Community News
Cochran native Austin Rogers wins GADOE Award of Excellence.
By Dave Whitaker
May 17, 2019, 11:46

Cochran native and senior at Macon’s Georgia Academy for the Blind Austin Rogers recently received the Georgia Department of Education’s Award of Excellence. The annual award is given to a “Georgia high school senior with disabilities who has demonstrated outstanding academic success and extracurricular involvement.”

Rogers has served as an intern through the Medical Center, Navicent Health’s “Project SEARCH” program. Founded in 2017 by Navicent and in partnership with GAB, the program is designed to help students with visual impairments gain real-world employment experience by volunteering with various departments at the Medical Center.

Despite his duties as a greeter and wayfinder at Navicent, Rogers has maintained a 4.0 GPA. He’s also presented at both Downtown Rotary and Navicent’s Autism Awareness conference, participated the Braille Challenge competition and has volunteered his time to foster awareness of visual impairments said Mary Keith, Teaching and Learning Innovative Programs Coordinator with GAB in a release issued by Navient.

Rogers was chosen to compete for the award by a group of Educators at GAB. Starting in the Create Café’, his demeanor and work ethic got him transferred to the hospital’s main information desk where he greeted visitors and helped them find their way to various hospital departments.

Darrell Palmer, Customer Service and Guest Relations Manager for MCNH, had praise for Rogers’ time there saying both teammates and visitors expressed what a difference he’d made in their lives. Palmer added, “He is very enthusiastic about learning and is just caring to everyone he encounters.”

A small graduation ceremony for Project SEARCH was held May 16. Rogers will receive his high school diploma from GAB today. This summer, he’ll serve as a greeter for the Macon Bacon baseball team and hopes to gain future employment in the customer service field. Austin is the son of Doug and Danette Rogers.


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