Chase Sweda is Chosen as Lanier Technical College’s GOAL Winner

Chase Sweda, a welding and joining student at Lanier Technical College from Hall County, has been named as the college’s winner of the Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership (GOAL).

The announcement was made at the college’s GOAL recognition luncheon on November 7, 2018 at the new Hall County Campus Ramsey Conference Center.

Sweda was chosen by a panel of local leaders over three other nominees for the award. The runners-up were Robert Enright of Lumpkin County, EMS; Donna Pickens of Barrow County, Accounting; and Abigail Rodriguez of Hall County, Applied Technology.

GOAL, a statewide program of the Technical College System of Georgia, honors excellence in academics and leadership among the state’s technical college students. Local GOAL winners are selected at each of the state’s 22 technical colleges. The announcement of Sweda as the Lanier Technical College’s GOAL winner was made by Dr. Ray Perren, Lanier Technical College President.

Sweda will now proceed to regional judging. All college GOAL winners will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Atlanta for two days in April. Nine regional finalists, three finalists from the three regions, will be announced in Atlanta on April17, 2019. A panel of leaders from the business, industry and government sectors will interview them and choose one to be the 2019 state GOAL winner and the recipient of the GOAL medallion.

The grand prize also includes a new car, courtesy of Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, the statewide corporate sponsor of the GOAL program.

Sweda stated that “This is awesome! I am very thankful for the experience and I will do my best to bring the title home.”

Sweda is the son of Donna and Patrick Sweda. He lives with his family in Flowery Branch, GA. He chose to attend Lanier Technical College to earn his diploma in welding and joining and after furthering his education at a specialized diving school in Charleston, SC he will pursue a career in underwater welding/commercial diving.

ABOUT LANIER TECHNICAL COLLEGE

Lanier Technical College has a 100 percent job placement rate five out six years in a row with 100 percent in-field placement in 2018. The College offers over 50 programs of study in some of the nation’s fastest-growing career fields including healthcare, energy, business and industry, and public or private service. Lanier Technical College is a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia. For more information about Lanier Technical College, visit http://www.laniertech.edu or phone 770-533.7000.