Newly elected Washington County, Florida School Board member Cheryl Williams visited Studio B on the campus of Florida Panhandle Technical College to get a new head shot portrait on Thursday, January 26, 2023, as seen in the photos (below) of and by FPTC students.
While there, she had the opportunity to meet several students in the 2022-2023 FPTC Digital Photography and Digital Video Technology Programs.
‘These are the students who are enjoying your donation’, said Instructor Paul Goulding to Williams, referring to the donation she made last year, funding the software package necessary for each student as part of the course study, part of a program dubbed ‘Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is’.
Goulding and his fellow FPTC Instructors have recently been notified that they will benefit from finding additional funding sources for their respective programs, along with finding ways of cutting costs.
Due to the cutting-edge technologies found in Goulding’s programs, there are no textbooks available to cover the program content, and the course study relies heavily on the annually renewable Adobe suite of software programs for the students to achieve industry certifications, graduate and become job ready.
In a planning session at commencement of the FPTC school year, Goulding ran his idea of petitioning the public for assistance in funding his software and certification testing fee needs past FPTC Administration, and Director Larry Moore and Registrar Belinda Collins both voiced their support for the idea.
Contacting the public, Goulding explained that the technical college is experiencing a shortfall in funding, with several less-than-painless changes in procedures, presenting challenges to students and educators alike.
Cheryl Williams immediately offered to purchase multiple copies of the software, and Ashlynn Marquez also agreed to participate and donate.
Washington County, Florida Superintendent of Schools Joe Taylor, hearing of the effort to fund the need, said, ‘I am in’, and his contribution enabled additional students to participate.
Todd Abbott, former Washington County Commissioner for District 4 for the past 12 years has been a longtime supporter of the programs at FPTC, and also ponied up to enable yet more students the ability to participate in the FPTC offering.
‘This is an example of our community supporting students and education’, says Goulding, ‘and fortunately we have businesspeople in this community who see the value of the over 30 certification programs offered here at Florida Panhandle Technical College’.
‘We have had positive response from others in the community’, says Goulding, ‘and we look forward to additional contributions to help fund these needs. There is always room for more participation, and costs will not be going down any time soon’.
‘We are reaching out to Constitutional Officers and other elected officials to participate, along with business owners and other members of the community’.
There are also other ways in which to become involved in helping the educational efforts of FPTC, including donations to the Foundation, and any interested parties can contact the school for more information.
Goulding decided to gain even more value from the exercise, so he included discussion and study of this fundraising effort in the ‘Marketing 101’ component of his courses, illustrating to his students how to successfully fund a project without asking for a handout, instead offering real value in exchange.
‘Corporate, small business, personal and organizational partnerships are extremely important to our efforts at the technical college’, says Goulding, ‘and by asking our community partners to tell us what skills they are seeking in a potential employee, we can better train those future employees and ensure they are truly job-ready’.
