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10A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, July 27,2022
New 9-8-8
hotline for
mental health
now live in US
Photo submitted to DCN
The Mississippi State team celebrates its third place win at the national CSBS banking competition.
From left, Bank of Commerce Chief Credit Officer and EVP Clifton Thach; CFO and EVP Zach Luke;
students Peyton Randazzo, Eric Sudduth, Annabelle Peck and Von Churchwell; and faculty advisor
Matthew Whitledge.
Dawson native wins bronze as part of
national collegiate banking contest
By Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
A Dawsonville native
was one of four
Mississippi State
University students in a
team that earned one of
the top spots in a national
banking competition.
West Hall High School
alumnus Peyton Randazzo
and his teammates placed
third overall in the 2022
Conference of State Bank
Supervisors Community
Bank Case Study
Competition, according to
a press release from uni
versity news editor Allison
Matthews.
Randazzo, a spring
finance graduate, shares
the victory with team
mates Eric Sudduth, a
spring finance and foreign
language/German gradu
ate from Louisville,
Kentucky; Von
Churchwell, a spring
summa cum laude finance
graduate from Memphis,
Tennessee; and Annabelle
Peck, a spring magna cum
laude finance graduate
from The Colony, Texas.
This marks the third
consecutive year in which
MSU students have placed
in the top five during the
intense, nationwide com
petition that teaches under
graduate students about
the banking industry.
The annual CSBS com
petition gives students
hands-on experience part
nering with local commu
nity banks to examine how
these banks have navigat
ed changes over the past
decade and what the insti
tutions are anticipating in
the future, according to the
press release.
Assistant Clinical
Professor of Finance and
Economics Matthew
Whitledge advised MSU’s
team, which partnered
with the Bank of
Commerce branch in
Greenwood, Mississippi.
The team’s paper will be
published in the Journal of
Community Bank Case
Studies and is available at
https://www.csbs.org/
bankcasestudy.
“We are all so proud of
these four students and
their faculty advisor, Dr.
Matthew Whitledge, who
works incredibly hard
each year to prepare for
competition,” said MSU
College of Business Dean
Sharon Oswald.
By Dave Williams
Capitol Beat News Service
Georgians suffering
from mental distress
now have a new nation
wide three-digit phone
number they can call
for help.
The new 9-8-8
National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline
went into effect on
Saturday. Dialing the
number puts a caller
into direct contact with
a trained mental health
counselor rather than an
emergency dispatcher
who must handle a vari
ety of calls including
crimes in progress, fires
and traffic accidents.
Counselors are able
to address a caller’s
immediate mental
health needs and help
connect them to ongo
ing care.
Today, an estimated
8% of all calls to 9-1-1
are related to a mental
health crisis, according
to data from Vibrant
Emotional Health. The
new 9-8-8 number will
provide an easy-to-
remember three-digit
number people can call
to receive the right
mental-health crisis
support.
Georgia is well pre
pared to make the 9-8-8
system a success, said
Judy Fitzgerald, com
missioner of the state
Department of
Behavioral Health and
Developmental
Disabilities (DBHDD).
Calls to the new num
ber from Georgia will
be routed through the
Georgia Crisis and
Access Line, which was
established in 2006 to
provide around-the-
clock support to people
in crisis.
“Georgia’s work to
develop its crisis net
work over the past 12
years has DBHDD well
positioned for change,”
Fitzgerald said.
“I am very excited
about this work, how
important it is, both in
preventing suicide and
in building a diverse
coalition to develop an
infrastructure that sup
ports Georgians’ mental
wellbeing for genera
tions to come.”
The new system is
expected to reduce
health-care spending
with more cost-effec
tive early intervention,
reduce the use of law
enforcement and other
safety resources by
diverting calls from
people in mental-
health crisis, meet a
growing need for crisis
intervention and help
end the stigma people
feel when seeking men
tal-health services.
This story is avail
able through a news
partnership with
Capitol Beat News
Service, a project of the
Georgia Press
Educational
Foundation.
Dawson County News file photo
Amicolola EMC’s Bright Ideas
program to kick off in August
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
Amicalola EMC’s
Bright Ideas teacher
grant program will
begin accepting appli
cations on Aug. 1,
allowing local teachers
a chance to earn a grant
for their classrooms.
According to a press
release by Amicalola
EMC, the organiza
tion’s Bright Ideas
teacher grant program
is a competition
designed to reward
teachers who take the
time to plan, research
and enact a creative
classroom learning
experience for their stu
dents.
“Since the program
began in 2012, a total
of $526,133.59 has
been awarded to fund
800 classroom proj
ects,” the release said.
“The program is
offered to Georgia cer
tified teachers at ele
mentary, middle, high
school and private
schools within the
Amicalola EMC ser
vice area.”
The organization will
begin accepting appli
cations on Aug. 1. The
early bird deadline for
applications is Aug. 31,
and the final deadline
to apply is Sept. 9.
Teachers who submit
their application by the
early bird deadline will
be entered into a ran
dom drawing for one of
several details.
Bright Ideas grants
will be funded up to a
maximum of $1000
each.
For more information
about Amicalola EMC’s
Bright Ideas program,
go to www.amica-
lolaemc.com.
Amicalola Electric
Membership Corporation
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