From left, Steve Stancil, Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission director; Travis Johnson, Technical College System of Georgia assistant commissioner of External Affairs; U.S. Army Major General (Ret.) Terry Nesbitt, Georgia Northwestern Technical College Board of Directors; Rep. Steve Tarvin; Rep. Dewayne Hill; Pete McDonald, Georgia Northwestern Technical College president; Dr. Ginger Mathis, Georgia Northwestern Technical College associate vice president of Academic Affairs; Senator Jeff Mullis; Vann Brown, Georgia Northwestern Technical College Board of Directors; Denise Clopton, Senator Johnny Isakson’s senior representative; Joe Yarbrough, Technical College System of Georgia Board of Directors chairman; Jim Walker, Catoosa County Manager; Joe Barger, former mayor of Ringgold; Mayor Nick Millwood; Shirley Smith, Technical College System of Georgia board member; Roger Bowman, Catoosa County Economic Development vice chair; Terry Herr, Pieper, O’Brien, and Herr Architects executive vice president; Hal Hardin, Pieper, O’Brien and Herr Architects project manager; George Wheatley, Barton Malow Construction manager; and Chris Torchia, Barton Malow Construction senior director.
A dream that has been in the works for a decade, and under construction for less than two years, is now a reality in Catoosa County. Lawmakers, educators, and dozens of others closely tied to the launch of Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s sixth campus helped cut the ribbon on the facility Monday in a special ceremony in Ringgold.
Besides the students already attending classes on-site, more than 200 people were on hand for the late summer ceremony honoring the grand opening of GNTC’s newest location. “This is going to be a flag ship campus," said Georgia State Senator Jeff Mullis. "It’s going to be even larger soon because we are going to work to make it that way. Georgia Northwestern is the epitome of an outstanding higher-education learning function.”
Among those city, county, and state leaders on hand to take part was Ringgold Mayor Nick Millwood. “A lot of these kids within our community are going to have a much better opportunity at a post-secondary education,” said Mayor Millwood. “It might be harder for them to swing it otherwise if they had to travel somewhere else. Just the impact it’s going to have on the community in the years to come is something we’re excited about.”
Cybersecurity, Mechatronics and Logistics leads the list of program offerings now available at Catoosa County’s first collegiate campus. The Catoosa County Campus is at the intersection of Highway 151 and Holcomb Road in Catoosa County. The $12 million facility houses a 60,000-square foot campus which sits on 36 acres. From the time of the ground breaking in December 2014, the project took less than two years to complete.
Contact the college’s toll-free number at 866.983.4682 (GNTC). For information online, visit them at GNTC.edu, as well as on their Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, WordPress, and YouTube channels. GNTC is a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) and an equal opportunity institute.