Milledgeville, Ga. – It’s electric! Well, at least that is certainly the excitement Appleton Boone, an 18-year-old homeschool student from Wilkinson County, feels as he heads into his apprenticeship with GE Healthcare later this spring following his graduation from Central Georgia Technical College (CGTC) with an Electronics Technology diploma.
Boone, a homeschool student since seventh grade, enrolled at CGTC’s Milledgeville campus because of the hands-on approach, pace, and rigor of the academic courses.
“I like being a homeschool student and college student with CGTC because I am going after two things at once,” he said. “This (a diploma) is going after a career and higher learning. CGTC was a challenge, but it’s good because I love challenges and I love learning.”
Boone’s parents named him after his grandfather and did not stop there in passing down traits. Work ethic, stick-to-itiveness, and commitment were also handed down. Boone said he and his parents saw career success as a possibility by enrolling in Dual Enrollment but were surprised he got this far this fast.
“It all has to do with the instructors. They taught me how to interact and work within the field, how to work with electronics, and showed me the formula on how to be successful,” he said.
The early seeds of success sprouted this spring when after a couple of weeks following the submission of an application for an apprenticeship with GE Healthcare, he heard back from them with an invite for an interview.
“I wasn’t expecting to get this position with them, because it is such a big company and I am so young,” he said.
The apprenticeship is paid and will last one year. The plan is for Boone is to work on MRI machines. He says he is a little nervous, going into a new field and working on instruments that directly help people’s lives, but he knows he can be successful.
“It’s a much bigger responsibility, but I have been working hard toward this and I am not going to let the nerves stop me,” he said.
As a member of Generation Z, he said, “I guess you can say I was the ‘App’ before Apple came out with the apps for its devices.”
Even with a name that sounds like a character directly out of a fable; Boone’s story is not fictitious; much like an app, it’s useful.
The moral is that goals, hard work, and living to a personal standard pay off.
“My generation, as a whole, wants something for nothing,” he said. “They look at all these multi-millionaires and say, ‘I want that.’ But, they have no idea how to get to that.”
He admits that some of his peers may not have the clarity of purpose and interest he has had in electronics. They may not know what they want to do in their lives, he said, and explained from his perspective how passivity toward working in a technical profession and glamorizing the alternatives are not helping.
“Where I like the technical college and where it plays its biggest role is offering all those kids a place where there is a need for electricians, welders, machinists, mechanics, and folks who work with their hands.”
Learn more about Dual Enrollment at CGTC by visiting, www.centralgatech.edu/highschool/
Photo: Appleton Boone.