Barbering Graduate and Top 4 GOAL Candidate James Grobsmith, was the Fall 2018 graduation speaker.
Valdosta, GA – Wiregrass Georgia Technical College held the Fall 2018 Commencement Exercises on Friday, December 14 at the UGA Conference Center in Tifton, GA. The ceremony honored 509 students who were awarded their associate degree, diploma or technical certificate of credit as well as 41 GED® graduates. Among those graduating, the college awarded 55 Associate Degrees, 143 Diplomas, and 586 Technical Certificates. Some students received Technical Certificates in multiple areas.
James Grobsmith, Waycross native and Wiregrass 2019 Top 4 GOAL Candidate, was the graduation speaker. Grobsmith graduated with his Technical Certificate of Credit in Barbering and was a member of SkillsUSA. His story is one that motivates one to follow their own dreams even when faced with setbacks. Grobsmith was an honor roll student who found himself dropping out of school following the death of his grandfather who was raising him. Years later, at what would have been his graduation, he sat in the audience and watched his former classmates walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. Something changed in him that day. He decided at that point he wanted more in life. He would enroll in a technical college near where he lived, and where he earned his GED®. Years later, after a few jobs, he returned and enrolled in the Welding Program. After graduating from the Welding program, he began his job at a railcar leasing company. While life was good, a dream from his childhood lay dormant in the back of his mind. After receiving haircuts on the front porch by his Papa, and several failed attempts at the “latest” style at that time, his attraction to haircutting grew. Somewhere along the way he started getting more attention for his own hairstyle and inquires as to who cut his hair. To every one’s surprise, he cut his own hair which led to friends asking him to cut their hair. As the list of clients started to grow, he realized this was his passion, and a special craft that he wanted to learn. “There aren’t many barbers left in my hometown and in the last few years, I started feeling that yearning for something more,” shared Grobsmith. “I had a great job, but didn’t feel like I was connecting and helping people the way I desired to.” With that, he researched and found the Barbering Program at Wiregrass Tech and enrolled. “I don’t need a masters degree and a couch; I can touch people’s lives behind the chair,” shared Grobsmith. While continuing to work full-time and living over an hour away from the Wiregrass’ Valdosta Campus, the closest college to his home that offered barbering. While in college he was a member of the college’s SkillsUSA Chapter and Student Government. He is now working toward his goal of owning his own barber shop.
Wiregrass is proud to announce the Fall 2018 graduates for technical certificates, diplomas, and associate degrees listed below by county:
(Appling) Cameron Carter; (Atkinson) Omar Bailon, Amanda Carver, Maricela Clayton, Brandy Clement, Harley Crews, Heather Garrett, Daryl Giddens, Jasmine Johnson, Kelsey King, Tara Leslie, Anjala Martinez, Chasity Moore, Alexis O’Brien, Karina Perez, Marilin Perez, Yesenia Perez, and Erik Tinajero; (Bacon) Greyson Davis, Krystyne McNab, Christopher Thomas, and Bridgette Williamson; (Ben Hill) Rantavious Anderson, Keirra Andrews, Donna Bagley, Jefferson Bedford, Darla Bennett, Alexandrea Brown, Destiny Burris, Diamond Campbell, Jacob Carelock, Dayana Copado, Lyndia Crook, Darchelle Downing, Scottie Griffin, Alec Hampton, Jana Hutto, Ashley Jones, Leigh Kittrell, Chelsea Marshall, Antonio McRoy, Michael Meaker, Cecily Merritt, Ashley Rich, Tiffany Riggs, Scotti Roberts, Carlene Robinson, Amanda Rowe, Deprise Shelton, Shyneshia Stevens, Mary Swain, Aubreona Walker, Zachary Wilson, and Kelsie Yawn; (Berrien) Ayla Barlow, Christopher Buchanan, Carl Camon, Candace Cook, Christopher Davenport, Erik Dieas, Adrian Farley, Cameron Ford, Marly Garner, Jarret Gipson, Kymyana Harvey, Brittany Knowles, Leonora Makorow, John Pruitt, Lela Skelton, Ryan Stone, Joel Stonecypher, Michael Toms, and Ashley Whitlock; (Brooks) Neal Bradford, Cetonya Brown, Jamie Childers, Darian Daniels, Rokia Dixon, Izannah Donaldson, Vickie Halligan, Willie Johnson, Justin King, Valerie Melton-Miles, Tremayne Miley, Marje’ Mosley, Megan Nunnally, Temeka Reddick, Morgan Rowland, Julie Sapp, Jasimine Sloan, Rodney Smith, Tyrek Thomas, Whitney Thompkins, Carrington Williams, Lamekia Williams, and Derrick Wilson; (Clayton) Regina Griffin; (Clinch) Lexie Calley, Jessica Futch, Kayla Herrin, Julie Jimenez, and Brian King; (Coffee) Ariel Adams, Leslie Aguilera, Hannah Batten, Aminka Bradshaw, Brandy Burke, Randall Byrd, Coretta Carter, Alejandro Castor-Ortega, Shane Chaney, Ruben Chavez, Allison Comer, Destiny Coney, Anitra Crawford, Joshua Crews, Shantelle Cross, Veoliver Curry, Amber Darley, Hillary Davis, April Ellis, Fannie Fletcher, Benjamin Foskey, Lacanisa Fryer, Samuel Galvan, Thomas Giles, Kendrea Grady, Vanessa Greene, Cameron Greer, Vicente Guerrero, Steven Harrell, Mary Hayes, Tiffany Hersey, Jane Johnson, Christopher Joiner, Justin Jones, Rebecca Kight, Erica Lott, Kadie Lott, Kenneth Meredith, Tara Merritt, Micah Norman, Lorianne Nugent, Karian Pacheco, Milton Pate, Marco Rios, Ana Rodriquez, Orenthal Ross, Marlania Sermons, Dallas Shepherd, Beverly Sipp, Jordyn Smith, Mary Smith, Precious Smith, Justin Spivey, Lisa Spivey, Bobbie Stephens, Brittney Strickland, Williams Strickland, Annica Stripling, Aishah Taylor, Courntey Trantham, BreeAnna Troupe, Alicia Valencia, Surisaddai Vergara Velazquez, Andrew Walsh, Zane Watson, Tyteana Wilcox, Nia Wilkerson, Joshua Williams, Sydney Willson, and Chadwick Young; (Colquitt) Maria Lopez Nogal, Deborah Park, and Jennifer Williams; (Cook) Alisa Aponte, Brandy Baker, David Browning, Brianna Bruttomesso, Caitlin Bullard, Christopher Connell, Marcus Deberry, Jacquelynn Futch, April Hahn, Birttany Harrell, Thomas Heard, Mary Lane, Tara Lott, Gabrial Luke, Corey McCall, Andy Miley, Ayat Odeh, Brooklyn Ritter, Dicarious Slaughter, and Shianne Sumner; (Dodge) Deanna Clark; (Dooly) Kimberly Hernandez-Cruz; (Houston) James Braxton; (Irwin) Justin Blanton, Madison Elliott, Stephanie Giddens, Dalton Gray, Candice Hood, Andravious Howard, Angel Lee, Nautika McClain, Brylee Patrick, Dalton Richardson, Alexandria Smith, Rachel Sumner, Donnie Tucker, Daniel Yawn, and Zachary Youghn; (Jeff Davis) Nelly Hernandez, and Marlene Morfin; (Lanier) Emma Dube, Jade Frey, and Christopher Tyre; (Lee) Chelsea Plante; (Lowndes) Kahlia Alexander, Robert Alexander, Brandy Ambrose, Dalton Arnold, Derke Barkalow, Adrian Bennett, Brittany Berlin, Jim Beverly, Barbara Birchette, Christopher Blair, Faith Bordelon, Kristen Boutwell, Madigan Breidenstein, Patrick Brinson, Justin Brunson, Sterling Bryant, Justin Buggs, Adurianna Burgman-Cooper, Sanchez Butler, Victoria Bynum, James Cannady, Caywood Cannon, Andrew Careag, Courtney Carter, Jordan Clayton, Lamario Colvin, Melita Coy, Roxanna Cribb, Chelci Dahl, Kimberly Dale, Jhonice Davis, Matthew Davis, Coraima Delgado, Danielle DeLoach, Bernadett Dinkins, Alisha Douglas, Daniel Edwards, Matthew Estenson, Ruby Etheridge, Kwanisha Fair, Denetria Finnissee, Shantania Flemming, Corey Forman, Morgan Foster, Davetta Fredrick, Juan Garcia, Alison Gavitt, Logan Gibson, Teresa Gifford, Jarvese Gilliard, Michael Glenn, Lawrence Goddard, Cody Griffin, John Griffith, Ausencia Gutierrez, Frederic Hamilton, Ainsley Harris, Kirstiann Hau, Calvin Hayes, Brittney Hiers, Megha Hill, Travis Jarrett, Jeremiah Jilcott, Antwan Johnson, D’neydra Johnson, Tara Johnson, Kaitlyn Katz, Jasmine Kell, Christopher Kinsey, Kijana Klingaman, Kaleigh Kozlowski, John Lake, John Langevin, James Lefiles, Tytyonna Lewis, Juliette Lokey, Wesley Lyles, Toddtavius Manning, Javier McBurrough, Kristen McCormick, Ashley McCutchin, Cody McDuffie, Stephanie McElvey, David McEnaney, Raymond McIntrye, Donna McPherson, Savannah Mew, Larry Mitchell, VaShunta Monk, Karletha Moore, Desiree Morrison, Nakea Motes, Zachary Nunn, Gloria Oliveria, Eugene Osei, Jennifer O’Steen, Damien Page, Shilpaben Patel, Jennifer Payne, Megan Pearce, Adreanna Phillips, Corrine Prescott-Sessions, Kellie Price, Shakiama Prude, Dana Purvis, Amanda Rider, Tyler Ritchart, Wendy Roach, Donte Robinson, Esther Robinson, Nakia Robinson, Luis Rodriquez, Melissa Roe, Nely Rosokow, Emily Rozier, Leonard Rucki, Robin Rudd, Tekisah Russell, Cassey Schroepfer, Jourdan Shackelford, Luke Sigmon, Dorrissa Sirmans, Delana Smith, Emily Smith, Quincy Smith, Rachel Smith, Raymond Smoot, Gerald Stacks, Tara Stelle, Solomon Stewart, Ragan Stewart, Crystal Stokes, Ashley Stone, Robert Strickland, Alexis Strother, Rose Sysskind, Stephanie Taylor, Takira Thomas, Taylor Thomas, Sarah Thorne, Yolanda Tuggerson, Stephen Turnmeyer, Kaneshae Tyson, Edith Vann, Joshua Velasquez, Lisa Viar, Stephanie Voltz, Byron Ward, Deondre Ware, Carmen Washington, Sasha Waskosky, Simone Watson, Derick Weldon, Caleb Wells, Ralph West, Seth West, Tangenika West, Chelsea Williams, Dee Dee Williams, Devaris Williams, Henry Williams, Tiffany Williams, Zachary Williams, Adrienne Wilson, Stephanie Wilson, Alexandria Woodridge, Daniel Wynne, Sahar Zamir, Samantha Zeigler, and Rocio Zelaya Mendoza; (Montgomery) Clayton Haynes; (Pierce) Alexis Moore, and Shundra Vickery; (Telfair) Autresa Walker; (Thomas) Yacobia Gibbs, Zachary Hester, Jeremy Mathis, Lonnie Mitchell, Ambreauna Robinson, and Patrick Young; (Tift) Jade Ballard, Heather Dingler, Amanda Freeland, Kayla Holley, Kenyata Kelley, and Lesean Mason; (Turner) Kendall Kicklighter, and Chrissie Martin; (Ware) Hannah Bennett, James Grobsmith, Chandra Hill, and Sawyer Lee; (Wilcox) Brandon Bloodsworth, Wanda Gaines, Terri Gibbs, Bethany Glover, and Thomas Owens; (Out of State) Zion Jones, Vonda Kier.
