Media release from Georgia Northwestern Technical College:
Noelia Sargento, a Business Management student from Rossville, was named Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s (GNTC) 2026 Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership (GOAL) winner, and Trevor Roberts, clinical coordinator of Ultrasound Programs and instructor of Adult Echocardiography, has been named the college’s 2026 Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year.
The winners were named during the Seven Hills Rotary Club meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 27, at the Coosa County Club in Rome. The awards were sponsored and presented by the Rome Floyd Chamber, the Seven Hills Rotary Club of Rome and GNTC.
Jayden Allen, a resident of Lindale, was also recognized during the banquet; Allen received GNTC’s 2026 EAGLE (Exceptional Adult Georgian in Literacy Education) Award for superior achievement in Adult Education classes and programs.
Troyanna “Troy” Foster, Adult Basic Education (ABE) instructor for Adult Education in Floyd County, was also acknowledged during the ceremony for being named GNTC’s Adult Education Teacher of the Year for 2026.
Allen and Foster will represent GNTC at the Dinah Culbreath Wayne EAGLE Leadership Institute state competition March 9-11 at the Crowne Plaza Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia. Allen will compete to become the Technical College System of Georgia’s 2026 Adult Education Student of the Year and Foster will compete to become the TCSG’s Office of Adult Education Outstanding Teacher of the Year
Sargento, attends GNTC’s Catoosa County Campus in Ringgold. She was nominated by Tracy Gentry, Instructor of Business Management at GNTC.
Last year, Sargento was selected as GNTC’s 2025 EAGLE award winner and then went on to become the TCSG’s 2025 Adult Education Student of the Year for the State of Georgia.
“I was honored to be named Georgia’s 2025 EAGLE Winner, an experience that reminded me how powerful technical education truly is, not just for students, but for families and communities,” she said.
Sargento said after becoming a mother at age 17, her focus shifted from education to survival and college seemed distant.
“The turning point came when I realized I was encouraging my children to believe in themselves, while quietly doubting myself,” Sargento said. “I knew something had to change.”
After earning her High School Equivalency at GNTC, Sargento understood that it was only the first step. “I knew that wasn’t the finish line, it was the doorway.”
Sargento chose Business Management with a focus on Human Resources as her major because she enjoys working with people and helping create environments where individuals feel respected, supported and empowered to succeed.
“I’ve always been someone others turn to for guidance, and Human Resources allows me to turn that strength into a career,” she said.
Sargento is actively involved in her community and participates in her children’s school activities, volunteers in the Children’s and Youth Ministry at her church, assist others with Spanish translation and encourages adults who dropped out of high school to seek their High School Equivalency.
As the 2026 GOAL winner for GNTC, Sargento will move to the regional competition. If chosen as a regional finalist, she will compete at the state level against finalist from the other regions of Georgia.
GNTC’s other 2026 GOAL finalists were Brittney Elrod of Ringgold and Latasha Fluker of Rome. All three GOAL nominees were Adult Education students at GNTC.
A panel of leaders from business, industry and government will choose the Technical College System of Georgia’s (TCSG) GOAL winner for 2026 and recipient of the GOAL medallion. The 2026 Student of the Year and state GOAL winner will serve as TCSG’s student ambassador during a number of system and college functions throughout the year.
Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia will award a new automobile as the grand prize to the state GOAL winner.
The Rick Perkins Award honors TCSG’s most outstanding instructors. The award has been an ongoing statewide event since 1991 and recognizes technical college instructors who make significant contributions to technical education through innovation and leadership in their fields.
Roberts, a resident of Silver Creek, has served as an Echocardiography instructor at GNTC since 2021 and as a registered diagnostic cardiac sonographer at AdventHealth Redmond since 2022. He previously served as a registered diagnostic cardiac sonographer at Atrium Health Floyd, 2012-21, and at Erlanger Health System, 2011-18.
Roberts said his interest in healthcare began when he was 12 years old and would watch his mother take care of her parents, mainly her father, who had Alzheimer’s Disease.
“I made it a goal to demonstrate and deliver compassionate care the way Mom had delivered care to her parents,” Roberts said.
His mother would later be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and Roberts said the support from his students “was exactly what I needed at that moment.”
One day, one of his fellow instructors needed someone to serve as a patient for a demonstration exam in GNTC’s Ultrasound lab. The instructor began scanning Roberts while giving instructions to students “and then her voice changed,” Roberts said. “That day, my students witnessed the discovery of my thyroid cancer in our Ultrasound lab on campus.”
He was scheduled for surgery at Emory, and the week before, his students came to class with a care package to show their support.
“I will never forget those days. That was Mom’s compassion, and it came full circle twice. I never intended it to be directed at me,” said Roberts. “Those students were supposed to take Mom’s compassionate care to their clinical sites and their places of employment.”
Roberts will represent the college as GNTC’s 2026 Rick Perkins winner and move on to the regional competition, vying for the opportunity to compete at the state level in the competition.
A panel of leaders from business, industry and government will choose one instructor to be TCSG’s 2026 Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year. The winner will receive a $2,500 cash prize.
The Rick Perkins Award winner serves as an ambassador for technical education in Georgia and will make many public appearances throughout the year, including addressing both chambers of the Georgia General Assembly.
The most recent state winners to represent GNTC were 2019 Rick Perkins Award winner Leyner Argueta, program director of Business Management, and 2013 Rick Perkins Award winner Troy Peco, former assistant dean of Industrial Technologies, program director and instructor of Automotive Technology.
GNTC’s 2024 Rick Perkins Award winner Deanna Hulsey, instructor of Cosmetology, and 2023 Rick Perkins Award winner Salvador Gonzalez, former program director and instructor of Diesel Equipment Technology were first runners-up in the state competition.
The other GNTC 2026 Rick Perkins Award nominees were Nick Barton, program director and instructor of Horticulture; Tyler Gayan, program director, assistant dean and instructor of Criminal Justice Technology; Ronny Huggins, program director and instructor of Automation Engineering Technology; Brandon Johnson, instructor of Welding and Joining Technology; and Pete Lute, program director and instructor of Automotive Technology.
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