For Stacey Travis, returning to college was a chance to “fall in love again.”
She found love again, she said, with chemistry.
“I worked as a branch manager for a few years and then the market crashed in 2008,” Travis said. “So I took that as a chance to go back to school and found the same love I had for chemistry that I had back when I was in high school. Suddenly, coming back became about completing something I never finished.”
Four years and several classes later, Travis, 32, said she’s completed an internship at Volkswagen and started graduate school at the University of Florida for environmental chemistry. But she’ll always remember Dalton State College as her start as one of seven students who majored in chemistry when the bachelor’s program began in 2009.
Back then, she was among the minority at the college.
Now? There are 67 students who have declared chemistry as their major.
“It’s not the only science major to show that kind of growth,” Sandra Stone, vice president of academic affairs, added. “Our biology program, which started in 2007 with five students, has grown now to have 325 students. I think that really comes from having a huge push for health professionals since there’s such a shortage for them in our state. Our physics program has also grown significantly. It was 79 in 2007. Now, we have 136 students declaring it and taking part in our two-plus-two program.”
The two-plus-two program lets students complete their basic physics classes at Dalton State College and finish their upper-level classes at Georgia Tech, said Randall Griffus, dean of the school of science at Dalton State College. He said students use to program as a “pathway to a job.”
“Students these days see the economy and they think, ‘How can I get a good career,’” Griffus said. “We’re really trying to work with the local businesses and graduate programs to get students to those jobs.”
Take Josh Peppers, a senior biology major, for example.
“In my opinion, you can basically do anything with a biology degree,” Peppers said. “I haven’t had a single issue picking up things as an intern at DHM Adhesives (in Calhoun). I’m 30, I got out of the military a while back and my goal was to find something I could do till I was 80 or 90 — something my son would be proud of, something I would be proud of. I thought about being an illustrator and getting an art degree, but I’ve realized science was a much more marketable path in terms of getting a job.”
Travis said she wasn’t thinking of a job like Peppers was when she applied to the chemistry program.
“But I knew something in science was better for jobs right now,” she added. “I hate to say it, but that’s the way it is. When I looked at jobs online, everything has to do with sciences, labs, engineering — stuff like that.”
Stone agrees, saying she sees the need for graduates with science degrees locally.
“Even with the carpet industry, a lot of jobs have been automated,” Stone said. “A lot of production is now electronically controlled, but the companies around here I know are doing a lot more with chemicals in terms of synthetic fibers, textures, colors — things like that, things that need people in labs, not plants. Not to mention they’re trying to find ways to recycle and reduce their carbon footprint. All that requires lab work too.”
Griffus said the new science programs are “still young,” but he expects them to grow even more when Dalton State College opens its new science building. The building is expected to be built by summer 2014, according to college officials.
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Related Photos
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Angel Martinez checks the temperature of Helen Chang's forehead as part of an experiment during a biology class at Dalton State College Thursday. Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen
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Ixsael Trejo and Natalie Williams check the temperature of each others foreheads during a biology class at Dalton State College Thursday. Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen
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Claudia Cortes, left, tries to catch her breath during an experiment at Dalton State College Thursday. Meanwhile, Colin Osborne checks to see how long Shay Tucker can hold her breath after strenuous exercise during the biology class. Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen
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Julia Bowen measures the temperature of Elijah Pack's forearm as Ariel Carter looks on during a biology class at Dalton State College Thursday. Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen
Discussion
Students flock to science
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‘I’ve got to protect myself somehow’
A small house on Gay Street was the scene where Frank Bozzie ran over Horace Morgan with a pickup truck on June 10, according to Sheriff Scott Chitwood. (File photo by Misty Watson/The Daily Citizen)
A man police say was murdered when his attacker ran over him in his yard with a pickup truck told a 911 operator the offender broke in his house and began threatening him.
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