One of the stops that Georgia's newest senator made in Bartow County Thursday morning included an education model that she found inspiring. 

After a stop at Doug's Place in Emerson, U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler made her way to the Bartow County College and Career Academy in Cartersville, where she spent about 30 minutes meeting school district officials and touring two of the facility's labs.

Superintendent Dr. Phillip Page and BCCCA Principal Dr. Paul Sabin led the freshman Republican senator, who took the oath of office Jan. 6 after being appointed to fill the vacancy created by Johnny Isakson's resignation, on a tour that included visits to the health sciences and heating, ventilation and air conditioning labs.  

In the health lab, Loeffler talked with juniors Sarah Bermudez and Hayley Todd about the classes they were taking, and Sabin told her that students could leave the academy with four professional credentials: electrocardiogram, phlebotomy, certified nursing assistant and pharmacy technician. 

"So they can actually walk out of here with those and be ready to go into their post-secondary," he said. 

"That is so important," Loeffler, 49, told the students. "Well, that's exciting. Keep up the good work."

Sabin also introduced the senator to the health care instructor, registered nurse Krista Colson.

During the HVAC lab visit, Loeffler was able to see students, under the leadership of instructor Joe Esposito, working on real HVAC units.

   

The group, which also included school board Chairman Fred Kittle and board member Tony Ross, then headed to the media center, and Page introduced the senator to principals and other members of the school district's guiding coalition during their meeting.

"I was telling her a little bit about this group and how this is our guiding coalition, and I told her that the main responsibility of this group is to remove all obstacles that prevent our students from learning at their highest level," he said.

Page then told Loeffler, "I know that they were excited for you to visit with us today."

"I am so inspired by the work that's going on here and the commitment to results for these young people who are helping us drive our economy forward through education, and you're doing so much to help that effort," the senator said. 

A member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Loeffler told the group how important it is to her that young people have different choices to consider regarding their future. 

  

"On the education side, I'm very interested in this type of unique model that gives students options in how they pursue their education to achieve their dreams, to do it in a way that works for them, both economically and academically," she said. "It's really inspiring, and I look forward to sharing your story in Washington. I know it's going to inspire a lot of people, and I just want to thank you for your dedication and commitment to this program because I know it's a lot of work, and the results are amazing."

After the tour, the Bloomington, Illinois, native said the BCCCA is "so important to what we're doing in Georgia to provide a skilled workforce for our economic development work but also for these students."

"You can see that they're working so hard to do well at school but then also build up their opportunities to contribute to our economy, to support their families, to achieve their dreams," she said. "So this is really what it's all about, empowering our youth to live the life that they want to through education."

She called the facility that offers eight career pathways an "extremely innovative model." 

"I really commend these educators on the work that they're doing," she said. "You can see it's highly effective, and I think this is going to be an important model for our state as we continue to grow."

Page said it was "exciting" to have a U.S. senator touring one of his schools.

"She heard about the good work that's happening within our school system, especially with our college and career academy, so we wanted to make sure with the opportunity we had to show her firsthand what is happening here and all the positive accomplishments that not only our students are having but also our staff's having," he said.

Loeffler's camp reached out to the school system last week about visiting the academy, according to Page.

"They were going to be in the area [Thursday] morning and, again, said they had heard a lot of positive things happening in our school system and wanted to see it firsthand," he said. "So we're glad they come today."

Sabin said Page had called him last Thursday and "said [Loeffler] wouldn't have much time, but we're going to kind of get her through here and what programs could she see?"

"I wanted to show our health care, which is our largest program, and then our HVAC program, which is a really great program that allows students to be ready to go right into work after getting their diploma from Chattahoochee Tech," he said. 

The principal — who called Loeffler "very professional and very interested in developing the community talent for business and industry and all about education" — was thrilled to be able to show off just a portion of what the academy has to offer. 

"I think it's so great to have Sen. Loeffler here and to see what we're doing at the college and career academy and to hopefully garner her support and others' support as the college and career academy networks continue to expand and offer more opportunities for young folks and develop talent for the community and our business and industry," he said.

Three sophomores, Kyaper Kinson, Allee Hardin and Hannah Carringer, went through an interview process to be chosen as BCCCA ambassadors and volunteers to assist with the senator's visit.

"I thought it was amazing," Kyaper said. "It really shows how our Republicans really care about the school system and the well-being of our children and just educating them." 

Allee also thought the event was "great" and thought Loeffler "showed everyone how she cared about everybody."  

Hannah said she thought the senator, who is co-owner of the Atlanta Dream professional women’s basketball team, was impressed with the academy, but the young people she talked with were equally impressed with her.

"She impressed the girls, especially, because we can feel like we can do whatever we want to do," she said. "I mean, she's running for Congress so she inspired us to not give up or not let the guys or our gender define our ability of how far we can go."