GNTC NEWS
Date: May 18, 2011
Tamara Burchett Receives GEDD Award for 2011
The Calhoun-Gordon Council for a Literate Community, Mannington Carpets, and Georgia
Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) named Tamara Burchett as the 2011 GEDD
Award Winner. The award ceremony was held at Georgia Northwestern Technical
College’s Gordon County Campus on May 17, 2011.
The GEDD Award is presented each year to a GNTC
GED graduate that exemplifies the qualities set forth in
the GEDD acronym. GEDD stands for goals that
students must set in order to achieve, excellence
before and after receiving their GED, determination,
and making a difference in his or her environment. The
GEDD Award concept was created by a group of
GED instructors at GNTC, Coleen Brooks, Lisa
McKinney, and Spence Ramsey and by CalhounGordon Council for a Literate Community Executive
Director, Wayne Minshew.
Burchett is the eighth recipient of the GEDD award.
This is Tamara’s story:
Tamara Burchett Accepts GEDD Award
It was with a cautious approach that Tamara Burchett entered GED classes and then
Coosa Valley Technical College in the spring of 2005.
However, she also entered with a special motivation. She wanted to teach children in
special education. Today, six years later, she has realized her goal to serve as para-pro at
Calhoun High School and teach children afflicted with nearly debilitating diseases such as
cerebral palsy, among others.
There were times when Ms. Burchett, shaking her head and close to tears, would confide
to a co-worker, “I can’t do this.” “Give it time,” said the co-worker. “Give it time.”
As it turns out, Tamara possessed what is perhaps the most needed trait in her chosen
profession – patience. She stayed with it, teaching, advising, cajoling, nudging, and urging
her young students onward.
Then there was an “A-Ha!” moment. “I made a child laugh,” she says. “Out loud.” Now, a
laugh or a smile is a rewarding reaction.
Tamara Burchett has made a real difference, thereby achieving one of the big D’s in the
acronym GEDD. She has realized each of the qualities in the acronym but has learned that
making a difference in someone’s life is the big one.
Tamara, who was born in Rome, entered classes in 2005 with trepidation but was urged
on by adult learning department instructors. She gained confidence along the way and
attained her GED certificate.
“I wanted to work with special education children,” she says. “That was my motivation.
You are at a dead end without a degree. I was happy and very proud when I received
mine. I felt it was a great personal accomplishment.”
Burchett was humble when she spoke to the crowd at the ceremony thanking her
instructors and most importantly her family.
As a part of the GEDD Award, winners receive a plaque on the GED Wall of Honor.
Burchett joins previous GEDD Award winners Sgt. Justin Baumgardner, Jeremy Carlson,
Kevin Casey, William Daniel Jr., Judy Housley, John Russell, and Clinton Marshall.