Georgia Northwestern Technical College recently held a High School Appreciation Luncheon and Information Program to show gratitude to the faculty and staff from regional high schools for their contribution to GNTC’s Dual Enrollment program.

The presentation took place at the Conference Center on GNTC’s Gordon County Campus in Calhoun. Counselors, faculty and administrators from high schools across the northwest Georgia region took part in the luncheon.

During the presentation, information was provided about various high school initiatives, the results of the Dual Enrollment program and other key partnerships in GNTC’s nine-county service area.

Georgia’s Dual Enrollment program allows qualified high school students to maximize their education and career training by taking courses that earn college and high school credit at the same time.

For four consecutive years, from 2013-17, GNTC had the largest number of dual enrollment students out of all of the technical colleges in the state of Georgia according to the yearly “High School Collaborative Enrollment” reports issued by the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG). Last year, GNTC had the second highest number of dual enrollment students in the TCSG.  

The presentation began with a welcome from Pete McDonald, president of GNTC. McDonald thanked the attendees and discussed the many benefits of dual enrollment for high school students, which includes the opportunity to earn a Technical Certificate of Credit before graduation.

“There are some changes being made to the entrance requirements for some of our programs, which will allow many more students at the high school level to enroll in a college Technical Certificate of Credit program,” said McDonald. “This is an occupational track so that they will already have a skill set and can go to work immediately, if they choose, after they graduate from high school.”

Kristi Hart, director of High School Initiatives at GNTC, discussed some of the highlights from Georgia Northwestern’s Dual Enrollment program from the previous academic year.

“We had over 157 high school students who graduated last year with some level of credential,” said Hart. “There were over 218 credentials conferred on those students so that means several of those 157 graduates actually earned more than one credential.”