GNTC Foundation receives $10,000 donation

Published 12:03 am Sunday, January 26, 2020

The Georgia Northwestern Technical College Foundation was recently presented with a donation of $10,000 from the Georgia Power Foundation Inc. to be used to assist outstanding students with their tuition, books and supplies, fees and other needs.

“We deeply appreciate this support from the Georgia Power Foundation,” Lauretta Hannon, director of Institutional Advancement for GNTC, said. “Donations like these really make a difference and go a long way in helping GNTC students achieve their educational dreams.”

The check was presented to college President Heidi Popham earlier this month before GNTC’s Board of Directors meeting by Cassandra Wheeler, regional director for Georgia Power and the Floyd County representative for GNTC’s Board of Directors.

“Georgia Power is proud to invest in Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s future,” Wheeler said. “We believe in making the communities we serve better, ensuring that partners like Georgia Northwestern have the tools and resources they need to prepare and empower Georgia students for future careers.”

According to Wheeler, education is at the core of the company’s workforce development strategy, and the goal of Georgia Power is twofold. The first is to increase graduation rates and ensure a trained, motivated workforce for Georgia Power and other energy businesses in the state, and the second is to create targeted programs and cultivate a pool of talented candidates for high-demand jobs such as electrical lineworkers.

“Highlighting their longstanding relationship, the company and GNTC established the Georgia Power Technical Education Center in Rockmart to help ensure its workers are trained on the same equipment they will use on the job,” she said.

Located on GNTC’s Polk County Campus, the Georgia Power Technical Education Center was launched in January 2009 as a collaborative effort among GNTC, Georgia Power, the Southern Co. and more than two dozen vendors.

The GNTC Foundation was established to encourage private contributions in order to build and maintain outstanding academic and support programs at the college. Donations to the foundation support areas of institutional need including scholarships to deserving students, equipment purchases, materials for the library and staff development.