Aiken High inducts students into National Technical Honor Society

Aiken High senior Joseph Garrison said he has enjoyed Jason Redd's architecture class this year.

"We do a lot of work with AutoCAD," he said. "I plan to attend Clemson or USC, and this experience should be really helpful."

Garrison was among the students inducted into Aiken High's National Technical Honor Society earlier this week. His parents, Joe and Cindy Garrison, were delighted with the students' recognition ceremony.

"I remember being in school when you used to have the guys in shop," Joe Garrison said. "It's such a broad education now with all the science and math. This award is excellent."

Jean Gorthy, the culinary arts teacher and technical honor society adviser, said the organization had been inactive for several years until 2008-09.

"We had some great students last year, and it was like, 'How can we not have this?'," she said. "It's important for them to get this recognition. They work very hard and do deserve it."

At the ceremony, new officers were installed - DeHavelyn Barnes, president; Bobby Hass, vice president; Stacie Russell, secretary; and Zachary Madden, treasurer.

The other career and technology teachers include Linda Harmon, Fred Pilot, Lisa Hall, Stevan Smith, Meghan Wood and Travis Phillips. In addition to architecture and culinary arts, the classes are virtual enterprise, marketing, horticulture, early childhood education, automotive technology and networking. The honor society will include some service projects later this year, Gorthy said.

Former AHS teacher and administrator Pat O'Neill is director of the Aiken County Career and Technology Center. Aiken High is the only other school with a technical honor society, he said.

"I applaud not only the students but also the teachers for putting on this program," O'Neill said. "It shows what they're willing to do in setting the bar. These are awesome kids, and their career and technology classes are the epitome of an authentic education."

The other holdover honor society students are Matthew Blackwell, Dylan Buckner, Melody Fanning, Patrick Folk, Brandon Glover, Barry Hubbard, Freddy Negrete and Lydia Summers.

The new inductees include Garrison, Daryl Anderson, Talah Anderson, Shelly Byars, Phillip Carnley, Wes Carnley, Shane Cole, Joshua Dennis, Isadore Fielding, Brittni Foster, Joshua Garvin, Khadeajah Gleaton, Jacob Goff, Leah Hamilton, Whitney Hammonds, Eleanor Hunter, Allison Josey, Alexandrea Perez, Brandi Sizemore, Ryan Swancey, Nicholas Tice, Brandon Washington and Morgan Whetstone.

Fielding plans to attend Winthrop or the University of South Carolina as a business major. He currently takes Travis Phillips' virtual enterprise class, in which the students create and run a business online. Fielding serves as president of accounting in the "company" and "It's neat to get involved with it, a big advantage," he said.

"I'm very proud of him," said Fielding's mother, Parcellena Peeples. "He likes to get into a lot of things, and this is one of them. He'll have no problem getting into business because he is a talker."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.