Amanda Taylor-Rodriguez, Dean of Student Affairs and the coordinator for the Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership program at DeKalb Technical College, has announced members of the screening and selection committees to interview student nominees for the college’s annual GOAL title.

GOAL recognizes and rewards excellence among the more than 190,000 students attending the colleges of the Technical College System of Georgia. Now in its 39th year, GOAL was the first statewide program in the nation to honor outstanding students in technical education.

Screening committee members are Dr. Robin Hoffman, President of DeKalb Tech; Larry Teems, Executive Vice President; Cynthia Edwards, Vice President of Institutional Advancement; Cory Thompson, Public Relations & Information Director; and Gina Smith, DeKalb Tech’s 2009 GOAL Winner.

In making their choices, the screening committee members consider each student’s grades, attendance and class performance along with their character, leadership potential, personal goals and enthusiasm for technical education.

The students who make it through the screening committee will then be interviewed and evaluated by the GOAL selection committee, comprised of leaders from local business and industry. The selection committee chooses one winner from DeKalb Technical College to compete at the regional level with students from other colleges within the North region.

The five leaders from the business and industry community named to serve on the DTC GOAL selection committee are businesswoman Juanita Baranco; retired educator Charlotte Adams; DTC Board of Director Chair Sandra Font; DTC Foundation Trustee Val Bates & DTC Board of Director member Jack Manning.

"All of these students are exceptional individuals or they would not have been nominated," said Hoffman, a member of the selection committee. "The GOAL program is an excellent means of recognizing the outstanding students enrolled in the state’s technical colleges, and I appreciate the opportunity to be involved in the selection process."

In May, all of the college winners will take part in the technical college system’s annual statewide GOAL conference in Atlanta. The nine finalists from the regional competitions (three students from the three regions) will be announced in Atlanta and will go on to compete for the state title. Then, one student will be named as the state’s GOAL winner and earn the recognition as the system’s 2011 student of the year.

The state winner will also take home the grand prize of a new automobile, the statewide corporate sponsor for the GOAL program.