South Georgia Technical College Accounting Director Robin Bell has decided to retire after over 13 years of service to the college, its students, and faculty and staff. She began her career at SGTC as an Accounting Specialist but has now served as the Accounting Director for over 11 years. Her strong work ethic, calming demeanor, and helpful attitude will be missed.
While accounting and financial responsibilities occupied much of her time at South Georgia Technical College, Bell said one of the most rewarding aspects of working at the college was the opportunity to interact with students.
She remembers what it was like to enter college herself and feel uncertain about what she was supposed to do or where to find the information she needed. That experience has helped shape the way she approaches students who come into the business office. "I remember going to college and being lost," she said. "Now I get to help students with things they need to know so they are not lost."
That connection with students, along with the relationships she developed with her co-workers, is something she said she will miss.
Even though Bell will miss those interactions, she said she has been planning for this day almost since she began working at the age of 15. “I went to work, so I could have things I wanted,” laughed Bell. Now after nearly 45 years of working at different places and positions, she is looking forward to her next chapter - one that will give her more time with her husband, Greg, their grown son, Mitchell, and two young girls, Maddie Horne and Riley Welch, they have raised for nearly six years.
As she looks back over her professional career that is ending in retirement at South Georgia Technical College, Bell shared that this is one of the places she wanted to apply to work rafter she graduated from Georgia Southwestern State University in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Information Systems. She said she didn’t “because she was too shy.”
However, fate still led her to SGTC. She worked as an Office Clerk at Piggly Wiggly Southern, Inc. while attending college, the first time. She also used her education as a Data Entry Clerk at American Banc Supply and as an Assistant Store Manager at the Computer Resource Center before becoming the Computer Information Manager for Sumter Electric Membership Corporation. During her 13-years there she went back and earned a Master of Science Degree in Computer Information systems from GSW.
She took a step back from her professional career for about five years to spend more time with her son and help him with his education. During that time, she worked part-time as a Church Secretary/Financial Secretary for Lee Street Methodist and Bethel Baptist Church.
Then in December of 2007, she went to work at Glover Foods in Accounts Payable. Although her professional background was originally rooted in computer and technology, she found she enjoyed working with numbers. As her accounting career blossomed, she made the decision to enroll at South Georgia Technical College and earn an associate degree in accounting. Brenda Boone, who still teaches accounting today, was her instructor. She attended classes during her lunch hour.
Before she even finished her associate’s in accounting, Bell was hired on at South Georgia Technical College as an Accounting Specialist. That is a decision she has not regretted. And today as she readies for retirement, she knows she may miss some aspects of her daily routine especially students and co-workers.
Over the years, her work in the business office has allowed her to see countless students come through the college, many of whom needed assistance navigating the financial and administrative side of college life. For her, helping them was more than simply completing a transaction or answering a question—it was an opportunity to make the college experience a little less confusing.
"I loved working with the students and my co-workers," she said. While leaving a career she has devoted over 13 years to is bittersweet, retirement also brings something she has been looking forward to: more time with her family.
She and her husband, Greg, have legal guardianship of the two girls, now ages 6 and 7. The two younger girls keep the family busy with school and a variety of activities, including cheerleading, gymnastics, softball and other extracurricular activities. “Greg always said he would like more children,” laughed Bell. “I am not sure he thought it would be in our retirement years.”
Retirement will give her the opportunity to be more present for those moments—something she says she is ready to embrace. After spending much of her life working, she is looking forward to a different kind of busy schedule, one centered around family rather than deadlines, budgets and accounting responsibilities.
Her over 13 years at the college represent much more than a career in accounting. They represent a commitment to the institution, her co-workers and, most importantly, the students she had the opportunity to serve.
As she closes this chapter, she leaves behind a legacy of service and a simple philosophy that guided much of her work: help people find the information they need so they don't have to feel lost.
Now, after years of helping students find their way, she is ready to follow a new path of her own—one that leads toward more family time, more school activities and more memories with the people she loves most.
Robin Bell (r) is shown above with her co-worker, SGTC Vice President of Administrative Services Lea Coe.