Elizabeth Paradice, GOAL Winner and Larry Calhoun, President of Southeastern Technical College
The Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership, or GOAL nominees at Southeastern Technical College were recognized Tuesday evening and it is a Business Management student who will represent STC on the state level.
Elizabeth Paradice will spend the next year promoting technical education throughout the state, and it’s a challenge she says she prepared for and is eager to conquer.
“It’s hard to believe how much I’ve had to overcome in my life and to be standing here,” Paradice said. “There have been a lot of bumps in the road, but each time God has grabbed my attention and it brought me closer to Him. I give Him all the glory.”
Paradice has been involved in the sport of gymnastics most of her life, and completed at the elite level. After an injury caused her to not be able to compete anymore, she decided to open a gym and teach the sport to children.
“I help kids; that’s what I do,” she said. “And technical education falls within that focus because it’s geared to helping not just young people, but people of all ages who want to further their education. At a technical college you more one-on-one attention from instructors than you can at a four-year university. I want people to know that you can get a degree in half the time at a technical college so that you go out and begin your life’s goals and desires.”
In addition to Paradice, other GOAL nominees included Lillie Ann Brown, Early Childhood Care & Education; Shannon Detwiler, Associate of Science in Nursing, Traditional Option; Jamaal Fields, Welding and Joining Technology; Tenekia Foreman, Electrical Construction Technology; Cristian Mateo Granjeno-Avila, Dental Hygiene; Kelly Joseph, Dental Hygiene; Kimberly Register, Business Management; and Chesley Woods, Associate of Science in Nursing, Traditional Option.
GOAL nominees are recommended by their instructors, and an independent panel of judges ultimately take on the hard task of determining the overall winner.