G arrett Lee Scroggs

From: Monticello, Georgia

Major: I love connecting to people through talking. Mass Communications allows you to have experience with public speaking and marketing. It allows me to create a relationship with customers and gives me a better understanding of how to advertise myself as an asset.  

Research/Internship: WGUR had me in advertisement sales, which really helped me in my personal job and allowed me to gain an understanding of how the public responds to certain ads. I’ve been able to work in advertisements through the Financial Aid office too, creating online images to promote the office and its activities.  

Work: I’ve worked fulltime at Smith Farm Supply since Fall 2016. While working there, I’ve also been fortunate enough to work with Comfort Farms, a nonprofit that rehabilitates veterans. Comfort Farms and Smith Farm Supply work together to make our community a better place for veterans who are trying to return to everyday life. When I started at Smith Farm Supply, I was in charge of taking orders, counting inventory and helping customers. In 2019, I became manager, and I now work with vendors to get the best prices for my customers. I make schedules for my employees who are all enrolled at Georgia College. I also get to make our marketing budget and determine how it’s used. I’m in charge of making sure that customers are pleased with their service at Smith Farm Supply.  

Working a full-time job in college: I worked to not have great sums of student debt. Every semester, I apply for scholarships, then pay some of the tuition out-of-pocket and use student loans for what I couldn’t cover. One of the advantages of working during college is applying my class experience to my work life, and that makes our business better.  

Dealing with the pandemic: COVID was unprecedented territory for businesses to come up with a plan of action. It was important to keep our customers and ourselves safe, but also keep our business running. We were essential to people in the community, especially farmers. B2B sales were heavily affected because of the shipping times and availability. It taught us as a company to have an accurate count of inventory. In B2B sales, it’s important to create a relationship with businesses, communicate with your customers and be as transparent as possible. If you’re straight forward with customers and other businesses, they’re more willing to understand if something falls through or a vendor is no longer able to accommodate us. Due to proper communication with vendors and customers, we were able to have very successful spring, summer and fall seasons. Our particular store broke previous records.

Senior capstone: Since I want to stay on with Smith Farm Supply after I graduate, I decided to do my senior capstone project on the company. I did a situational analysis to find out what improvements the company could make. The situational analysis showed the company needs a larger marketing budget, and this budget needs to be pre-determined for the correct tools. It’s my plan to follow through with making these things happen, after I graduate. I am very blessed to be in the position to be able to ask my professors questions that’ll help me as I transition into my career.

Favorite class & professor: My favorite class in college was Message Creation. It taught me the ins and outs of advertisements, which helped me at Smith’s Farm Supply. My favorite teacher has been Amanda Respess, because of her diligence to her students. She is understanding of our time. She is also the most personable teacher I’ve had at Georgia College. She is willing to admit when she makes mistakes and doesn’t make you feel inferior. I have truly never had another professor that’ll get to know their students like she has.  

Most impactful moment: I had the most fun producing a film for class called, “No Man’s Land.” I helped create this film in Multimedia Storytelling class. It was a lot of work, but it was so much fun. We were able to write a script and see our vision come to life. I worked with awesome people who made it enjoyable. I was in charge of public relations for the film, and I was able to get the most views on the video in that particular class, because of all the advertisements and promotions on social media.  

Miss the most: When I was younger, I wasn’t really sure if college was in the cards for me. But I pursued it to benefit my future. I think college surprised me, because I had a lot of support from teachers and other classmates. It truly is a community in college. I think I will miss the conversations with like-minded students, as well as students from different backgrounds, because it’s interesting to see their thought processes as well. College gives us the opportunity to get to know people and cross paths with people that we would have never had the opportunity to meet.   

How changed during college: The thing that has changed the most in my time at college is my confidence in school and with people. I struggled with dyslexia, and I’ve always been a little self-conscience when it comes to school because of this disability. I’ve grown to be more confident, because I’ve been able to overcome my disability. I’ve grown to love talking in front of people without fear of messing up or being judged based on my shortcomings.  

Advice to incoming students: When I was a freshman, I was blindsided by college, because it’s a lot more work than you’re expecting. It’s important to make sure you’re able to effectively manage your time, because classes are more advanced than high school. It’s important to be easy on yourself. It’s okay to change your major, and it’s okay to make a bad grade. It’s important not to put so much pressure on yourself because, when you do that, you may not be truly enjoying your classes.  

Key to success in college: In order to be successful, you need to have a clear line of communication with your professors. They’re here to help you and sometimes you may need a little extra push. If you’re able to speak up about an issue, they can make things clear or provide extra materials to help you gain a better understanding of the topic.  

How GC prepared him: I plan to work in marketing for my current company Smith Farm Supply. GC prepared me for this goal by allowing me to access many classes that helped me understand marketing, advertisement and crisis situations. I loved taking these classes while actively working for this company, because it allowed me to have hands-on experience with the material and allowed me to test out the theories we discussed in class. I’ll be living in Milledgeville after college, so I can’t wait to see how I can help benefit this community and future bobcats throughout my time here.