Georgia Magazine - August 2013 - (Page 5)

The senior on the high diving board www.georgiamagazine.org (800) 544-4362, in Georgia; (770) 270-6500 GEORGIA Magazine, the largest-circulation monthly magazine in the state, is published by Georgia Electric Membership Corp. (GEMC), the trade association for Georgia’s 41 consumer-owned electric utilities. On average, more than 500,000 members welcome the magazine into their homes each month. Georgia’s not-for-proﬁt electric cooperatives provide reliable, safe and affordable electric service to more than 73 percent of the state’s land area serving 4.5 million residents. For more information, visit www.georgiaemc.com. EDITOR Ann Orowski, CCC MANAGING EDITOR Jennifer Hewett, CCC ASSOCIATE EDITOR Victoria Scharf DeCastro PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Gayle Hartman ASSISTANT EDITOR Kevin Braun ASSISTANT EDITOR Jim Jess EDITORIAL INTERN Bhavna Dilipkumar CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Stephanie Baker, Jane F. Garvey, Laurel George, Pamela A. Keene, Vyvyan Lynn, Amy L. Schneider CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Christina Bailey, Donnissa Busch, Branch Carter Photography, Jennifer Hewett, Merritt Melancon, Stephen Morton, James Pratt, Linda Stacey Laurel George, (404) 541-0628; Laine Kirby Wood, (770) 289-5700 ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE National Country Market, (800) 626-1181 DESIGNERS Trudie Thibodeaux, Kerstin Weis SUBSCRIPTIONS (770) 270-6500 Juanita Austin, Kelly Bodner, David Cleveland, Jane F. Garvey, Kelly Hester, David Murphy, Julie Musselman, Jim O’Bryan, Hope Paulk, Wendy Sellers, Lewis Shefﬁeld, Barbara Tapp, Jim Tucker, Donna Yost 2013 ADVISORY BOARD GEORGIA EMC OFFICERS: CHAIRMAN Alice Mallory, Coweta-Fayette EMC VICE CHAIRMAN G. Anthony Norton, Snapping Shoals EMC SEC.-TREASURER Randy Crenshaw, Irwin PRESIDENT/CEO, GEMC A. Paul Wood EMC GEORGIA Magazine (USPS-473120, ISSN 10615822) is published monthly by Georgia Electric Membership Corp., P.O. Box 1707, 2100 East Exchange Place, Tucker, GA 30085. Periodicals postage paid at Thomaston, GA, and additional mailing ofﬁces. POSTMASTER: Send changes to GEORGIA Magazine, P.O. Box 1707, Tucker, GA 30085. Printed in Georgia by Quad/Graphics. Acceptance of advertising by GEORGIA Magazine does not imply endorsement by the publisher or Georgia’s electric membership corporations of the product or services advertised. GEORGIA Magazine’s LIABILITY FOR ERRORS IN, OR OMISSIONS OF, ADVERTISEMENTS, WHETHER IN CONTRACT OR IN TORT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DAMAGES TO THE ADVERTISER’S BUSINESS, SHALL IN NO EVENT EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF CHARGES FOR THE ADVERTISEMENT THAT WAS OMITTED OR IN WHICH THE ERROR OCCURRED. August 2013 I don’t know why, but every August I start thinking about students returning to school, especially the seniors. Seniors are about to hit a major milestone in their lives, and most don’t know it. Worse, they are not prepared for the dramatic change to come. The senior year is the beginning of the end—the end of high school years and the beginning of all that comes thereafter. It is a time of nervousness for all and frequent episodes of doubt for many. As a senior, you may be approaching graduation like a swimmer who has been eyeing the high diving board a very long time and wondering if the coach will ever let you try it. One day, the coach comes in— your parents are right behind him— and they tell you it is ﬁnally your turn to make the dive. You practically run to the ladder leading straight up, and sooner than you expect, you’re at the 12th rung, the topmost. “It feels good to be at the top, with everyone else looking up at me, a senior, at last,” you think. You take a few steps to the edge of the board—and look down. The water seems far, far away, and suddenly you’re not sure about this dive. Your parents are smiling and urging you on. “You can do it,” they shout. It seems to you that they seem a little too excited to see you take the leap. Looking down again, you see that someone has painted “college” on the bottom of the pool. “OK, I get it; let’s do it.” A moment later, you enter the water with Olympic accuracy, making hardly a ripple. More online at www.georgiamagazine.org BY PAUL WOOD President/CEO, Georgia Electric Membership Corporation Only then do you realize you can tread water all right, but you never learned to swim with any proﬁciency. Treading water is not going to keep you aﬂoat very long. It dawns on you that perhaps more instruction is needed, but you can barely keep your head above water. You turn around, searching frantically for your coach, but he’s not there anymore. Neither are your parents. You’re on your own—gasping for air, and for the ﬁrst time in your life, you wish you had listened more closely in history class, applied yourself in math, read more good literature and spent less time playing video games. Senior year was fun, but now you’re drowning. You wish you could go back for that ﬁnal year. You would do everything differently. And that’s when you wake up from your dream and discover it is only August 2013, and there’s time to raise your grade-point average and improve your SAT scores. But most important, you can commit to a year of academic excellence in every class. You will be better prepared to accept the risks as well as the rewards life has to offer, and you’ll never be afraid of the high diving board again. Looking for a great gift idea? Visit www.georgiamag azine.org to order “It’s My View,” a hardbound book featuring 100 of the magazine readers’ favorite columns from past years. It’s My View A collection of readers ’ favorite ‘Viewpoint’ columns from GEOR GIA Magazine By Paul Wood President/CEO, Georgia Electric Membership Corp. 5 http://www.georgiamagazine.org http://www.georgiaemc.com http://www.georgiamagazine.org http://www.georgiamagazine.org http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - August 2013

Georgia Magazine - August 2013
Contents
Viewpoint
Mailbox
Georgia News
Picture This?
Liberty Notes
Calendar of Events
Currents
Sweet Success
Tracking the Bottlenose Dolphins
Saving Wilma; Dolphin Facts
Around Georgia
While Visiting Lake Oconee
My Georgia
Georgia Cooks
Second Helping: We All Scream for More Ice Cream!
Snapshot
More Snapshot Photos
Plant of the Month
August’s Online Trivia Contest
Georgia Grown Spotlight

Georgia Magazine - August 2013