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Having a ball: GPC employees take a break for fun during convocation. (Open story and then click arrows on sides of photo to access the Fall Convocation slide show.) (photo by Leita Cowart)
Retirees including Linda Exley (in orange) joined college employees to celebrate GPC’s 50th anniversary. (photo by Bill Roa)
Pat Young, left, and Jennifer Myles show off 50th anniversary goody bags. (photo by Bill Roa)
Fall Convocation attendees enjoy taking their photos with the cut-out boards designed to celebrate GPC’s big 5-0. (photo by Leita Cowart)
Georgia Perimeter College employees and retirees pose for a group photo to commemorate the kick-off of the college’s 50th anniversary. (photo by Bill Roa)
Fall Convocation co-chairs Wendy Davidson and Jennifer Jenkins take a “selfie” on stage. (photo by Leita Cowart)
Science faculty member Jim Guinn and other GPC employees entertained with a “flash mob” dance to classics from the college’s history. (photo by Bill Roa)
Barbara Disney, who was a library clerk when the college opened and later served as director of human resources, and Franklin Shumake, the college’s first registrar, discuss the early days of DeKalb/Georgia Perimeter College. (photo by Leita Cowart)
Before we were Jaguars, the college mascot was the Patriots. Emily Lipsey poses as a Patriot with current mascot Jaggy and Spirit Team leader Briana Gray. (photo by Bill Roa)
Employees sign banner commemorating the college’s 50th anniversary. (photo by Leita Cowart)
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Vice President Ron Stark joins in the dancing and musical fun at Georgia Perimeter’s convocation and 50th celebration. (photo by Leita Cowart)
Melody Dantzler catches the action as the college spirit squad performs. (photo by Bill Roa)
Skips of Avondale Estates catered the Fall Convocation picnic sponsored by the GPC Foundation. (photo by Bill Roa)
GPC is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year
Cheerleaders, nostalgic music and a flash mob fueled high energy and lots of crowd participation during Georgia Perimeter College’s 2014 Fall Convocation—which also served as a kick-off celebration for the college’s 50-year anniversary.
Dental hygiene instructor Casey Morris smiled broadly as she recalled being in fifth grade when GPC opened its doors to 763 students on its Clarkston Campus in September 1964.
“It was fun,” she said of the festive atmosphere at the annual convocation held Sept. 5 in the Clarkston Campus gymnasium. “I liked the music the most.”
Morris especially enjoyed hearing music from the ’60s and was delighted when a flash mob emerged from the seated chairs placed before the convocation stage and side bleachers. The mob boogied its way through hit songs and popular dances highlighting each decade of GPC’s history.
The college started as a vision from Jim Cherry, superintendent of DeKalb County schools at the time. His dream was to create a system to educate students from grammar school through two years of college. Hence, GPC—then known as DeKalb College—became Georgia’s first and only public two-year college controlled by a local school district.
Even DeKalb College’s original mascot, the Patriot, showed up to celebrate the anniversary milestone. The Patriot, along with current mascot Jaggy and members of the GPC Spirit Team led a lively processional of college retirees into the gym just before convocation began.
Barbara Disney and Franklin Shumake were among the former employees attending. When GPC opened its doors in 1964, Disney served as a library clerk and Shumake worked as the college’s first registrar. They shared the convocation stage to reminisce about the college’s fledgling first days, when tuition was free for county residents and character references were part of entrance requirements.
“But I guess things have changed,” Shumake said to the laughing audience.
Sally Wheeler retired last year as an English instructor after working at Georgia Perimeter since the ’70s. She, along with faculty and staff, continued celebrating the college’s 50th anniversary during a post-convocation picnic sponsored by the GPC Foundation. This year’s convocation, she said, gave her an opportunity to check in on fellow retirees and former colleagues.
“It was really like going to a family reunion,” she said.
In addition to the picnic and other 50th festivities, this year’s convocation attendees also had the opportunity to sign a huge anniversary banner, receive a celebratory gift bag and hear forward-thinking remarks from college president Rob Watts, vice president Ron Stark and USG executive vice chancellor Dr. Houston Davis.
“You have the next 50 years of the college in your hands,” Watts told an attentive crowd. “We owe it to posterity to preserve and protect this institution.”