Achieve More with Athens Tech: An Introduction to Athens Technical College

In this episode, we talk with students, instructors, and graduates of Athens Tech to hear first-hand about the College, its programs, and its impact. 

 

Achieve More with Athens Tech, the official podcast of Athens Technical College.

A unit of the Technical College System of Georgia. Equal Opportunity Institution.

 

The faculty, if anything, has made this experience so much easier.
S2: I had never, ever pictured to have this career. It wasn't my goal when I first started this journey, but now I don't think I could picture me doing anything else.
S3: I didn't have the coffee that I have now. Like doing this has been huge for me.
S4: We have graduates from our programs that the entire graduating class has a job before they even graduate.
S5: Welcome to achieve more with Athens Tech, the official podcast of Athens Technical College. This is where you'll discover how the programs in Athens tech can connect you with in-demand and high paying careers. In today's episode, we'll find out what Athens Technical College is actually like from the students who attend in the instructors who teach. Plus, we'll hear a story of how Athens tech completely changed one man's life. Could it do the same for you? Maybe. First, let's hear from a couple of students.
S3: Hi, my name is Mary Bright, and I had the honor of receiving the 2022 Gold State of the Year at Athens Technical College. So right after right after I graduated from high school and I married my husband, we've been married for 27 years. I married my high school sweetheart. When I came back to school in 2018, I had been a pharmacy tech for 16 years, and the series of events that led me to go back to school was about 15 years ago. My dad had a heart attack and about six months after he had the heart attack, he had a whole bunch. He didn't work day. And after all the dental work was completed, the dentist actually told him that he prolonged his life by making the investment into his his oral health. There is a link between gum disease and heart disease. And I'm 45 years old and I'm a daddy's girl. And I feel like that if I can help one daughter keep her daddy in her life for a little bit longer, then the struggle and the journey would have been great for.
S1: All to start. My name is Urban Alvarez. Prior to my admission or acceptance, I have this tech. I was in the Marine Corps for four years and once I applied to Athens Tech, I am pursuing a two year degree or consumer economics and will continue to pursue my bachelor's degree at UGA in the School of Family Consumer Science.
S5: Irvin and Mary both came to Athens Tech from completely different backgrounds, but it seems that they found the help they needed here pretty easily.
S1: The faculty, if anything, has made this experience so much easier because especially my advisor, whenever I've had questions about what classes I should take, or is this the correct thing for my degree path or my goal of eventually going to UGA and finishing out my four year degree? She's provided an endless amount of support, answering all of those questions and even going above and beyond by taking my degree and going into my degree path and choosing workforce is what best fit my goal. So it's always been very hands on and very 1 to 1 whenever I needed it.
S3: Miss Burrell She believed in me before. I believed in me. She has completely changed my life and I will stay in contact with her accurate graduate.
S5: So what exactly does Athens Tech offered that makes students say things like that?
S4: My name is Stuart Frew. I'm the dean of the Life Sciences and Public Safety Division here in Athens Technical College. I started here at the college as the program chair for the radiography program and have since moved into a dean's position. Here.
S5: Dean through can answer the question of how Athens tech support students and instructors.
S4

Episode Transcript

S1 (00:02):
The faculty, if anything, has made this experience so much easier.

S2 (00:05):
I had never, ever pictured to have this career. It
wasn't my goal when I first started this journey, but
now I don't think I could picture me doing anything else.

S3 (00:15):
I didn't have the coffee that I have now. Like
doing this has been huge for me.

S4 (00:21):
We have graduates from our programs that the entire graduating
class has a job before they even graduate.

S5 (00:28):
Welcome to achieve more with Athens Tech, the official podcast
of Athens Technical College. This is where you'll discover how
the programs in Athens tech can connect you with in-demand
and high paying careers. In today's episode, we'll find out
what Athens Technical College is actually like from the students
who attend in the instructors who teach. Plus, we'll hear

(00:52):
a story of how Athens tech completely changed one man's life.
Could it do the same for you? Maybe. First, let's
hear from a couple of students.

S3 (01:02):
Hi, my name is Mary Bright, and I had the
honor of receiving the 2022 Gold State of the Year
at Athens Technical College. So right after right after I
graduated from high school and I married my husband, we've
been married for 27 years. I married my high school sweetheart.

(01:24):
When I came back to school in 2018, I had
been a pharmacy tech for 16 years, and the series
of events that led me to go back to school
was about 15 years ago. My dad had a heart
attack and about six months after he had the heart attack,

(01:45):
he had a whole bunch. He didn't work day. And
after all the dental work was completed, the dentist actually
told him that he prolonged his life by making the
investment into his his oral health. There is a link
between gum disease and heart disease. And I'm 45 years

(02:08):
old and I'm a daddy's girl. And I feel like
that if I can help one daughter keep her daddy
in her life for a little bit longer, then the
struggle and the journey would have been great for.

S1 (02:22):
All to start. My name is Urban Alvarez. Prior to
my admission or acceptance, I have this tech. I was
in the Marine Corps for four years and once I
applied to Athens Tech, I am pursuing a two year
degree or consumer economics and will continue to pursue my
bachelor's degree at UGA in the School of Family Consumer Science.

S5 (02:47):
Irvin and Mary both came to Athens Tech from completely
different backgrounds, but it seems that they found the help
they needed here pretty easily.

S1 (02:55):
The faculty, if anything, has made this experience so much
easier because especially my advisor, whenever I've had questions about
what classes I should take, or is this the correct
thing for my degree path or my goal of eventually
going to UGA and finishing out my four year degree?

(03:15):
She's provided an endless amount of support, answering all of
those questions and even going above and beyond by taking
my degree and going into my degree path and choosing
workforce is what best fit my goal. So it's always
been very hands on and very 1 to 1 whenever
I needed it.

S3 (03:36):
Miss Burrell She believed in me before. I believed in me.
She has completely changed my life and I will stay
in contact with her accurate graduate.

S5 (03:47):
So what exactly does Athens Tech offered that makes students
say things like that?

S4 (03:52):
My name is Stuart Frew. I'm the dean of the
Life Sciences and Public Safety Division here in Athens Technical College.
I started here at the college as the program chair
for the radiography program and have since moved into a
dean's position. Here.

S5 (04:08):
Dean through can answer the question of how Athens tech
support students and instructors.

S4 (04:14):
It can be continuing education for instructors to learn how
to use, let's say Blackboard our online learning environment, how
to become a better user in that so that the
students are getting more information in in a streamlined way.
It can be equipment needed for dental hygiene, getting all
new X X-ray equipment for them, brand new equipment for

(04:35):
the radiography program, brand new equipment for we have new
simulation mannequins that are upwards of 60 to $70000 to
be bought for the EMT program. The nursing programs. Again,
we are just anything and everything that these these programs
are looking for. We we will look into and see
if we can can get that for them so that

(04:55):
student learning can continue to move forward. And I mean,
those are kind of larger skills and equipment purchases. But again,
it comes. Down to just resources for those instructors, making
sure they understand the processes at the college. The extended
services that we have here at ATC for students support,
student support services, Veterans Affairs, so on and so forth.
Those are all things that are available here. And I'm

(05:16):
kind of a a conduit too, to help anybody that's
looking for that information from an instructor, student standpoint, staff standpoint,
to link them up with those resources so that they
can be successful.

S5 (05:26):
Can you give us some more details?

S4 (05:30):
Well, disability services testing, we have a testing center. We
have tutoring for specifically. It's in my division. We have
an anatomy and physiology, open labs with student workers that
are in there. We have tutors for anatomy and physiology.
We have to use for master English. Those are outside
of my division. Those are all student support services that

(05:50):
are available here. Veteran services are available here at the college.
In this division, we've gone above and beyond to provide
what students need in order to be successful beyond just
going home with the textbook or, you know, meeting with
an instructor, which our instructors have open door policy here.
They have office hours. They are more than willing to
meet with students as they need to, which I would

(06:11):
assume most higher education colleges or universities would do anyways.
But again, for us to be able to provide those
additional services is huge. And on top of that, we
just remodeled and updated our entire library. It is it
is spectacular. The online resources for students, whether it's databases
like Sinal, as well as anything that we have hardback

(06:33):
in that library, we have a tech nest where they
can go in and play around with a 3D printer.
We have individual study areas that are quiet rooms that
they can reserve. Every one of the divisions now have
laptops that can be checked out to instructors for classes.
So if they want to do online testing or videos
or whatever it is in the classroom, students need a laptop.

(06:55):
We have those to to provide to those instructors so
that students may not if they don't have a laptop
to be able to do those things in the classroom environment,
we can provide that to them.

S3 (07:04):
My name is Laurie Williams. I am the director of
admissions here at Athens Technical College. A good candidate for
a student here at Athens Technical College will be someone
that wants good hands on training. Here at the college,
we have a lot of great programs that are direct
pathways into employment. So we have lots of opportunities that
students get to jump right into direct core coursework for programs.

(07:29):
Maybe they want to go into a health field more
than that. Well, we have a lot of welding, automotive
technology programs. So anybody that really wants to work with
their hands do some problem solving. A lot of opportunities
here for our students. We have a pretty diverse population
of students. It may be someone that has just graduated

(07:50):
high school and it can be somebody up into the
6070s that want to get retrained into a new endeavor.

S1 (07:56):
Yeah. Funny enough, I did encounter someone who was in
their fifties, but even then, those individuals were. Were just
as great. They. Some of them were. This was their
first degree that they were pursuing and were actually very
motivating because they were like, I didn't do it when
I was in my twenties and now I'm here because
I actually want to pursue and get my first degree

(08:18):
in something. And I was like, That's just pretty inspiring.

S3 (08:21):
And we even have students that have graduated with bachelor's
degrees that come back to look for more gainful employment
or just get a new skill set to move up
within their industry. So you do have a lot of
students that just overcome a lot of barriers, a lot
of trials and become successful in their workplaces.

S5 (08:43):
I want to introduce you to Jonathan.

S2 (08:47):
My name is Jonathan Smithberg, and I'm Program Chair for
Industrial Systems Technology at Athens Technical College. So being a
program chair, it's my job to manage the curriculum for
the program and the faculty and the program and advise
students on a course pass, along with delivering instruction and

(09:10):
teaching students hands on lab activities.

S5 (09:15):
Yeah, Jonathan is an instructor here at Athens Tech, but
his story is so much more than that.

S2 (09:21):
Here at the college, we have a whole range. So
it's not just people coming out of high school or college,
but that's that's another thing that's really, I think different
about the technical college is we've got from people coming
out of high school to last spring, I had somebody
graduate who was 62 years old out of the program.

(09:41):
So we've got to kind of everything in between. And
so when it comes to apprehension, another thing I would
say is people just think they can't do something or
they like it's too late. I can't do that. I
put that off and it's just too late to go
back to school. Now, I'm here to tell you I'm
a perfect example of that. So normally I'm on an

(10:02):
instructor here at the college, but I actually came through
the college's adult education program. I came to the college
just looking to get a G.E.D. and here I am
sitting as an instructor a few years later. So there's
just so much to offer and it's not too late,
you know, I didn't go. I'd had an eighth grade education,
so I was 38 years old, you know. And today

(10:24):
I'm sitting here talking to you with a career as
a college instructor. So, you know, it's not too late
to take those steps if you hadn't taken them already,
even if the steps all the way to go back
to get your diploma and get the kind of start
out on that aspect, we can kind of take you
through the whole thing from one end of the spectrum
to the other. The another thing is, you know, I

(10:47):
see is students going to maybe interested in a four
year college coming out of high school and they don't
get into their first pick, whatever they're picking. I have
some I have four sons. And so, you know, them
looking at schools and stuff like that, you know, they
get so excited, you know, like looking at schools and

(11:07):
kind of had their minds said, I want to get
into this school or that school and they don't get
in and then they kind of maybe just give up.
And and a big thing you can do is go
to a technical college and take general education credits and
then enter the college system as a transfer student. And
it's actually much easier to get into that college. And

(11:28):
another big part of that is, is you save a
lot of money because those years of transfer credits are
much more expensive. It's a fraction of the cost of
what that same tuition for those classes would cost at
the four year university.

S5 (11:40):
I love Jonathan Storey and his excitement for the school.
Is his story the norm? Probably not. Is his excitement
for Athens tech the norm? Actually, yeah, it is.

S4 (11:51):
We're kind of this hidden gem here of that the
college system in Georgia, $100 credit down. I mean, think
about that $100 credit card. And then if you get
hope scholarship, 80% of that is your tuition is covered.
So you're paying 20% of that. That's 20 bucks a
credit hour. That's that's pretty good. And then, you know,

(12:14):
you can look at the success rates that come from
the programs here in our division. Specifically, almost every one
of our programs is at 100% pass rate on their
national certification exams. If they're not at 100%, they're in
the mid to high nineties. I don't know a lot
of colleges that can brag on that on the way
that we can. Job placement rates are all in near 100%

(12:34):
from our programs within 12 months of graduation and then
our attrition rates are great, but we don't lose students
left and right. We're not here to weed students out.
That's not our job. Our job is to bend over
backwards to help students be successful. And our program effectiveness
data shows that that's on our website. Every program has it.
You can go look at it and each one of them,

(12:57):
you're going to see that, that, that awesome number for
each one of those categories.

S2 (13:01):
So yeah, my job is not to fail students is
to make sure that students understand what I am teaching them.
So if, if you know everything, then there's no use
to come into a program and learn anything, right? The
red ink is where the learning happens.

S3 (13:18):
Technical colleges are a great resource that are not utilized enough.
They provide the foundation and the workforce that are really
the backbone of these communities. They do the jobs that.
Keep businesses building manufacturers going. And it actually is what

(13:39):
helps drive some of the industry to come into our
areas and help us economically that way. A lot of
students even use this as a more affordable opportunity to
go on to a four year institution. We have a
lot of articulation agreements with four year institutions and a
lot of our core classes with any of the university
system schools articulate over. So it's a great opportunity to

(14:03):
get a head start on those core classes and just
more affordable, lower debt coming out of college. Little to
no debt most of the time for our student. So
it's just a great resource, great programs, great hands on
knowledge in our instructors. Just ten years, the vast knowledge

(14:24):
that they bring into their classrooms that give students real,
real life examples of what they utilize out there in
the workforce.

S5 (14:31):
Thanks for listening to achieve more with Athens Tech, the
official podcasts of Athens Technical College.

S2 (14:37):
I'm a believer that to achieve more is to take
care of the little things. I had made some mistakes
earlier in life and I had a lot of big
dreams of things I wanted to do and kind of
walked around with my head in the clouds. It was
just dreams. And I've learned that great things can happen

(14:58):
to you if you can just kind of keep your
head down and take care of the little things and
just keep grinding away. And then one day you look
up and you're on top of the world, you know,
instead of having my head up in the clouds and
never getting anywhere and and be open to things because
I had never, ever pictured to be at a technical

(15:19):
college instructor or have this career. It wasn't my goal
when I first started this journey. And but now I
don't think I could picture me doing anything else. So,
you know, kind of just be open, take care of
the little things and then see what opportunities present themselves.

S5 (15:35):
For more information, visit Athens. Text Edu.

S6 (15:47):
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