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PAGE 4A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. JANUARY 14. 2016
JMS Learning
Academy visits
Georgia Tech
To quote their website, “Geor
gia Tech is one of the oldest
and most respected polytechni-
cal colleges in the United
States.” Complete with a swim
ming pool, a nanotechnology
lab, and one of the most famous
college football fields in the
country, Georgia Tech is a
place where genius is allowed
to shine. Currently, they have
an enrollment of over ten thou
sand.
Thanks to the Pickens
County Youth Enrichment Pro
gram, the Jasper Middle School
Learning Academy class got to
experience Georgia Tech’s
campus firsthand. Looking for
a good college is difficult, and
this field trip has saved a lot of
us a huge burden. As soon as
the students left the bus, we
were greeted with two smiling
faces, our tour guides.
First, our class was shown
the Carnegie building, one of
the oldest on campus, opening
in 1906. It served as a library at
one point, but since has been
remodeled and serves as the of
fice to the president of the in
stitute.
After a pleasing walk around
campus, which was beautifully
landscaped and planned, we en
tered the Student Resource
Center. On the ceiling hung
many flags, each representing a
certain county a group of stu
dents came from. Flags ranged
from England to Egypt, some
thing that our group was
amazed to see.
We also got to see the fa
mous Georgia Tech football
field, named Grant Field. It's
home to the proud Yellow Jack
ets, and one of the oldest con
tinually used site for campus
football.
Eventually, we took a break
for lunch at the Student Center.
There, they had a wide variety
of food options, all for surpris
ingly low prices (I ate a full
meal for under ten dollars). We
ate in the ballroom above the
cafeteria where we ordered,
and learned a little more about
the college from a real student.
He told us about student life,
the health care plans, and many
clubs available to students.
As previously mentioned,
Georgia Tech boasts a fully
functional nanotechnology lab.
Nanotechnology is the science
and technology conducted at
the nanoscale, which usually
deals with the manipulation of
indivisible molecules and
atoms. Not only was our class
lead on an in-depth tour of the
building, but we were also able
to do a hands-on lab dealing
with projects engineered on the
nanoscale.
Once again, we would like
to give a huge thanks to the
Pickens County Youth Enrich
ment Program, for allowing us
to have this golden opportunity.
The students here thank you
and our Learning Academy su
pervisor, Mrs. Hamilton. We
gained both experience and
knowledge, and had fun along
the way.
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Continued from Page 1A
Plan
lutions team visits Pickens in the
spring, they will hold a stake
holder’s meeting to let any inter
ested members of the public
voice their concerns about the
project.
“We can’t build from those
conceptual plans they will cre
ate,” Palmeri said, “but we will
know the mileage and alignment
and we will be able to use those
to help with fundraising efforts.”
Palmeri said funding could
come from several sources in
cluding a federal Recreational
Trails Grant, local funding, pri
vate donors or even the Ellijay
Mountain Bike Association.
Current plans for the Talking
Rock Nature Preserve mountain
biking portion are to develop
five miles of trails geared to
wards beginner/family-friendly
usage, which, according to
Palmeri, are in short supply in
the region. She said even
throughout Ellijay - the moun
tain biking capital of the state
that has over 60 miles of moun
tain biking trails - many of them
are “old school and difficult.”
“They are for the intermediate
to advanced rider,” she said.
“When I was president of
EMBA I had trouble planning
group rides with beginners be
cause the trails were too hard,
and I wanted to do new trail de
velopment for beginners.”
She said after five years of
pushing for beginners alterna
tives, there is now a four-mile
trail being developed in Blue
Ridge, “then the Talking Rock
park just came out of the blue
last year. When we were made
aware of it I called [SETPL] and
said let’s put one here.”
Palmeri said the trail in Talk
ing Rock will also appeal to hik
ers and frail runners.
“It’s going to be purpose-built
for mountain biking, but it will
be multi-use and sustainable,”
she said. “There will be very lit
tle maintenance.”
When asked about people
who may be skeptical about the
project - especially in light of the
floundering water park resort
also proposed for Talking Rock -
she said, “This isn’t a big idea.
This will require small funding,
probably from $100,000 to
$125,000 to do it right, but there
has to be community will. My
job is to support it and build
community around the project.
We want the government, the
chamber, all of those folks to be
involved.”
In terms of tourism, the
IMBA director said the pre
serve’s trails would be part of a
larger system of trails in north
Georgia that attract mountain
bikers.
“There are seven million
mountain bikers in the country,”
she said. “This sport has really
taken off in the last 10 years, es
pecially among youth. I don’t
necessarily see a five-mile track
as being enough to specifically
attract out-of-town mountain
bikers, but there are trails in El
lijay and up further north and
they will stop in Talking Rock if
we make it something fun. They
will stop and buy gas and get
lunch in Pickens.”
Estimates are that mountain
biking tourists spend, on aver
age, $75 on a day trip or $120 on
an overnight trip in the local
economy.
She noted the IMBA concep
tual plan will not be able to be
implemented by your run-of-the-
mill grader or contractor. It will
require professional trail
builders.
“Trails are a facility,” she
said. “You can’t just have anyone
put them in. There are a lot of
things to take into considera
tion.”
Both Palmeri and Jones said
the professional planning and in
stallation is crucial to develop a
system of trails the public will
want to use.
“We want to do this right and
not have trails that erode or are
not usable or fun,” Jones said.
The director expects that
SETPL’s commitment to build
high-quality trails will make
fundraising easier in the future.
Jasper Middle School 7th graders go to college
By JMS students Brooke
Bell and Heather Vincent
Seventh grade Discovery
at Jasper Middle School
would like to thank the Pick
ens County Youth Enrich
ment Program for funding
our trip to Reinhardt Univer
sity and the Funk Heritage
Center. The trip gave the stu
dents the opportunity to ex
perience what Reinhardt had
to offer. Our tour guides were
able to provide us with a stu
dent’s perspective of college
life. There are several majors
offered at the college, includ
ing health science and music.
Many band students in sev
enth grade Discovery are now
considering attending Rein
hardt in the future because of
the seemingly great program
and close connection with stu
dents. The tour guides put in
a great deal of effort to ensure
that we had a pleasant trip.
After the tour, we headed
to the Funk Heritage Center
across the street. The center
provided us with intriguing
information about Native
Americans. The museum tour
guide lead us through multi
ple exhibits that expressed In
dian life from long ago to
present times. Many students
were curious about the topic
and asked numerous ques
tions.
We would once again like
to thank the Pickens County
Youth Enrichment Program
for kindly contributing their
time and money for our trip.
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