A day of music, food and fun are centered around the theme of health and wellness at an open house scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 19 at Augusta Technical College.
Dr. Nicole Spencer, VP of Student Services, said each of the different schools will present workshops based on the theme.
“For instance, our culinary department is going to do a healthy breakfast on the go and make smoothies with participants, give the recipes, things that people can do the night before, like oatmeal and yogurt and have in their fridge to pull out to go to work so they can eat healthier and spend less money and all of that. Then as they’re presenting their workshop, they’ll also give information about our culinary program and training opportunities,” she said.
[adrotate banner=”51″]
Spencer said it is also a chance to show the community all that Augusta Tech has to offer. Assistance will be available for anyone who wants to register.
“There will be admissions folks and financial aid folks. And that if they apply during the week of March the 13th through the 20th, their application fee is waived. So, we’re going to try to encourage people on that day, on the 19th, to apply online and we’ll have folks available to help them with that,” Spencer said.
The theme of the open house is particularly timely in light of a recently announced partnership between Augusta Tech and Piedmont Augusta. The partnership, which still must be approved by the state, would convert the Summerville hospital into the ATC Health Science Campus.
The college currently has 450 active healthcare students, but there’s a list of 650 more waiting because off a lack of space at the campus off Deans Bridge Road.
“Partnering with Piedmont helps us with the physical location that we’ll be able to move into hopefully, tentatively start classes in the fall,” said Spencer. “The location itself, the clinical instructors that will be available for our students that will help us to grow the program and to ultimately graduate not only just more nurses but all healthcare professionals, because eventually we’ll move all of our health programs down to this campus.”
[adrotate banner=”15″]
In addition to its degree programs, Augusta Tech also offers classes to train students in fields that require certification, including a field that’s growing in Augusta and across Georgia.
Augusta Tech and the Georgia Film Academy began offering classes in January, designed to increase the number of trained film crew members.
Spencer said there are 17 students in the inaugural class.
“Their introductory course now and then they’ll do another course in the summer and fall and it will get them ready. It teaches them lighting, grip and rigging. Then they have an internship in the fall. That internship hopefully they can do here in the Augusta area, especially if there’s any new movies being shot. So, gives them that real world experience,” she said.
The training is being done at IndieGrip, a business on Gordon Highway that rents a crew and equipment for film and other projects.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a general assignment reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
