News and Updates

SGSC Students Named to All-Georgia Academic Team

South Georgia State College students Kaitlin Spivey of Pearson, GA, and Sylvia Smith of Patterson, GA, were named to the All-Georgia Academic Team, a program sponsored by two-year college presidents, the national honor society for two-year colleges Phi Theta Kappa, and community college state associations. Spivey attends the Douglas campus, and Smith attends classes at the Waycross campus. They recently attended a recognition luncheon in Atlanta at the Sloppy Floyd Building Empire Room.

SGSC Students Kailtin Spivey, Sylvia Smith, and Ronesea Styles with SGC Alumnus and keynote speaker Kaleb Wilkes

The keynote speaker for the luncheon was Mr. Kaleb Wilkes, an alumnus of the former SGC. Wilkes obtained his associate’s degree in business from South Georgia and went on to graduate from Kennesaw State with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in accounting. After working as an accountant in the Finance Department of Ronald Blue and Co., LLC in Atlanta, he moved into a new position as senior accountant for MUST Ministries, a powerful, volunteer-driven organization serving families in need in the Atlanta area. Joining the students were executive director of enrollment services Dr. Greg Tanner, Phi Theta Kappa advisors Amy Hancock and Ame Wilkerson, Phi Theta Kapa’s Alpha Rho Omega chapter president and Georgia Regional Officer Ronesea Styles, and family members.

Dr. Virginia Carson, President of SGSC, comments, “I commend these two ladies on their academic achievements and this special honor from PTK. They’ve worked hard to achieve their success, and they both represent SGSC well. I look forward to hearing about their future academic and professional successes, too.”

Colleges may nominate students from all of their campuses to the All-USA Academic Team.  Students from Georgia nominated to the national team make up the All-Georgia Academic Team. Nominations are based on outstanding academic performance and service to the college and community.

Kaitlin Spivey serves as president of PTK’s Kappa Sigma chapter in Douglas, and Sylvia Smith is vice president of the Alpha Rho Omega chapter in Waycross. Both have attended Phi Theta Kappa regional conferences and will attend the International Convention in San Antonio, Texas, and have led their chapters to earn the 5-Star Recognition, the highest level in the chapter development program.

Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society is the largest honor society in American higher education with more than 1,300 chapters on two-year and community college campuses in all 50 of the United States, Canada, Germany, Peru, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the British Virgin Islands, the United Arab Emirates and U.S. territorial possessions. More than 2.5 million students have been inducted since its founding in 1918, with approximately 135,000 students inducted annually.

Sylvia Smith and Kaitlin Spivey pose with their medals