A home-schooled 20-year old with nine siblings has been named the student of the year for Georgia Piedmont Technical College.

Medical assisting student and 2024 Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership (GOAL) winner for Georgia Piedmont, Allison “Ally” Hammer of Covington, calls herself “number four in the lineup” of 10 children; she has five sisters and four brothers. 

Hammer jokes that she chose Georgia Piedmont Technical College while searching the college website at three in the morning one day in August. 

She “went down the rabbit hole of the amazing technical programs” and quickly found herself hooked by all the offerings and enthusiasm of everyone she contacted. 

Hammer started in the practical nursing program but transferred to medical assisting when she saw how many opportunities it offered. She is set to finish her program in August of this year.

“I would recommend GPTC or any technical education to others – especially high schoolers,” Hammer said. “When it comes to education, I believe that technical/trade programs are incredibly important and make the world run. You are pretty much always guaranteed a job immediately after completing the program.”

There were ten other nominees for the GPTC 2024 GOAL award: Gabriel Butts, Hannah Dockery (finalist), Subharda Gupta, Marcilla Johnson (finalist), Taylor Russell, Angela Saldana, Angela Taylor, Viviana Villanueva (finalist), Rodrigous Williams (finalist) and Selam Wondimagegn.

Hammer collected a $500 award from the GPTC Foundation.

Hammer will go on to compete regionally in March. Regional winners will vie for the state title in April. Statewide winners will be advocates for Georgia’s technical education system for the next year and the GOAL winner will drive home in a new car.