For Fall Semester 2014, which began on Aug. 19, the Southwest Georgia Technical College (SWGTC) Foundation awarded 59 scholarships totaling over $39,000 to SWGTC students. These funds assist students with education related costs such as tuition, clinical scrubs, dissection kits, books, and much more.

“The SWGTC Foundation is proud to offer so many scholarships each semester. Scholarships are only made available because of the generosity of our donors. We sincerely thank and appreciate each of you. Without you, many of our students would not be able to afford books, tuition, or program related supplies,” said Amy Maison, executive director of Institutional Advancement, Marketing and Public Relations.

The students who received scholarships included: Angela Baze – Grady County Students Scholarship; Dawn Bell – Growing Nurses Recruitment Scholarship; Michael Cameron – Mitchell County Students Scholarship; Kimberly Castillo – Mitchell County Students Scholarship; Deborah Cooper – Gap Scholarship and Grady County Students Scholarship; Patricia Coram – Growing Nurses Recruitment Scholarship and William Howard Flowers & Maury Tice Flowers/Archbold Medical Center Scholarship; Holly Haskins – Jump Start School of Business Scholarship; Teresa Crumby – Albert & Esther Thomson Scholarship; Joseph Dean – Debbie Griffiths Scholarship and Non-Traditional Students Scholarship; Crystal Dire – William Howard Flowers & Maury Tice Flowers/Archbold Medical Center Scholarship; Squire Dison – William Howard Flowers & Maury Tice Flowers/Archbold Medical Center Scholarship; Herath Ekanayake – Albert & Esther Thomson Scholarship and William Howard Flowers & Maury Tice Flowers/Archbold Medical Center Scholarship; Tremel Emanuel – High School Scholarship; Angela Esther – Grady County Students Scholarship; Joelenna Fahie – Gap Scholarship; Stephanie Hall – Growing Nurses Recruitment Scholarship; Rebecca Hay – Albert & Esther Thomson Scholarship and Gap Scholarship; Colette Hilliard – William Howard Flowers & Maury Tice Flowers/Archbold Medical Center Scholarship; Audrey Hollis – William Howard Flowers & Maury Tice Flowers/Archbold Medical Center Scholarship; Margaret Huckeba – Albert & Esther Thomson Scholarship; Amber Kelley – Grady County Students Scholarship; Zachary Kelly – Grady County Students Scholarship; Kerri King – Gap Scholarship; Heather Labbe – William Howard Flowers & Maury Tice Flowers/Archbold Medical Center Scholarship; Josh Long – Jeffrey T. Harris Memorial Scholarship; Maia Lucas – Growing Nurses Recruitment Scholarship; Loraine Magnuson – Albert & Esther Thomson Scholarship and Gap Scholarship; Teresa May – Growing Nurses Recruitment Scholarship; Kristine McLendon – Mitchell County Students Scholarship; Lindsey McManus – Albert & Esther Thomson Scholarship and Grady County Students Scholarship; Ryan Mercado – Lillie Jackson Gregory Memorial Scholarship and Red Hills Radiology Scholarship; Josh Monk – Albert & Esther Thomson Scholarship; Casey Nimmo – Growing Nurses Recruitment Scholarship; Lisa Peel – Mitchell County Students Scholarship; Josh Pollock – Mitchell County Students Scholarship; Katherine Rigdon – Maddox Veterinary Technology Scholarship; Sarah Sammons – Jump Start School of Health Sciences Scholarship; Taylor Sanders – Jump Start School of Industrial Technology; Kayla Sharp – Mitchell County Students Scholarship; Shanna Sheppard – Hilliard – William Howard Flowers & Maury Tice Flowers/Archbold Medical Center Scholarship and Mitchell County Students Scholarship; Lateshia Sinclair – Jump Start School of Professional Services Scholarship; Stephanie Strickland – Growing Nurses Recruitment Scholarship; Bethany Tadpole – Albert & Esther Thomson Scholarship and Kathryn Read Scholarship; Amanda Tanner – Gap Scholarship; Marqueal Thomas – Growing Nurses Recruitment Scholarship; Renee Trawick – William Howard Flowers & Maury Tice Flowers/Archbold Medical Center Scholarship; Gary Vogt – Growing Nurses Recruitment Scholarship; Jason Watson – William Howard Flowers & Maury Tice Flowers/Archbold Medical Center Scholarship; and Jeremy Weldon – Growing Nurses Recruitment Scholarship.

The SWGTC Foundation is a non-profit corporation whose mission is to promote the cause of higher education and expand educational opportunities to the students of SWGTC. The Foundation strives to create scholarships and endowments and assist in the financing of capital improvements and other college-related expenses. A few of the scholarships offered and awarded this semester were the Growing Nurses Recruitment Scholarship, the Non-Traditional Student Scholarship, and the Lillie Jackson Gregory Memorial Scholarship.

The Growing Nurses Recruitment Scholarship was developed by SWGTC and Archbold Memorial Hospital. Their goal was to attract more students to the Associate of Science in Nursing (ASN) program in order to help alleviate the critical shortage of nurses locally, regionally, and nationwide. Ten $1,000 scholarships were awarded for Fall Semester 2014 to deserving students. Each recipient desires a career in nursing and is committed to completing the ASN program.

The Non-Traditional Scholarship was established to encourage enrollment in and completion of a technical certificate of credit, diploma, or degree in a field typically considered gender-specific. Non-traditional occupations are careers in which less than 25 percent of a gender is represented in the workforce. These careers often pay higher salaries, include challenging work, offer opportunities to develop new skills, and possess the possibility of advancement potential.

The Lillie Jackson Gregory Memorial Scholarship was established in 2011 in memory of a beloved faculty member at SWGTC. Lillie Jackson Gregory served as the Clinical Coordinator for the Radiologic Technology program at SWGTC for 23 years before losing her battle with cancer.

To honor her memory and her service to SWGTC and the Radiography profession, this scholarship was established in her name with generous donations from family, friends, colleagues and others whose lives she touched. Rising seniors enrolling in the Radiologic Technology degree program are eligible to receive this scholarship.

For more information on scholarships, how to give and how to apply, visit www.southwestgatech.edu/swgtcscholarships or contact the Institutional Advancement Office at (229) 227-2415.

Southwest Georgia Technical College is a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia.