Sonya Bingham, an accounting student attending Georgia Piedmont Technical College, was recently selected as the college’s 2017 GOAL Award Winner.  Ramona Pollard, a Business Management Instructor is GPTC’s 2017 Instructor of the Year.  Ramona also serves as Program Director for the Accounting and the Banking and Finance disciplines. As Instructor of the Year, she receives the college’s Rick Perkins Award for Excellence in Technical Education.  Both awards were announced and presented today during a special awards luncheon in the college’s DeKalb Conference Center.
 
The Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership is a statewide program of the Technical College System of Georgia.  It honors excellence in academics and leadership among the state’s technical college students.  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 Rick Perkins Award selection criteria include teaching experience, innovative learning techniques, leadership, community involvement, and a strong commitment to the TCSG technical education mission.  The finalists for both GOAL and the RPA awards were interviewed by a panel of judges representing business, civic, industry and higher education in Georgia.
 
“Both Sonya Bingham and Ramona Pollard are so deserving of this award,” said Dr. Jabari Simama, President, Georgia Piedmont Technical College.  “Ms. Bingham represents the pure potential of our students, and Ms. Pollard represents the epitome of excellence in teaching and leadership.”
 
“If someone had asked me five years ago, where I thought I'd be today - nearing the completion of my Associate’s Degree - would not have been the answer, said Sonya Bingham.  “For 13 years I was stuck in an endless repetition of menial, dead end jobs, with mediocre pay.  I had not completed my higher education.  I was broke, undereducated, unhappy, and my mother was almost thirty thousand dollars in debt, and thus began that cycle of dead-end jobs,” she continued. “When I began researching for my return to college, my biggest concerns were price and scheduling.  Much to my surprise, due to the reasonable tuition rates that I could handle, I was able to fund my entire first year at Georgia Piedmont Technical College without any loans!”
 
“I believe in creating a culture within my classroom that expands beyond the classroom walls,” stated Ramona Pollard.  “I endeavor to encourage active involvement, build optimism toward end goals, and encourage the discovery of personal meaning within the student’s college experience.  I assert that these constructs are impossible without active engagement from the instructor.”
 
Sonya Bingham and Ramona Pollard will now join their counterparts statewide as they proceed to their respective Regional judging competitions. The North Region competition is scheduled February 28, 2017.  The Regional finalists will then compete in the State competitions.  The State winners will be announced April 13, 2017.  
 
“We are very pleased to have Sonya Bingham and Ramona Pollard as our 2017 award recipients,” Dr. Simama continued. “We wish both of them the best; and we know these two outstanding individuals will represent us well in our regional and state competitions.”