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ALBANY --
Albany Technical College Industrial Systems Technology instructor Robert Permenter was named the winner of the Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year award for his contributions to the college during a banquet on Thursday. Four students were also named as finalists for the Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership or GOAL award based off of both academic and personal achievements.

"It's a feeling of a little bit of accomplishment, being recognized by your peers and then being able to go through a panel of people, answer questions and be able to talk about the technical college system of Georgia,” said Permenter.

Permenter will move forward to compete at the regional level while one of the four finalists will go straight to the state level, which the winners say requires a lot of practice.

These are the things that you have to come face to face if you intend to win in this kind of competition,” said GOAL Finalist, Michael Carroll.

The student who moves on will have a chance to become the technical education ambassador in Georgia while the teacher has the chance to be named instructor of the year. Program coordinators say even if the local winners don't make it to the finals, they're still improving the technical college system.

"They plug away, they do a great job and this is one of those opportunities that not only helps the system because again, we are out promoting our system, but it also gives us stellar students some due recognition,” said Rick Perkins and GOAL Coordinator, Joe Najjar.

Next week a panel from the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce Panel will pick the GOAL Winner who will go on to represent Albany Tech in Atlanta.

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