About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 2022)
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 “Owned by Those We Serve ” JOIN US FOR THE DAWSON _ COUNTY NEWS m JM sonCountyNews DawsonNews com rr MEDIA DAY 20 ©22 W https://fb.me/e/3uSycYOIx Join us July 27 2pm-6:15pm, for The Dawson County News Fall SportsMediaDay,SponsoredbyEliteHeatingandAir.Thecoaches and players from each of the fall teams from Dawson County High School will be speaking about their upcoming Season. Tm /a/ to m row worn team: FOOTBALL - 2:00PM CHEER - 2:30PM SOFTBALL - 3:00PM VOLLEYBALL - 3:30PM CROSS COUNTRY - 4:00PM SPONSORED BY: rjo- gea£ the, hj&cJC,... QoJUL QfJUCeA o< Dawson County News tile photo
