SGTC Announces 2023 GOAL Finalists

South Georgia Technical College President, Dr. John Watford, recently announced the four finalists for the honor of representing SGTC in the annual Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership (GOAL) competition to be held in Atlanta next April. The students chosen as finalists were: Tredarrion Colbert of Americus, Barbering; Karson Richmond of Johnson City, TN, Heavy Equipment Dealer Service Technology; Kristy Tyus of Ellaville, Medical Assisting; and John Welch of Ellaville, Criminal Justice.

Students were nominated by their instructors. An internal screening committee composed of SGTC staff and administrators reviewed the nominations and interviewed each student. The committee members ranked the nominees, and the top four were chosen as finalists.

“The purpose of the GOAL program is to spotlight the outstanding achievement by students in Georgia’s technical colleges and to emphasize the importance of technical education in today’s global workforce,” said Joshua Curtin, SGTC Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs and coordinator for the college’s GOAL program.

Other students interviewed by the committee were: Agyalea Armond of Ellaville, Cosmetology; Alice Bridges of Americus, Culinary Arts; Kelli Rees of Midland, Precision Machining and Manufacturing; and Aislin Vicente of Buena Vista, Practical Nursing.

The four finalists will take part in another round of interviews and evaluations by a selection committee of representatives from local business and industry. That panel will consider the students’ qualities like academic achievement, personal character, leadership abilities and enthusiasm for technical education. The student judged most outstanding will be designated as the college’s GOAL winner and move on to the regional competition.

Then three from each of the three regions will make up the nine regional finalists, who will be named in April at the state GOAL conference in Atlanta. The nine regional finalists will then move to the state level and compete for the title of State GOAL winner, TCSG’s Student of the Year. The student who earns the State GOAL Winner title is also awarded the important responsibility of traveling the state as the ambassador for the entire technical college system. To make that travel easier, the winner also receives a new car from Kia Automotive the statewide corporate sponsor of Georgia’s GOAL program.