The Chargers baseball team will play an elimination  game in the GCAA playoffs against West Georgia Tech tonight at 7 p.m.

The Chargers won their first game of the playoffs against Georgia Perimeter on May 6, with a final score of 5-2. They advanced to the second round, where they were defeated by South Georgia State College with a final score of 4-1.

The elimination game can be watched at the link below.

https://ihigh.volarvideo.com/jockjive/broadcast/embed/103514-gcaa-game-4-loser-vs-gcaa-game-5-loser-gcaa-baseball?autoplay=1

Christina Koutavas gives her speech during the fifth annual Public Speaking Competition. Photo by Anna Douglass

The fifth annual Public Speaking Competition was held at the Cartersville campus on April 17.

Fifty students participated from all five campuses and the top six students competed for prizes that were worth a value of $500.

Christina Koutavas, a chemistry major on the Cartersville campus, placed first and won $150, with a topic of vegetarianism, she argued that humans were not meant to eat meat.

“The skills you acquire with this competition are so beneficial. You do anything in business and you have to get out there and talk to people you don’t know and it’s almost inevitable. It’s a good skill to learn,” said Koutavas.

Isaac Morales, a computer science major on the Floyd campus placed second and won $120. He said his topic, free tuition and finding an affordable way to attend school, came from personal experience.

“I personally faced a price barrier when selecting colleges. I was supposed to go to the University of West Georgia, but the price was too much for me so I had to go to Highlands instead,” said Morales.

He continued, “Of course I didn’t regret my decision, but free tuition clicked with me because it limits a lot of people.”

From left, Catlin Robinson, Adrian Sheppe, Jack Deakin, Nicole Koehler, Isaac Morales and Christina Koutavas the top six contestants of the Public Speaking Competition. Photo by Anna Douglass

The students who also placed in the top six were, Nicole Koehler, who received $75, Jack Deakin, who received $60, Adrian Sheppe, who received $55, and Catlin Robinson, who received $50.

La Mano, a club at Georgia Highlands’ Marietta campus, participated in the Hispanic Organization Promoting Education (HoPe) Leadership Conference on March 28.

HoPe is an organization that strives to increase the graduation rate among Latino students.

The members of La Mano met with several young students and participated in a number of activities including breakfast, lunch, educational workshops and a college fair.

The club stressed the importance of college and earning a four-year degree.

According to Abraham Ortiz, student life coordinator on the Marietta campus, the event was a success and it touched the lives of many students.

A new Artistic Director and Principal Conductor will be taking over the Rome Symphony Orchestra, and it is Samuel Baltzer, professor of music and community arts liaison.

Baltzer started his musical career in third grade when his mother signed him up for piano lessons. He later began participating in the school band in fifth grade, and he “never stopped.”

Samuel Baltzer conducts the NW GA Winds during one of their recent concert rehearsals. Photo by Jeremy Huskins.

Baltzer has played with the Rome Symphony Orchestra before; he was principal trombonist for the past eight years. Although, since the conductor position was not available at that time, Baltzer became the conductor for the NW GA Winds, which is a community concert band.

“My reputation has been more of a band director instead of an orchestra director even though I was trained as an orchestra director. So recently when the Orchestra Director position became open again, I was invited to take it,” said Baltzer.

Baltzer has already started his position as the RSO conductor. He is currently picking out music, dates and venues for next season and he will start conducting with the orchestra in September.

“I am excited to work with some of the greatest music on the planet. There are some wonderful masterpieces I’ve heard all my life and to get to stand in front of an orchestra and conduct those pieces is just really a thrill and an honor,” said Baltzer.

Jon Hershey, dean of the humanities, stated, “Sam Baltzer has been a music miracle for many years in Rome and Northwest Georgia, so it makes perfect sense for him to become the conductor of the Rome Symphony.”

He continued, “Georgia Highlands is fortunate to have him as we try to build our own music program.  Dr. Baltzer’s work with the Rome Symphony is great for the community and great for Georgia Highlands.”

The Lady Chargers basketball team will play Georgia Perimeter in the first round of the GCAA Division-1 post season play-offs. The game will be held in the Georgia Highlands Floyd campus gym at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24.

Brandan Harrell, women’s head basketball coach, said, “Tomorrow’s a big night for us. We’ve been going through the injury bug, and we are hoping that we can get over that.”

The Lady Chargers are 12-6 in conference play while Perimeter’s record is 11-7.

Georgia Highlands’ students and employees will be admitted free with their college ID. General admission is $5, and children five and under get in free.

In its first year competing against four year schools the Six Mile Post received 12 awards from the Georgia College Press Association at the annual awards luncheon in Athens, Feb. 7. The awards recognized work from spring and fall 2014.

In addition, two SMP staff members were elected to state office.

From left: Karlee Helms, Kiston Dowler and Joey LeFurgey listen as Bryce McNeil, adviser of the Georgia State Signal, critiques the Six Mile Post. Photo by Derweatra Hammock.

The Six Mile Post was awarded first place in General Photography, third place in Best Website and third place in Best Campus Community Service-Sports.

Pedro Zavala, former SMP editor-in-chief, was awarded first place in General Photograph-Sports.

Former SMP photographer Tatiana Smithson placed second in Best Photograph-News, and staff writer Brianna Drake placed third in that category.

Zavala and Karlee Helms, managing ed., sports, placed second in Best Photo Essay.

Helms also placed third in the Best Entertainment story category and second in Best Sports Story.

Kiston Dowler, editor-in-chief; Derweatra Hammock, managing ed., design; and Zavala placed first, second and third, respectively, in the Best Editorial category.

The general awards category was divided into large and small colleges by enrollment. The two individual award categories were first and second year students and junior and seniors.

Holly Chaney, staff writer, was elected treasurer, and Helms was elected to the Georgia College Press Association board.

“I am honored for the opportunity to work as a GCPA officer. It is an exciting opportunity to be able to serve as treasurer along with such bright individuals, and I have high hopes for what we will achieve this year,” said Chaney.

Antonio Garcia, former SMP managing ed., online, who currently attends Georgia State, was elected GCPA president.

“It’s a great feeling being elected as president of such an established organization. I’m excited to have two people from the SMP and another from The Signal in office with me, and I look forward to working with other great people,” said Garcia.

Representing the Six Mile Post staff at the GCPA meeting were Dowler, Helms, Chaney, Hammock, Anna Douglass, Tyler Hogue, Tendraia Perry and Joey LeFurgey.

Georgia Highlands’ Chief Information Security Officer Richard Davis and Information Security Specialist Mike Peterson have teamed up with Rome High School’s Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program (AFJROTC) to participate in the Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot program to help encourage students to learn more about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

According to USCyberPatriot.org, CyberPatriot is the National Youth Cyber Education Program. During competitions teams of students are given “a set of virtual images that represent operating systems.” The team must locate vulnerabilities and keep the system operational during a six-hour period as if a system was in the process of being hacked.

Mike Peterson, GHC information security specialist, helps the Rome High JROTC CyberPatriot program prepare for next season’s competition. Photo by Anna Douglass.

GHC was asked to participate in the program by Lt. Col. Michael Washington, who is in charge of the JROTC program at Rome High School.

“He asked if this is something I would like to be interested in, and I thought that it was a pretty cool idea. Let’s teach kids and get them interested in being geeky and security minded,” said Davis.

Davis and Peterson worked with the team two times a week on various training programs that were provided by the CyberPatriot program.

“We can all work together very well and we all know what our strengths and what are weaknesses are, like Kane and I are both really good at viruses and networking,” said Lauren Gaston, a sophomore at Rome High School. Senior Kane Bearden was another team member.

The team placed first in the Regional competition, but did not qualify for nationals.

“I’m proud of the kids and we could not have done this without the mentors from Georgia Highlands,” said Washington, United States senior aero space science instructor at Rome High School.

Davis and Peterson worked to help prepare the team on their own time, free of charge, so they could get Georgia Highlands’ name out and let high school students know that GHC offers programs related to information security as well as to help reinforce their own knowledge.

Davis and Peterson are still working with the team from Rome High to help them learn and better prepare themselves for competition next year.

In less then three weeks the Federal Communications Commission will vote on a plan to protect the Internet, as we know it.

FCC Chair Tom Wheeler is presenting President Obama’s proposal to the FCC on Feb. 26. This plan is intended to keep the Internet from allowing “Internet Service Providers to restrict the best access or to pick winners and losers in the online marketplace for services and ideas,” according to President Obama’s statement, which is posted on whitehouse.gov.

This position on the Internet is generally viewed as “Net Neutrality.” Basically it means that a high school student’s blog can get the same treatment and access as a corporate website. Net Neutrality would also keep Internet Service Providers from blocking sites.

Let us know how you feel about this issue in our poll.

“If your words are never heard the world goes on without them,” was one of the many inspirational quotes and themes spoken word poets, Lane Shuler and Courageous, portrayed during their visit to the Floyd campus on Jan. 27.

Courageous, one of the two members of the spoken word duo I.N.K., pours his heart out during one of his poems during his performance on the Floyd Campus. Photo by Anna Douglass

Making the finals of both the National Poetry Slam and Southern Fried Poetry Slam, the duo, also known as I.N.K., started touring colleges after being chosen for the top 15 of Versus and Flow in 2013.

“I always enjoy bringing spoken word artists to campus. It’s something that not a lot of students get exposure to, and it’s fun to watch and gauge the student’s interaction and how they respond to spoken word poetry,” said John Spranza, director of student life on the Floyd campus.

The duo’s set list varied from Encouraging Spoken poems to comedic and spontaneous beat-boxing and rapping.

If students missed their performance, or if they would like to find more of their poetry, they can visit their website: http://www.inkpoets.com

Former Georgia Highlands student and Six Mile Post assistant editor Sarah Lane is currently in Switzerland to cover the European Curling Championships.

Lane was selected as the Trainee Journalist for the World Curling Federation. She left for the trip on Nov. 19 and will be back on Dec. 1 after the championships conclude on Nov. 30.

Lane, who is currently studying interpersonal communications at the University of Georgia, is contributing to a blog with the other trainees.

Follow her adventures here: http://www.worldcurling.org/sports-media-trainee-programme-201415-blog