Millions of people use coffee every day to jump start their morning. Adults with disabilities at the Life Enrichment Center (LEC) in Milledgeville are using it to jump start their careers and futures. “It’s given our individuals a renewed purpose and sense of pride and acknowledgement. It’s something that they’ve accomplished, and so the world sees them in a different role,” said LEC Executive Director Barbara Coleman. “To be able to go to college and say I am a barista, I am a coffee...
Izabella Niedzialek of Cumming, Georgia, chose Georgia College & State University because she heard it had the best nursing program in the state. She heard it from a reliable source too—her sister, who recently graduated from Georgia College and will be working at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Like her sister, Niedzialek is good at science and math. But the nursing field was also attractive because she likes helping people and working with children. She thinks she’ll work in pediatrics...
Come fall semester, Paige Coleman of Mansfield will be a first-generation college student. Her background as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) fueled her passion for helping people. Ultimately, she wants to become a registered nurse. She’ll begin her journey in Georgia College & State University’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. Coleman will do so as a Lettie Pate Whitehead Nursing Scholar, which provides her with a full, four-year nursing scholarship. The scholarship is...
Incoming Bobcat Ce’Darius Ingram is from Sparta, Georgia, where he graduated from Hancock Central High School as salutatorian—and his grandfather has to travel all over creation to get his medication. That fact, alongside his passion for helping people and small communities, led Ingram to Georgia College & State University—where he’ll study exercise science in the fall. “I’ve always had a passion for being the person that people come to for help and advice,” he said. “There are...
On college campuses in late spring, life experiences start coming full circle. Nadira Colbert, a valedictorian in the nursing program, closed one such loop during her pinning ceremony—the symbolic welcoming of soon-to-be-graduated student nurses into the nursing profession. During the ceremony, Colbert’s grandmother, Ingrid Perez, affixed the Georgia College & State University nursing pin upon her lapel signifying a new chapter to the life calling Perez had modeled for Colbert since...
Since the pandemic, many students have experienced increasing rates of depression and anxiety. But this can be doubly felt by nursing students, who encounter stressors in both classroom and clinical settings. Priya Polanco understands these pressures all too well. She’s a graduating nursing student, a member of the Honors College, valedictorian and student speaker at her commencement ceremony. When she thought about her own transition from high school to college and then the nursing...
Decorated basketball athlete Brandon Thomas spent his time at Georgia College & State University balancing athleticism, academics and community service. Now, he’s graduating with the dream of becoming an infectious disease epidemiologist—and hoping to study emergent tropical diseases like malaria. Thomas worked one and a half years at the Center for Health and Social Issues, assisting Dr. Damian Francis, assistant professor of public health. He’s also gone above and beyond to serve...
Nursing graduate Clara White of Murrayville is leaving Georgia College & State University having made an impact she never thought she’d achieve. Under her leadership, the Georgia College Association of Nursing Students (GCANS) has become an award-winning organization with reach throughout the university. GCANS is an opportunity for nursing students to come together and decompress away from school. Upperclassmen mingle with first-year nursing students and share advice for homework,...
Healthcare simulation centers are powerful tools for training healthcare professionals. Now, Georgia College & State University offers a new certificate program designed to make these centers more effective. The College of Health Sciences has developed a one-year, graduate healthcare simulation certificate program to equip educators with best practices for teaching aspirant healthcare providers. The new Healthcare Simulation Certificate is the first of its kind in Georgia. “Healthcare...
Story and photos developed by University Communications. At a meeting on what concerns residents—a gentleman from Oconee Heights, Milledgeville, once asked Dr. Damian Francis if he’d be like all the others—doing one thing to help the community, then disappearing. “I said, ‘No, we’re here for the long haul.’ That was 2½ years ago, and we’re still here. We’re showing some benefit now, and residents are really appreciative,” said Francis, an epidemiologist and director of Georgia College...
