Georgia Highlands College student Josie Maddux, of Trion, pulled a leaf from her family tree in a creative approach to the final project of her Latino Literature class while wrapping up the semester remotely this spring.

The daughter of country music singer/songwriter Derry Maddux, from the country music duo Buck and Duke, Maddux teamed up with her father to set some of her favorite poems from the course to music and posted the videos to YouTube.

“I knew that I wanted to do something music related for this project because music has always been what has inspired me the most,” Maddux said. “Since my dad has been a country music singer my whole life, I only found it fitting that he helps me with this project by singing the poems for me.”

Maddux selected poems she felt were inspirational and were relatable to her personally.

“My dad and I both are very passionate, loving people, and I think that you can tell this by our selection of poems,” Maddux said. “For instance, ‘The Rose’ by Gabriela Mistral has a very beautiful story, referring to one’s heart as the rose, saying to keep it open and scatter it everywhere. We loved this poem because that is how we try to live our lives as well.”

Maddux, who is majoring in Psychology and attends classes on GHC’s Floyd site, said she chose to take Latino Literature because she is interested in other cultures.

“This whole course has been truly intriguing. I love the fact that we were able to have a project-based learning experience,” Maddux said. “My classmates have been great the whole semester with giving positive feedback on everyone’s projects along the way.”

Georgia Highlands College moved to remote operations in March. Maddux said this change has not had a negative effect on her experience as a student.

“Professor Lindberg has done a phenomenal job during this transition to [remote delivery],” Maddux said. “She has made the transition for us go very smoothly, and personally I haven’t had a single issue – it honestly hasn’t been that different for me. The transition went very smoothly, and I would like to thank my professors for making that happen. They were very up-to-date and informative with every assignment so I never had an issue.”

Maddux said the Latino Literature class is an excellent option for students, and she appreciated the opportunity to take a unique approach to close out the semester.

“One of the main things I loved about this class was the fact that we learned a lot about the Latino culture through poems, some short stories, and classroom discussions about the readings,” Maddux said. “It was an overall great course and I am glad that I took it.”

She added, “As for my project, I’ve enjoyed going on that adventure with my dad and being able to learn in a way that interests me. If you’ve been hesitant about doing [classes remotely], don’t be. The GHC staff is amazing, and they do everything in their power to make your experience go as smoothly as possible.”

Picture: From left, Derry Maddux and daughter Josie Maddux. Josie worked with her father to create musical renditions of poems for her final project in her Latino Literature class at Georgia Highlands College.

Maddux introducing her project:

Maddux’s dad, Derry, singing one of the poems:

Georgia Highlands College student Miguel Pizano, of Rome, enrolled in the college’s Criminal Justice program because he wants to make his community a better place to live. As a service member in the National Guard, he was recently given an opportunity to do just that.

On April 9, Pizano was sent to Albany to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in nursing homes and branches of the Phoebe Putney Health System. He was part of Governor Brian Kemp’s authorization to activate up to 2,000 members of the Georgia National Guard to help a number of nursing homes or long-term care facilities throughout the state with confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Dean of Humanities Jon Hershey spoke highly of Pizano and stated he is keeping up with his classwork in the evenings to stay on track at GHC while also performing his duties for the National Guard.

Pizano said he appreciates how GHC faculty have worked with him as he serves the community.

“It has been a great experience working with them and their understanding of what I’m doing here in Albany with the National Guard,” Pizano said. “GHC has helped me pursue my dream in criminal justice and to one day make it my career once I retire from the National Guard.”

Pizano said furthering one’s education at GHC is a viable option for those who may have extenuating circumstances outside of the classroom.

“All I can say about GHC is that it improves day by day to help students in any circumstance they are in,” Pizano said. “The staff is always there to help when I need it.”

Georgia Highlands College’s student newspaper the Six Mile Post (SMP) has moved into streaming.

From politics to school news and Netflix, the SMP’s recent podcast series ran the gamut on hot topics as people everywhere had to acclimate to a new world of social distancing.

Students Carson Graham and Scout Hodgins, who both attend the Floyd site and are majoring in communications, created a new platform for the GHC community to be educated and entertained during this unique time.

Originally designed as an extension of the student newspaper, the podcast quickly grew in popularity as all students, faculty and staff at GHC moved to remote delivery starting on March 30 to help stem the spread of coronavirus.

“We started discussing the possibilities of a podcast in late February, but the first episode didn’t air until March,” Hodgins said. “We have recorded our final episode for the semester and ended with nine episodes overall.”

A podcast is a digital file posted online that often includes both audio and video. Podcasts serve as a medium for information and entertainment in the digital age, similar to radio broadcasts.

While both students say they have thoroughly enjoyed the experience of creating and hosting the series, the work they have done also translates to their future careers in communication.

“I’ve learned a lot of production work. Carson and I both have planned and edited episodes,” Hodgins said. “I also composed the intro and outro music for the podcast, so learning to record and edit audio has been a big part of the learning process. I learned that I like to research topics heavily before I speak on them and I hope that I’ve gotten better at research. I also learned that I do like broadcasting and that maybe I should continue to be involved with broadcasting in some sense in the future.”

Graham said she enjoys doing the podcast because they are an extension of the SMP newspaper but can be more personal.

“We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from students and faculty,” Graham said. “The most important lesson I have learned is that despite circumstances, like the quarantine, it is still very important to keep busy with projects like podcasts to keep our mental health up.”

Graham and Hodgins were encouraged by faculty to create the podcast based on their talent and educational abilities. Both students spoke during the 90^th Georgia Communication Association Conference, held in February at GHC’s Cartersville site, and were approached by Assistant Professor of Humanities and SMP Faculty Advisor Allison Hattaway about starting the podcast.

Graham said she was intrigued by the idea of having an extracurricular activity.

“I have always just been going to school, work, then home,” Graham said. “I was very excited and am very grateful to have something meaningful to do with my time.”

Graham and Hodgins each had favorite episodes they have produced.

“The first one that comes to mind is Episode 8, where we interviewed GHC President Don Green,” Hodgins said. “He’s a down-to-earth guy and I enjoyed talking to him about what’s going on at Georgia Highlands College.”

Graham said her favorite episode was one of the first.

“My favorite episodes were the ones toward the beginning when the U.S. presidential election was beginning to heat up,” Graham said. “I love talking about politics, so it was a great time to research and discuss the current events.”

Graham and Hodgins both said they appreciate the opportunity to work with the podcast. Hodgins said his experience with SMP has helped him to understand more what his future will be like in communications.

“It’s been great for me because now I have a better idea of what I may want to pursue as a career in the future,” Hodgins said. “I think that the community should know how much work goes into Six Mile Post productions. The staff takes pride in its work, and that shows.”

The podcasts are available by visiting https://sixmilepostonline.com/category/podcasts/

PICTURE: From the Six Mile Post’s “Starting a Podcast: A How To Guide,” Scout Hodgins and Carson Graham are the creators of the Student Spin Podcast: A Six Mile Post Production. (Photographer: Georgia Hamby)

Georgia Highlands College (GHC) made history this month after holding a virtual signing for an articulation agreement with Georgia Piedmont Technical College (GPTC).

Students who earn an associate degree in applied sciences from GPTC will now have the option to transfer seamlessly into a bachelor’s in health science at GHC. In order to make this new transfer agreement possible for students without delay, GHC and GPTC participated in their first ever virtual articulation agreement signing.

“We are so excited to be completing this articulation agreement,” GHC President Don Green said in the virtual signing. “It provides great instruction at a low cost and a tremendous opportunity for students to get a pre-professional bachelor’s degree that allows them to move on to graduate school as well as the workforce.”

GHC Provost and Chief Academic Office Dana Nichols; GPTC President Tavarez Holston; and GPTC Vice President of Academic Affairs Cheree Williams also joined President Green on screen to express their eagerness to provide this new opportunity to students at both institutions.

“It’s a great way for our students, for when they complete their chosen pathway, to make a very seamless transition to another one of our great Georgia institutions,” President Holston said in the virtual signing. “I’m so excited about this opportunity for our students.”

The agreement is set to start in 2020.

Both institutions will work together to identify, recruit and select students who clearly demonstrate academic and personal competencies required to function as successful students and future health professionals, as well as facilitate the transfer of all viable college courses as required in the University System of Georgia core curriculum.

Students will take at least 61 semester hours of general education core curriculum and occupational courses in health track that are provided at GPTC, which includes receiving an Associate of Applied Science in Interdisciplinary Studies (Health Track) degree upon completion.

Students will then complete an additional 61 hours of BSHS curriculum at GHC for a total of 122 hours that is required to receive a Bachelor’s of Science with a major in Health Sciences degree.

For more information, please visit highlands.edu and gptc.edu today.

Following two successful years, Georgia Highlands College will again offer the STEMFIT “math boot camp” this summer, except this time in a virtual format.

The aim of the camp is to help incoming high school dual enrollment students or college freshmen start at a collegiate mathematic level of precalculus or higher.

“Over the past two camps, we have had a 100-percent pass rate for those who have completed the camp and took the exemption exam for college algebra,” Mathematics Division Chair Jayme Wheeler said. “Several of those students have chosen to also take the MATH 1113 Precalculus exemption exam.”

The online camp will be available June 15 to August 18. The course is built in the D2L online learning management system. Various dates will be available for students to take the exemption exam, and the exam will be given in D2L and proctored by a GHC professor via video conferencing software.

The course is available for any potential GHC student eligible to take the GHC College Algebra exemption exam. There will be no fee for STEMFIT this summer for students enrolling in fall 2020.

Sometimes students enter at the lower college algebra-level but can take an exemption exam if their SAT/ACT scores are high enough to start in precalculus instead.

“Participating in STEMFIT can save STEM students time and money by being able to begin at precalculus or higher,” Wheeler said.

STEM is an acronym for the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. STEM relates to academics and careers focused in corresponding fields.

“Students will have the opportunity to engage with college faculty while participating in activities to review concepts covered in the College Algebra course,” Wheeler said. “This year, we are excited to offer STEMFIT online, as we are hoping that it gives more students the ability to take advantage of our camp.”

The flexibility of the online “boot camp” will allow students to work at their own pace to complete the review material.

“Now that we have an online format, we hope to continue offering this camp year-round in both online and face-to-face formats for students enrolling in any semester,” Wheeler said.

The camp will continue to enroll students throughout the summer, and the last day to test for fall enrollment is August 18. If you have questions or would like to register, please contact STEMFIT@highlands.edu.

The classroom is empty. The chairs, tables, desks, and white board are empty. The professor’s podium is vacant. No one has shown up on campus. But Julie Kozee’s English course at Georgia Highlands College has started right on time.

The assistant professor of English is sitting at home. Her computer thrums to life, lighting her face, as she opens a virtual meeting platform now used to teach each of the students in her class.

On the other end of her screen are students on tablets, computers and phones, each waiting for this new type of lecture to start, once next to their classmates in a room, now side-by-side in virtual boxes on the screen.

On March 30, after a two-week suspension of classes to convert everything to remote delivery in the middle of the spring semester to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, GHC courses resumed in an online format.

Julie Kozee’s first virtual day of class wasn’t about assignments, deadlines, or tests. The first day was about the students.

She asked about their well-being, their confidence about finishing out the semester online and their perception of the clarity of the online interface.

“Let’s take the first day of the online class to share how we’re doing and any concerns we might have about the online classroom,” she told students. “This will give me an opportunity to make sure that everything in this class is set up in a way that best fits your needs going forward.”

Kozee said this exercise allowed students to open up about how they were doing during this period.

“None of my students had any concerns about our online classroom,” she said. “Mostly they were concerned with what their lives were like now.”

She said it was humbling to read what students are experiencing, and it made her aware of just how resilient and tenacious GHC students are, especially when faced with such difficulty.

Across the digital hallway in a math course also currently holding class remotely, math instructor Tracy Kight takes a similar approach in helping her students acclimate to the virtual classroom setting. She likes to begin her classes on a positive note.

“First, we start every class with some music,” Kight said. “As we wait for students to sign in, the first part of class is spent laughing, dancing or just getting in the positive vibe of being together in this new format.”

She said students have been able to reach her from 7AM to 9PM by text, phone, email or virtual meeting seven days a week.

“This is a transition period for all of us,” Kight said. “Sometimes, all we need is to know that it is all okay and we will get through this together. Communication is the secret to a great student-teacher relationship, and I want to be here for them throughout these challenges.”

Professors across all areas have converted all classes to remote delivery at GHC, utilizing learning management systems, video conferencing clients, and systems to view the course syllabus and supplementary resources, digital storage applications for assignment submission and feedback, as well as a digital gradebook so students can easily view their grade in the class.

In addition to all courses being offered remotely, GHC has also taken strides in offering all campus resources remotely.

“The way we teach, advise, support, and much more may change for a little while, but one thing remains true: whether we connect in person or remotely, we care about you, and we care about your success here at GHC,” President Don Green said in a video to students the day they started back. “Let’s continue to meet any obstacle the same way students and employees at our college always have: by charging ahead together.”

In its effort to help students, the GHC library has developed a student-focused video series to demonstrate how to use video conferencing programs, D2L, Office 365, Online Learning, and “How 2 Library.” The library is also staffing its phones and chat reference services remotely from 8AM to 7PM, ensuring students, faculty and community members can get direct assistance from a librarian.

Additionally, writing centers are now operational through video conferencing.

Staff and faculty advisors, as well as professional tutors, working within the college’s Academic Success Center quickly moved their appointment availability to online in a customized EAB Navigate platform.

Navigate is a digital platform designed to give students a college onboarding experience with tools that will help them create an academic roadmap to graduation and a timeline to degree completion, as well as serve as a primary communication channel with academic advisors.

“Students use Navigate to easily schedule appointments with advisors and tutors. Both advisors and tutors are meeting with students virtually, and the meeting information is relayed in the confirmation and student reminder emails students,” Director of Academic Success Jennifer Hicks said.

Hicks said from March 16 through April 8, there have been over 500 advising appointments and over 70 tutoring appointments. In addition to appointments, advisors are hosting drop-in sessions every Monday and Thursday through May 14. The host of these sessions moves an advisor and a student into a breakout room so students are afforded privacy when they are discussing their academic records and goals.

Director of Student Support Services Angie Wheelus said the department provides virtual counseling sessions to students on all GHC sites.

She said some difficulties students have discussed during the transition to online learning have been a decrease in personal finances, caring for children who are now out of school, as well as social isolation.

“We’ve taken our students that we have already been working with and have shifted them over to a virtual format to work with them online,” Wheelus said. “We are also able to help any student who has never been in our counseling before but who are struggling with some difficulties during this transition.”

To see all the resources made available to students at this time, please visit GHC’s information and resource page.

GHC will continue to deliver instruction remotely during both the May and summer semesters. USG institutions are tentatively planning to return to normal on-campus operations for the fall semester should guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Georgia Department of Public Health allow it.

Students who have been admitted to GHC for summer and fall will participate in a virtual orientation.

The deadline to apply for summer classes at GHC is May 15. The deadline to apply for fall is July 15. For more information and to apply, please visit highlands.edu

(Pictured: Professor Travice Obas prepares to teach her communication course at Georgia Highlands College through video conferencing and virtual tools made available to students during this time.)

Georgia Highlands College students resumed courses remotely this week after a two-week suspension of classes that started on March 16. All GHC students continued courses remotely on Monday, March 30, and will continue this way for the remainder of the semester.

Additionally, GHC and the University System of Georgia’s 26 institutions will continue to deliver instruction remotely during May and summer semesters.

USG institutions are tentatively planning to return to normal on-campus operations for the fall semester should guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Georgia Department of Public Health allow it.

In the interim, all institutions have been asked to continue their current telework and flexible work strategies for faculty and staff. USG institutions overall have remained open, with only minimal staff physically on-site to ensure continuity of certain services. GHC continues to provide our students’ resources in our new online format.

GHC continues to prioritize the safety of our students, faculty and staff as we do our part to help stem the spread of the coronavirus in Georgia and fulfill our mission to graduate our students in these challenging times.

Along with the change in class delivery, GHC additionally made the decision to extend certain deadlines, delay the upcoming commencement, and reimburse a number of fees to students for this semester.

More information on those decisions and an overview of student and employee resources for migrating to remote learning can be found on GHC’s information and resource page, which includes FAQs for prospective students, current students, and employees and is reviewed and updated frequently.

The deadline to apply for summer classes at GHC is May 15.

For more updates or to apply, please visit highlands.edu