At 9:30 on Tuesday Morning Brigadier General (R) Curt Rauhut,
BG (R) Curt Rauhut
and Dr. Mike Holmes of Georgia Military College came to Griffin at the request of WKEU to meet with officials about the possibility of a satellite school here in Griffin. The meeting was well attended by City Commissioners, County Commissioners, Mayor Ryan McElmore, representatives from the Griffin Spalding Industrial Development Authority, Businessmen, and interested veterans, as well as the Griffin branch of the NAACP to hear a presentation by General Rauhut.
Georgia Military College in Milledgeville is one of the oldest colleges in Georgia founded in 1879, and is the second oldest of only 5 colleges of its type in the Nation.
Georgai Military College
General Rauhut said that the GMC is adding to its satellite programs in the state, of which there are already GMC schools in Dublin, Sandersville, Augusta, Madison, Stone Mountain, Warner Robbins, Columbus, Valdosta, with a new campus being completed in Fayetteville close to Peachtree City, and the Fairburn satellite school is only 13 miles north of Fayetteville.
Georgia Military College was established by the Georgia General Assembly at Milledgeville, October 14, 1879. It is an accredited public, independent liberal arts two -year college with nine campuses in Georgia as well as an On-Line campus. General Rauhut presented a map of the state that indicated areas of Spalding that could possibly be served at Griffin to include Spalding County, Butts, Lamar, Upson, Pike, and Newton Counties.
GMC is an open admissions college requiring a high school diploma or equivalent for entry. The student body population is 12,053 in student year 2013/2014. Also the college is predominately minority with 54 percent African Americans being the largest ethnic group and about 65 percent are female. Approximately 85 percent of students receive financial aid.
The State Legislature has approved expanding the GMC curriculum to add a Bachelor of Applied Science degree at select campuses. GMC also provides learning support to all students, including free tutorial assistance. This support helps students achieve college level skills. With the learning assistance and financial aid provided by GMC many Georgia students are able to attend college who other wise would not be able to attend either for financial reasons or academic reasons.
General Rauhut was more than impressed with the Griffin area and support of the almost filled to capacity group that attended the event. All Commissioners, and those present was extremely supportive of the General, and his excellent presentation of the quality of GMC statewide in assisting students move forward for their future educational success.
The next step in the process will be a study of the area to determine the need, and with the addition of one or two satellite schools each year for GMC it may be as early as 2016 when a decision can be made about Griffin and the area. All of our elected officials, that were present, as well as State Representative John Yates, and Griffin Spalding School Superintendent, Curtis Jones were extremely impressed with General Rauhut’s presentation and have stated they have hopes of an expanded satellite GMC campus here in Griffin.