As a Leader, We Take Responsibility
for Creating Legacies
You might not realize it, but there is a leader in our midst:
Floyd County’s Rocky Mountain Hydroelectric Plant.
It’s a leader in itself, as an advanced power generation facility, capable
of generating 1,035 megawatts of electric energy via pumped storage
technology. Power-production methods don’t get much cleaner than
this. No doubt, it took innovative, creative and persuasive leaders to
get this legacy started.
Now, we enjoy the benefits of effective and efficient technology
thanks to our leaders’ expertise. We have an impressive power facility
that supplies more than just electricity—it provides northwest
Georgia with increased tax revenue and skilled employment. But
we also benefit from the Rocky Mountain Recreation Area that
surrounds the plant.
The Rocky Mountain Recreation Area offers an array of outdoor
recreational activities. There are two lakes covering 600 acres,
camping and picnicking areas; a beautiful white-sand beach;
some of the region’s best fresh-water catches—largemouth bass,
sunfish, channel catfish, black crappie and hybrid white-striped
bass. Plus, nature enthusiasts can enjoy a variety of plant and animal
species in the wildlife management area, where sightings of native
animals are common.
Oglethorpe Power is a proud member of the
Floyd County community and is committed to leading
the further development of our legacy.
Review & Forecast 2015
Rome News-TribuneΠTUESDAY, March 3, 2015
Leaders & Legacies
11
/ EDUCATION & RECREATION
Future bright for young GHC programs
By Jim Alred
Sports Editor
[email protected]
Building success in a
new collegiate athletic
program can sometimes
take years and even decades.
Georgia Highlands College launched its sports
program three years ago
with men’s and women’s
basketball before adding
baseball and softball a
year later.
All four programs have
already experienced a ton
of success with both basketball teams receiving
national rankings and the
softball and baseball
squads achieving numerous accolades in their
opening campaigns.
In fact, the basketball
teams fell a shot short of
reaching the national tournament last season in only
the program’s second full
year.
“Both teams missed going
to the national tournament
by one point each. If either
one of us had gone, it would
have been history,” said
Phil Gaffney, Highlands’
athletic director and men’s
basketball coach. “No second-year teams had done it
(made the national tournament) before, but we both
got beat on last-second
shots.”
Even though the squads
fell shy of the national
tournament last year, both
teams have produced
amazing early results.
T h e w o m e n ’s t e a m
coached by Brandan Harrell received a national
ranking in the squad’s first
season and continues to be
competitive.
“In Brandan’s first year,
they achieved a No. 6 ranking and I couldn’t find at
any level of college basketball a team being nationally ranked in their first
year,” Gaffney said. “Brandan made history there,
and that’s why we hired
him.”
While the success wasn’t
unexpected, the speed at
which Highlands achieved
the success did come as a
surprise.
“In that respect how
quickly we achieved the
success did surprise us especially with us getting nationally ranked,” Gaffney
said. “I thought we would
get there. We just didn’t
know how quickly. I’ve
been fortunate. We did
plan on it to be nationally
ranked and competing for
regional titles, which allows us to compete for national titles.”
While basketball experienced early success, both the
baseball and softball programs started fast as well.
“Our baseball coach,
Mike Marra, is doing a
great job. They’ve been out
scrimmaging against Division II schools and beating
them,” Gaffney said. “And
to be able to play at LakePointe is amazing. We get
to show recruits this is
where we play. He’s out recruiting, and that’s a great
attraction, and I think we’ll
be pretty good there.”
The baseball team has
signed to use the LakePointe facility as their
home stadium for the next
couple of years.
“Our softball coach, Melissa Wood, played at Georgia and Florida State and
she’s a go-getter and a highenergy person,” Gaffney
said. “The fact that we finished third in our first year
didn’t surprise me at all.
We missed by one out of going to the championship in
our first year. She’s brought
in great players. I see both
of those programs, as long
as those coaches are here,
being very good.”
While both basketball
teams are based out of the
Highlands campus in Floyd
County, baseball and softball are based out of the
Cartersville campus.
“One reason we put baseball and softball in
Cartersville is because
File / Rome News-Tribune
Taquan Givens and the Chargers fell just short of
reaching the national tournament during last season.
Cartersville has won tons
of state baseball titles, and
down in Cobb County there
is a lot of baseball talent,”
Gaffney said. “The Perfect
Game moved to LakePointe, so all the top players in the country are coming to where we play baseball. It’s not hard to recruit
for softball and baseball,
because so many good
players are in that area.”
Building a following and
building a recruiting base
has been an issue Gaffney
and the coaches have tackled.
“There have been some
all-time great players come
out of Rome. We also go
elsewhere. We get kids
from out of country. Our recruiting is a bit more difficult, because we don’t have
the dorms,” Gaffney said.
“We do have housing for
the kids, and we’ve had to
get some meal plans worked
out. We’ve had to do a lot of
that kind of stuff.”
Another obstacle Highlands encounters is a lack
of tradition and the process of building the Highlands name as a place for
athletes.
“When we started, I would
go out in the community
and say Georgia Highlands
and people still call it Floyd
Junior College,” Gaffney
said. “It’s a process of getting your name out there
and the marketing and
branding of who you are.”
With the programs winning and receiving national recognition, the process
is getting easier.
“Now we are starting to
get the name out there and
some kids are finding us.
Our coaches are doing a
great job of selling the program,” Gaffney said. “One
issue is there hasn’t been
a tradition here. Shorter
and Berry have the tradition. What those two
schools have done is tremendous.”
Highlands also aims to recruit players to the programs who plan on bettering themselves and aim at
going to bigger schools when
they leave the program.
“Our motto is Better person, better student, better
athlete,” Gaffney said. “We
tell kids that they are going
to get drug tested here. It’s
not random. If you don’t
clean up your act, you’re
gone. You’re also going to
have to go to class and make
progress. They know that
graduating and being a
good person is important.”
Gaffney said each of the
coaches recruits kids
knowing they will go on to
other schools.
“This is a stepping stone.
We are a great college with
great faculty and a great
reputation, but no one wakes
up in the morning saying
that I’m going to Georgia
Highlands and that’s all I
want to do,” Gaffney said.
“Whatever level they can
play at, we want them to
come here a year or two and
make it and then go.”
Gaffney mentioned a couple of players off his own
basketball team including Ty
Toney, Denzel Council and
Terrence Thompson, who
started at bigger schools before coming to Highlands.
All three have played
prominent roles for the
Chargers on the court,
have gone to class and are
attracting interest from
major college programs.
“The most satisfying
thing for us is to see these
kids go on to four-year
schools, have success and
see them graduate and get
jobs,” Gaffney said.
With four solid programs
already experiencing success and facilities abounding on the school’s campuses, the obvious talk of adding sports comes up.
“I think the way the finances are will kind of dictate
adding other sports. These
(basketball, softball and
baseball) are the most expensive four,” Gaffney said.
“That will be a president decision. We’ve had serious talk
about tennis, because of our
facility. We have a cross country course the high school
kids use, but we don’t.”
Highlands has several tennis courts on the Floyd campus along with trails used
by local high schools for the
annual Highlands Invitational cross country meet
and some regional races.
“The demographics of kids
playing tennis and cross
country are different from
the sports we have now. Part
of the idea in athletics is to
give everyone something a
little different,” Gaffney
said. “We want to give different kids different opportunities. We definitely want to
add cross country, volleyball and tennis.”
Gaffney also noted the
nice field down the hill
from the tennis courts on
the Floyd campus, which
could serve as a great
place to play soccer.
“We have a beautiful pitch
to play soccer on. It’s all
ready,” Gaffney said. “The
plans are we definitely
would like to add them, but
until we are fiscally sure of
where we are, we can’t.”
As Gaffney surveys his office thinking about the program and its direction he
quickly adds one vital part.
“One person we couldn’t
have done this without is
David Mathis. We call him
the unofficial mayor of
Lindale, because he’s been
here forever. From day one,
David has done everything,”
Gaffney said. “We are coathletic directors. We
wouldn’t have enjoyed any
of the success we’ve had
without him. Everything
we’ve done, he’s been in on
the ground floor making
sure it gets done. He’s been
a tremendous asset here. We
wouldn’t have had any of
our success without him.”
And with that Gaffney
moves on to his next project.
His men’s basketball team
is nationally ranked, and
they have a practice soon.
As a Leader, We Take Responsibility
for Creating Legacies
You might not realize it, but there is a leader in our midst:
Floyd County’s Rocky Mountain Hydroelectric Plant.
It’s a leader in itself, as an advanced power generation facility, capable
of generating 1,035 megawatts of electric energy via pumped storage
technology. Power-production methods don’t get much cleaner than
this. No doubt, it took innovative, creative and persuasive leaders to
get this legacy started.
Now, we enjoy the benefits of effective and efficient technology
thanks to our leaders’ expertise. We have an impressive power facility
that supplies more than just electricity—it provides northwest
Georgia with increased tax revenue and skilled employment. But
we also benefit from the Rocky Mountain Recreation Area that
surrounds the plant.
The Rocky Mountain Recreation Area offers an array of outdoor
recreational activities. There are two lakes covering 600 acres,
camping and picnicking areas; a beautiful white-sand beach;
some of the region’s best fresh-water catches—largemouth bass,
sunfish, channel catfish, black crappie and hybrid white-striped
bass. Plus, nature enthusiasts can enjoy a variety of plant and animal
species in the wildlife management area, where sightings of native
animals are common.
Oglethorpe Power is a proud member of the
Floyd County community and is committed to leading
the further development of our legacy.
Spotlight on Excellence Entry Form
NRECA Voting Member Classification *
Statewide Associations, G&T or Service Member
Category *
15. Best Individual Ad
Entry Title *
Rocky Mountain Recreation Ad
I wish to receive Judges' comments on
this entry
Yes
Contact's Name *
Stan Najeway
Cooperative *
Georgia System Operations
Mailing Address
2100 East Exchange Place
Tucker, GA 30084
United States
Contact's Email *
[email protected]
Contact's Phone Number *
(770) 270-7652
Name of entrant as it should appear on
the award (if given)
Georgia System Operations Corporation
#606
Is this the first time you've entered the
Spotlight competition?
No
Entrant's Email
[email protected]
Names of others (freelancers or
organizations) involved in the project, if
applicable
n/a
Describe your/the co-op's role in the
project *
The ad is developed each year using a theme sent to us from the
Rome News-Tribune. There are several newspaper inserts and
Oglethorpe Power typically opts for the business and recreation
versions due to the plant's significant economic impact ((as the largest
taxpayer in Floyd County) and the fact that there is a large recreation
area on the facility's grounds. Once the ad copy has been developed
and the image or photo is selected (custom), the final ad is developed
and sent to the newspaper for publicationl
Describe others’ role in the project
(Reference outside sources of material,
including templates; pre-existing Web
tools and apps; information from outside
groups, such as Straight Talk or
Touchstone Energy; stock photos and
music, etc.) *
This ad is done entirely in-house and we do not get outside assistance
or materials.
Circulation or Number of People Reached * 16,000
Number of Attendees *
Project’s Budget *
The ad was developed entirely in-house and there was not a budget.
Photography was custom and came from our archives. We are not
responsible for placing the ads and do not know the cost for this onetime insertion.
Target Audience(s) *
Citizens of Floyd County, GA and residents from the surrounding
areas.
Project's Objective *
The objective of these two ads is to heighten awareness of Oglethorpe
Power Corporation's Rocky Mountain Hydroelectric Facility Recreation
Area. We know we have been successful when traffic to the facility's
recreation area picks up, and traffic normallys peaks each year after
the
Restrictions/Limitations *
One of the biggest challenges in creating this ad was developing a
headline and a short paragraph of copy that would feature and sell the
recreation area. It was also very important to select a photo that would
cause a reader to pause and absorb the copy and headline.
Describe why you chose this type of social
media and how you used it *
Provide a brief summary that states the
purpose of the event, how the program
was implemented, and results and how
they were measured *
Provide a brief summary that states the