Clarkesville, GA — Deitra “Didi” Gray from Toccoa, Ga., was named North Georgia Technical College’s 2020 Georgia Occupational Award for Leadership (GOAL) student at today’s Habersham Rotary meeting. Nominated by her instructor Angie Minish, Gray is an early childhood education student from the Currahee campus.
GOAL candidates are nominated by an instructor and must maintain a least a 3.0 GPA and demonstrate strong work ethics and leadership skills. This statewide award program of the Technical College System of Georgia actually was started at NGTC in the early 1970s and continues to honor excellence in academics and leadership among the state’s technical college students today. Local GOAL winners are selected at each of the state’s 22 technical colleges.
From across all three of North Georgia Technical College’s campuses, students representing various programs were nominated as candidates to represent NGTC in the state competition. The top four finalists selected for the 2020 GOAL award included Grace Jeffers, an engineering technology student from Baldwin; Kassidy Wood, a business technology student from Mt. Airy; Angel Gaddis, a criminal justice student from Baldwin; and Gray.
“Congratulations to each of these deserving students,” said President Dr. Mark Ivester. “We are so proud of the determination and hard work shown by these students. Their stories of perseverance and overcoming tough obstacles in life to make a better future for themselves with an education are always inspiring, and I am so very proud of each student. They are truly all winners.”
Each year the Habersham County Chamber of Commerce, White County Chamber of Commerce and Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce show their support with monetary awards to the finalists and their nominating instructors.
Celebrating these accomplishments with the area Chambers of Commerce and Habersham Rotary is a special event for NGTC. “We are very grateful for the partnerships we have with Rotary and the area Chambers who support our celebration of these exceptional students and their instructors,” said Ivester. “Their contributions to the GOAL program make the program even more special to each one of our nominees as well as instructors. We sincerely thank them for their annual support.”
As the NGTC 2020 GOAL winner, Gray will now advance to represent NGTC at the region level.