MOULTRIE —
Ellenton City Councilman Audie Perry Sr. thought the accounting technology diploma he received from Moultrie Technical College in 1987 would be the last of his educational career.
Perry became disabled in 2000. By 2008 his counselors at the Social Security Administration and the Georgia Department of Labor Vocational Rehabilitation office felt he was healthy enough to get back into the workforce. They helped him with gas money to get back and forth to class and with financial aid applications for grant funds at Moultrie Tech.
Now 43, Perry has defied the odds as an older student and on Friday night graduated with a double major from MTC. He continued his focus on accounting technology and added an associate degree to his resume, while including yet another associate degree in criminal justice technology as well.
A recent inductee into the National Technical Honor Society through Moultrie Tech, Perry also became a first-time author when he wrote “Heroic Kids of the Inner Dimension,” a book he published in February 2010.
With dual degrees and an internship in a local probation office under his belt, Perry says he hopes to find a job in either accounting or criminal justice but hopes one using both skill sets will become available.
He says his years at Moultrie Tech were “wonderful with great teachers and great career counseling.”
“If I needed help, they were there,” added Perry.
MTC accounting technology instructor Cari Colby said of Perry, “Audie’s commitment to his education and his dreams is an inspiration to both the faculty and other students. He is always quick with an answer, but is never afraid to ask questions himself. He has risen to the challenges that life has placed before him and will continue to do so.”
Perry was among hundreds of his fellow MTC graduates Friday night at Withers Auditorium in Moultrie, as the college recognized more than 300 allied health, business and computers, personal and public service, and technical and industrial program graduates from its four-county service area of Colquitt, Tift, Turner and Worth.
MTC President Tina Anderson congratulated the winter and spring quarter graduating classes of 2010 as MTC surgical technology instructor and 2009-2010 Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year award winner Sherry King led the faculty, staff and graduate processional as the event’s marshal.
MTC Board of Directors members Brinson Brock of South Georgia Banking Company in Ashburn and Betty Newkirk of the Tift County School System assisted the college’s administration in the conferring of awards.
One of the highlights of the ceremony was the commencement address given by Kerry Waldron, an author and economic developer from Cook County, as he congratulated the graduates on “moving from the back seat to the driver’s seat.” The faculty, staff, graduates and their friends and families were also treated to an inspirational solo by Moultrie Tech’s neuromuscular therapy instructor Amber Schwalls.
Local News
Related Photos
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Moultrie Technical College accounting technology and criminal justice technology programs graduate Audie Perry Sr., left, celebrated his graduation with two associate degrees with instructor Cari Colby, right, prior to the Friday night ceremony.
Discussion
Councilman graduates with dual degrees from Moultrie Tech
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