December 2, 2015 - ALBANY, GA – Albany Technical College will hold Fall Commencement Exercises on Thursday, December 3, 2015, at 7pm, at the James H. Gray Civic Center in Albany. A VIP reception preceding the ceremony will be held 6pm to 6:45pm in the Meeting Room at the Civic Center.
More than 250 candidates for associate degrees, more than 700 candidates for diplomas, and more than 1,250 candidates for technical certificates of credit are expected to graduate. Among these graduates, nearly 130 students were honored at an earlier ceremony on the Albany Tech campus on Tuesday with such distinctions as General Education Development highest test scores, Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership (GOAL), Presidential Scholar, Honors with Distinction, National Technical Honor Society (NTHS), ATC Ambassadors, American Criminal Justice Association Club, Collegiate DECA, Phi Beta Lambda (PBL), Student Government Association (SGA), and SkillsUSA. In addition, nearly 100 high school students will graduate with college credit through Albany Tech’s dual/joint enrollment programs. Over 50 students will graduate with their General Education Development (GED®).
Among the list of graduates for Thursday evening’s ceremony is 2015 Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership (GOAL) winner and Medical Assisting student, Jerri Jarrell, who said she came back to school after deciding it was time for her to do something for herself and pursue her passion to work in the medical field.
“I had a long road ahead of me trying to balance my school life with my life at home, however, I meant I was going to finish school this time no matter what,” said Jarrell.
Jarrell said her instructors at Albany Tech had a way of teaching “outside the box” so that all the learning material stuck without getting boring. She said the support from the staff was amazing.
“The months seemed to just fly by and it was time to take our national certification test, which we all passed,” she said.
Students in most of Albany Tech’s Healthcare Technology programs are required to do externships. Jarrell, who was interested in doing hers with a neurologist or gastroenterologist, was placed at an orthopedic office. She said that she loved it from day one.
“My goal before I graduated was to find a job so that I could walk straight out of the doors at Albany Tech, and straight into a doctor’s office to start work,” said Jarrell. “About three weeks into my first site rotation, which was Phoebe Orthopedic Specialists, the director told me I needed to apply for a position they had open.”
Jarrell said that after the first five weeks, she was suppose to switch to another extern site and she left Phoebe Orthopedic long enough to complete her check-offs and went right back and got the job.
“The day after my last day of externship, I walked right back into Phoebe Orthopedic, not as a student, but as an employee,” she said. “I had achieved the goal I set out to do. The whole journey from start to finish was stressful, but also taught me a lot and to get out of my comfort zone, because you never know what good it can lead to.”
Keynote speaker for the ceremony will be J. Randy Jackson, Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Administration for Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia (KMMG). Prior to joining Kia, Jackson was employed with Toyota North America and Mercedes Benz USA and International, Inc. At that time, he helped start up plants in West Virginia, Indiana, Missouri, Alabama, Mexico, and Europe. During his career, he has worked in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Japan.
Jackson has been published several times in the National SHRM magazine for Human Resources Professionals, and is recognized as one of the Top Leaders in his field around the country. He has coached, mentored, and developed many other Human Resources Professionals with their careers, and continues to make contributions to the Human Resources and Legal field. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, an MBA, and J.D. degree in Law from the University of Georgia and also has legal certification in Labor Law from the Institute of Applied Management and Law.
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