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“We want to be responsive when they call on us
because you may not get a second chance. We may be
competing with Louisiana or Mississippi or Texas and
Georgia is the number one state to do business for a
reason,” said Clark. “It’s because of the technical system
of Georgia. And when we do the things we do and the
companies respond and are satisfied, it makes my day.”
VEX Robotics
SCTC also has a program they call VEX Robotics
Clubs. These are clubs that are set up through the school
systems in Spalding County, Butts and Henry Counties.
SCTC faculty are teaching students robotics through the
VEX Robotics program where they are building robots
and competing in the VEX robotics competitions.
“It’s a very different approach we’re taking versus
just giving a student a flyer or sitting at a table and
wanting them to come up. We’re engaging them in a different way,” said Clark. “It’s really good to expose these
young people to these high demand careers, but also
teach them aspects of it. So they may think about, ‘Hey,
I want to go into robotics at Southern Crescent,’ or they
can go to a University System of Georgia school and
do an engineering program. But it’s just getting them
engaged in that area and teaching them those aspects
of it. So that is something that we are extremely excited
about. And it’s different than what we have done in the
past, and it’s been working out well.”
Clark came to the Atlanta region after meeting his
wife in Maryland. His wife is an anesthesiologist and
was doing her residency there at the time. She is from
the Atlanta area and when they married and ready to
start a family, they decided to move back to Georgia.
The Best Decision
I had never really been to Georgia before,” said
Clark. “And when I came down, I fell in love with it and
was able to get hired for a job and the journey started
from there working in the technical system and it was
the best decision we made.”
In his small amount of free time between being a
college president and ferrying around two children, Clark
is a fan of minor league baseball. “I love minor league
baseball. I feel like that, that’s where baseball truly is, is
just genuine,” said Clark. “I love the major leagues, don’t
get me wrong, but the talent, I like seeing the talent at
the double AA, and the triple A level. I’ve been to probably maybe 25 minor league parks and stadiums.”
It seems fitting that a president of a technical college would be a big minor league fan. Think of it as the
place where players are refining their skills, developing
and learning the game— potentially getting ready for a
bigger career in the major leagues.
Baker Owens is a staff writer for James and James Magazine Online.
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