2015 GNTC G.O.A.L. winner Alice Towe, left, stands with her nominating instructor, Shannen Ferry. Ms. Ferry was the director of the college's Horticulture program which is at the Floyd County campus of GNTC in Rome.
Just a little more than a year ago, Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) Horticulture Director Shannen Ferry was helping pave the way for the future. She helped one of her students, Alice Towe, win the college’s 2015 G.O.A.L. award for top student. Ms. Towe then represented the college on the state level, as well.
Always known for helping her students plant seeds for their own future, Ms.
Ferry now leaves behind that legacy after cancer took her life this past August. Now, her students, co-workers, friends, and family will help honor her tradition of preparing for what is yet to come with a special ceremony on GNTC’s Floyd County Campus.
On Nov. 10, a tree dedication will be held outside of the GNTC Horticulture facility across from the Rome, Georgia campus. The public is invited to attend the ceremony. Contributions are also being accepted to the Shannen Ferry Memorial Horticulture Scholarship Fund established in her honor. Gifts towards the fund may be delivered to GNTC Foundation, One Maurice Culberson Drive, Rome, Georgia 30161.
Ms. Ferry was a nationally-known horticulture expert who worked in the greenhouse industry, as well as spending most of her adult life teaching her specialty. Before GNTC, Ms. Ferry was a horticulture professor at the State University of New York at Alfred. She also served as a horticulture specialist with Penn State University’s Cooperative Extension.