the program and class offerings will directly impact and support the community workforce through degree completion from a University System of Georgia college that is an affordable, quality-driven, access institution like GHC, he added.

The building is also expected to contribute to raising GHC’s current economic impact of nearly $150 million in Northwest Georgia. GHC has five locations across Northwest Georgia in Rome, Cartersville, Marietta, Dallas and Douglasville.

Additionally, Green stated the building also strengthens and broadens GHC’s ability to maintain a strong relationship with K-12 school systems across Northwest Georgia.

Georgia Highlands College was honored with seven gold awards, two silver, and three bronze from two national award programs for work completed in communications, marketing, advertising and promotions of the college by the Advancement Division.

GHC was up against over 900 entries from across the U.S. in the Collegiate Advertising Awards (CAA).

CAA awarded GHC the Gold Award (top 5 percent in the nation) for its “Be a Take Charger” billboard campaign, a series designed and implemented in cooperation with World Design Marketing (WDM). A second Gold Award was presented for a Photo Series based on GHC’s Wyoming Field Course.

GHC/WDM were honored with a Silver Award (top 12 percent in the nation) for the “Be a Take Charger” internet advertising series. A second Silver Award was given for Promotional Graphics Series used on social media to promote the basketball season.

Additionally, GHC received a Bronze Award (top 16 percent in the nation) for its Highlander magazine.

GHC was also a frontrunner in the 33^rd annual Educational Advertising Awards (EAA), competing against nearly 2,500 entries from over 1,000 colleges, universities and secondary schools from all 50 states and several foreign countries.

EAA awarded GHC and WDM the Gold Award for “Be a Take Charger” T-shirt design; implementing an integrated “Be a Take Charger” marketing campaign; and the “Be a Take Charger” billboard campaign.

GHC was presented the Gold Award for social media for Charger Athletics promotions and another Gold Award for a special video production centering on the “Charger Garden.”

The GHC Highlander magazine received a Silver Award and Bronze, and an additional Bronze was awarded for a special video production centering on “Charger Basketball – 50 wins.”

The Georgia Highlands College Advancement team consists of:

Mary Transue – Vice President of Advancement

Sheila Jones and Nick Godfrey – Marketing & Communications

Jeff Brown and Justin Sucre – Digital Media

Ken Davis – Print & Design Services

Alison Lampkin – Alumni & Special Events

Cindy Gomez and Liz Jones – Executive Assistant & Foundation Accountant

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The Collegiate Advertising Awards (CAA) is an elite program recognizing higher education organizations for excellence in communications, marketing, advertising and promotions of their schools.

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Judges for the Educational Advertising Awards consisted of a national panel of higher education marketers, advertising creative directors, marketing and advertising professionals and the editorial board of Higher Education Marketing Report.

Higher Education Marketing Report has been the nation’s leading marketing publication for higher education marketing professionals, for thirty-four years; read by thousands of higher education marketing professionals.

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PICTURE: A billboard example used as a part of the award-winning “Be a Take Charger” campaign at Georgia Highlands College which was recently recognized by Collegiate Advertising Awards and Educational Advertising Awards.

Georgia Highlands College’s Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) has had a busy year and has been named the “Regional Top Distinguished Chapter Overall” for the third year in a row at regionals.

PTK students completed several local service projects, including a Christmas Angel Tree program, knitting scarves for the homeless and participating in GHC Preview Days at each GHC location.

The PTK chapter also served on the regional level in the Regional Officer position of Chapter Relations.

Chapter President Aicha Bah was the official Regional Officer Representative and helped lead both the fall and spring Regional Conferences held at Albany State University in November and Atlanta Metropolitan State College in March.

Bah, Alexandra Deaton, Tabitha Boyd and Margaret Gardner were selected for the Coca-Cola All-Georgia Academic Team and were honored at the awards luncheon in downtown Atlanta in March.

The honors continued with the chapter winning multiple regional and international awards, as well.

At the Regional spring conference, Bah, Deaton, Minh Nguyen and Stephanie Corona won the Distinguished Officer Team award, the Distinguished Honors in Action Theme and Honors in Action Overall awards.

Additionally, Bah won the regional Hall of Honor award and Chapter Vice President of Membership Deaton won the Sarah Anne Staples award.

The chapter also won two Honors Institute scholarships and was elected as the Regional Vice Presidential Chapter for 2018/2019 and will be hosting the Fall Regional Conference in October at GHC’s Cartersville location.

At the International Centennial Spring Catalyst Conference in Kansas City, MO, the GHC chapter won a very competitive International Distinguished Officer Team award and the International Honors in Action Theme Award.

The new chapter President Andrew Beard is participating in the PTK International Scholar Laureate Program in China, while the new chapter Vice President of Membership Lexii Daniels is participating in the PTK Honors Institute at Villanova University this summer.

Both will be training new officers and members at GHC as well as helping lead on the regional level at an Honors in Action summer workshop.

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PICTURE: (L-R): Jay Fritts, Elle Summers, Kelly Pereira, Lexii Daniels, Alexandra Deaton, Aicha Bah, Andrew Beard, Cindy Mendoza, Thomas Boylan

In 2002, Derrick Lepard may have been a shy high school student taking his first class at Georgia Highlands College, but now, he owns his own business in Atlanta called Cultivators.

“GHC was a great stepping stone for me right out of high school,” he said. “I was somewhat reserved and shy right out of high school and the experiences at GHC helped get me outside of my comfort zone.”

Derrick’s dream job was to one day become an architect, but his passion was in plants and plant life.

He said that as a child he was always fascinated with plants, and since he grew up on a farm in Buchanan, Georgia, he was always outside.

Eventually, as he tackled classes at GHC and went on one of his favorite college trips (the geology trip to Wyoming), he found out he could combine the two things he wanted most.

Derrick decided he would become a landscape architect.

“Landscape architects analyze, plan, design, manage, and nurture the build and natural environments,” he said. “Landscape architects have a significant impact on communities and quality of life. They design parks, residences, campuses, streetscapes, trails, plazas, and other projects that help define a community.”

Derrick graduated from GHC and went on to the University of Georgia.

After finishing college, he started his own company in 2010.

“Cultivators is a design build landscape architecture company,” he said. “We are very hands on and work with residential and commercial clients in the Atlanta area.”

Derrick’s team has over 15 years combined experience in landscape architecture, landscape design, horticulture, and agriculture.

“I love the fact that every day is different, and I am my own boss at something that I am very passionate about.”

Derrick stated GHC helped him create a solid foundation, noting how he loves GHC’s flexibility to work with students to determine their best needs for the future.

“All the experiences I had at GHC have helped shape me into the person I am today,” he said, “and it has definitely helped me get where I am now.”

In 2017, Georgia Highlands College Assistant Professor of Communication Alexandra Van Ryn MacMurdo Reiter was contacted by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Bern looking for more information about her grandfather.

“As you may know, your grandfather, a former Polish consul in Latvia in the 1930s and a head of the Political Section of the Polish Legation in Switzerland during WWII, is one of the Holocaust rescue heroes of an operation orchestrated between 1942 and 1943,” the Embassy informed her.

Alexandra’s grandfather was Stefan Ryniewicz.

“All I initially knew of my grandfather was that he was a Polish Diplomat who left Poland to go to Argentina,” Alexandra said. “Now I am learning that Stefan Ryniewicz was a true hero who saved many Jewish people from the horrors of the Holocaust.”

Stefan, she was told, played a crucial role in a secret rescue operation: smuggling in fake foreign passports for Jews.

He was responsible for maintaining contacts with the consuls of South American countries who were ready to disclose blank passports which were then filled with the names and photographs of Jews from the ghettoes.

He was in close contact with the members of the Jewish organizations which were providing the necessary personal data for the passports.

He was also responsible for the contacts with the Swiss authorities (ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice as well as Police) and the U.S. Embassy in Bern, in order to make sure everyone turned a blind eye on the procedure.

In 1942, Jews with foreign passports issued by neutral countries or the U.S. were looked over by Germans, since they were more valuable later as a trade commodity for other German citizens held captive abroad.

The ploy helped save hundreds of lives.

“Stefan was directly responsible for saving countless Jewish lives during the Holocaust, and my heart is full of pride,” Alexandra said. “I am just overwhelmed with emotion thinking about what my grandfather did.”

Stefan is buried with his wife in Buenos Aires.

In addition to reaching out for more information on her grandfather for recognition in future articles, books, and documentaries, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Bern asked for the location of Stefan’s place of burial in order to lay a wreath on his tombstone.

Alexandra was happy to provide that information and is proud to have this revelation about her grandfather brought to life. She stays in contact with her extended family who still lives in Argentina, but hopes to visit more.

“I was able to meet my grandfather Stefan when I was a very small child visiting Argentina, but I was too young to remember anything,” Alexandra said. “I was able to last visit my family in Argentina at Christmas time in 2014 and take my daughters to meet the family they only knew through stories. I hope to return again to visit my family in Argentina in the next few years. In addition, one day I plan to visit Krakow, Poland, where my father was born. It is important to me to be able to see and experience first-hand where part of my family history began.”

PICTURE: Georgia Highlands College Assistant Professor of Communication Alexandra Van Ryn MacMurdo Reiter holds up her grandfather’s passport.

Harold Campbell recounts the Watergate scandal, the end of the Vietnam War, and the start of the Iranian hostage crisis as he thinks back on his early decision to become a journalist during his first few years at Georgia Highlands College over 40 years ago.

From 1976 to 1978, Harold went to GHC, what was then called Floyd Junior College. He had a work/study position in the Public Information Office and was an assistant editor for the student newspaper, the Six Mile Post.

“I should say that my career actually began here at Georgia Highlands College. I wrote many news releases which were published in area newspapers and broadcast over area radio stations,” Harold said. “During my sophomore year, I won my first reporting award from the Georgia Collegiate Press Association for investigative reporting.”

Harold ultimately received his associate degree in journalism from GHC, before transferring to the University of Kansas, where he received his bachelor’s.

Having cut his teeth early on journalistic writing, Harold left college with a fervent appetite to do more.

“My first reporting job after graduation was at the Odessa American, where I was also a general assignment reporter and even helped out on sports. After a short time there, I returned to Kansas and worked at papers in Pittsburg, Independence, Chanute, and Salina. I also worked at the newspaper in Beatrice, Nebraska.”

Harold went on to work for daily newspapers for 25 years.

“I mainly covered local and state government and education, although I also wrote plenty of general news and features and even covered a murder trial or two,” he said. “I was interested in a lot of things as a reporter, but mainly how to communicate complex issues in an understandable way and giving a spotlight to people or places that might be forgotten or overlooked.”

Harold continued to climb the reporting ladder, working as the assistant editor at the Independence (Kansas) Daily Reporter from 1994-1999, and then later as the managing editor at the Beatrice (Nebraska) Daily Sun from 2005-2007.

On top of his passion for journalism, Harold also had a passion for helping others. He soon found the opportunity to help those from other countries learn English. In 2010, Harold discovered a large demand for certified, native English speakers to teach English in Russia. And while speaking to a woman from Russia—who would one day become his wife—Harold decided he would move to St. Petersburg and begin teaching English.

He and his wife taught together for some years before being asked to consider teaching in orphanages in India.

“We were there for five months, three months in a city in northern India and two months in Bangalore, a city of 8 million in south India,” he said. “India is one of the most unique places in the world… the juxtaposition of poverty and wealth and the new and the traditional made this a time I will never forget.”

Harold says his journalism degree, experience, and early years at GHC opened several doors for him. He has decided to spend some time back where he started, bringing with him years of journalism knowledge and a world view.

Harold now works as a tutor on the Floyd Campus.

“In general, I enjoy helping people, so I hope I can help students learn how to communicate more effectively,” he said. “What I love most about GHC are the smaller, more personal classes and how even as a student, I was always treated with respect by faculty and staff.”