Atlanta, Ga. – Che’la Pharms, an AI-Enhanced Robotic Manufacturing Specialist student at Central Georgia Technical College (CGTC) shared the impact of workforce development initiatives on her personal goals and academic career alongside Governor Brian Kemp at Thursday’s Governor’s Workforce Summit in Atlanta.
The fourth annual summit gathers secondary, post-secondary, government, and industry leaders to address pressing challenges facing the state’s workforce. In a brief speech to the Summit she shared her journey to CGTC and the impact she feels she will make on the workforce.
Pharms makes a nearly two-hour drive from Conyers, Ga., to Warner Robins each class day to learn at one of the state’s premier robotics labs at the Georgia Veterans Education Career Transition Resource (VECTR) Center operated by CGTC.
Pharms is not a veteran, though her grandparents did serve; she is at the VECTR Center because the program’s reputation has spread across Georgia.
In 2024, the state-of-the-art AI-Enhanced Robotics studio opened at the Center to prepare students for careers working with artificial intelligence and robotic manufacturing. Inside the facility, students learn about manufacturing innovations and transformational workforce development and outreach programs.
The studio and program are a result of the Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM) Coalition, a statewide program dedicated to innovation in Georgia’s manufacturing sector, to become a nationwide model for future generations.
Pharms’ path toward AI-enhanced robotics represents a significant career change. She was not initially drawn to robotics and had spent roughly two years pursuing another program/career direction. However, encouragement from someone close to helped introduce her to the program at a time when she was searching for a breakthrough and a new direction in life.
Her story is especially compelling because recurring health challenges involving her voice and vocal cords disrupted her previous career plans. At different points, she was unable to work, lost her voice for one year entirely, and for other extended periods. Of late, she has dealt with additional mobility issues stemming from an ankle injury. Despite those setbacks, she has returned to work and is now balancing two jobs while completing the program.
“What attracts me to AI-enhanced robotics is the long list of possibilities in manufacturing, healthcare, and other industries in Georgia,” she said.
Pharms said she sees opportunities to travel, marvels at Georgia’s draw for business and industrial sectors, and desires to build a career where her ability to succeed is less dependent on her voice. 
Access to careers in Georgia, and the innovation of the program, appear to have given her an unexpected pathway into a field she had not originally considered and a chance to reinvent her career after health challenges altered her previous plans.
Pharms is halfway through the program and holds a 4.0 GPA. She is excited because the job shadowing portion of her program has begun at a Georgia company, Humbotics, based in Snellville with other operations statewide.
She looks forward to becoming a new voice in Georgia’s AI-enhanced manufacturing workforce.
About Georgia VECTR
Since its creation in 2016, the Georgia VECTR Center has provided over 70,000 services to military-related individuals in the transition from service to civilian. The VECTR Center offers unique, accelerated training programs through Central Georgia Technical College for high demand, strategic industries designed to abbreviate the time to completion for post-secondary awards by recognizing the extensive training veterans receive during their military service through credit transcription. For more information about the Georgia VECTR Center, visit www.gavectr.org.
About Central Georgia Technical College
As one of the largest two-year colleges in the state, CGTC operates three campuses and five centers throughout central Georgia, serving more than 30,000 individuals annually. CGTC is focused on connecting graduates to careers by offering quality education services, assuring a well -qualified workforce to support a healthy local economy. CGTC is a unit of the Technical College Syst em of Georgia and is regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. For more information about CGTC, visit www.centralgatech.edu. Like us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/centralgatech), X (@CGTC), and Instagram (@centralgatech).