VALDOSTA — Instructors at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College have nominated 25 of students for the Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership competition, said Lydia Hubert, coordinator for the college’s GOAL program. 

The nominations come from the college’s four campuses: Ben Hill-Irwin, Coffee, Cook and Valdosta, and this year the nominees include two sets of siblings.

GOAL, a statewide program of the Technical College System of Georgia, honors excellence in academics and leadership among the state’s technical college students, college officials said. 

GOAL winners are selected at each of the state’s 22 technical colleges, as well as, one Board of Regents college with a technical education division. 

The Wiregrass 2019 GOAL nominees are listed with their program areas by campus: 

Coffee Campus: Jacquelyn Mitchell (business management), Dasha Morgan (business management) and Halei Vick (medical assisting).

Valdosta Campus: Chris Andruschkervich (welding), Eric Arroyo (gaming), DeShonyia Bivins (associate of science in nursing), Jamal Clements (auto collision repair), Caitlin Curran (associate of science in nursing), Rachel Garcia (medical assisting), Lily Gillespie (gaming), Rita Griffin (industrial systems technology), James Grobsmith (barbering), Emilie Hall (radiology technology), Brittany Hawbaker (health information technology), Nikki Hinson (radiology technology), Brittany Perez (business management), Carson Poindexter (radiology technology), ShaDawn Powell (radiology technology), Chris Rampley (radiologic technology), Caitlyn Rollins (associate science in nursing), Robin Rudd (EMS), Will Smith (EMS), Joshua Velasquez (air-conditioning), William Weber (cyber security) and Paul Wright (gaming).

“To put things in better perspective, Wiregrass has just under 4,000 students enrolled this fall semester, so these 25 students are considered outstanding students in their program areas,” Hubert said. “Each nominee should feel honored and proud of their hard work.

“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.”

A screening committee of staff at Wiregrass will review each of the instructors’ nominations then conduct personal interviews with the students this month, university officials said. After the nominees have been ranked, four finalists will then be chosen to compete to be the Wiregrass GOAL winner for 2018.

The four finalists will take part in another round of interviews and evaluations by a selection committee of representatives from business and industry later next month. That panel will consider the students’ qualities such as: 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 in February at Southern Regional Technical College, Tifton Campus. 

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, university officials said. The nine regional finalists will then move to the state level and compete for the title of state GOAL winner.