University of North Georgia

The University of North Georgia (UNG) welcomed 242 new cadets during Freshman Recruit Orientation Group (FROG) Week, held Aug. 3-9 at UNG's Dahlonega Campus. FROG Week introduces freshmen to the Corps through physical challenges, as well as information sessions about the academic and military aspects they will experience in the next four years. Cadet leaders planned and executed FROG Week, as they do with all cadet events, under the supervision of the commandant staff.

In a ceremony held Aug. 15 by the University of North Georgia, 10 graduating cadets were awarded commissions as second lieutenants.

Grace McGill is taking full advantage of every opportunity at the University of North Georgia (UNG). The junior cadet and women's soccer player recently graduated from Air Assault School at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. But it was far more than just completing the course for McGill, a junior from Senoia, Georgia, who is pursuing a degree in cybersecurity. She was selected to lead the 40 cadets who took part in the event alongside 140 Army soldiers. Only six of the 80 people who graduated from the Air Assault School were women.

Seven cadets completed the U.S. Army Jungle Operations Training Course (JOTC) at Lightning Academy on Oahu, Hawaii May 12-23. Jason Cooper, Jake DeSimone, Ali Nabulsi, Jake Penny, Benjamin Smith, Thomas Williams, and Noah West completed the training. Cooper, Smith and Williams graduated with the JOTC tab. "Jungle School," as it's often referred to, is a two-week course that trains soldiers in skills necessary to operate and survive in the jungle, including land navigation, combat tracking, jungle tactics, survival training and dismounted mobility under the direction of the 25th Infantry Division. To earn the tab, cadets had to demonstrate proficiency in various skills with challenges of wet conditions, steep and challenging terrain, and mental and physical fatigue.

More than 100 military awards and scholarships were presented to University of North Georgia cadets at the March Military Awards Ceremony and a pair of April events during Alumni Weekend.

In a ceremony held May 13 by the University of North Georgia, about 50 graduating cadets were awarded commissions as second lieutenants.

A team of University of North Georgia (UNG) cadets finished fifth overall and won four out of nine events in the Spartan Ranger Challenge held Feb. 27-March 1 at Fort Knox, Kentucky. The competition included almost 24 hours straight of physical challenges at one point. UNG's black team earned event victories in one-rope bridge, hand grenade assault, obstacle course, and commander's challenge. Its gold team also competed at Fort Knox.

Three University of North Georgia (UNG) students and two faculty members from the Oconee Campus recently had a paper published in the International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics (ICTCM) 2024 Conference Proceedings.

University of North Georgia (UNG) student Emma Wilson has been selected for a Fulbright Canada-Mitacs Globalink Research Internship for summer 2025. The Fulbright Canada-Mitacs Globalink Research Internship is intended for U.S. students interested in going to Canada to undertake advanced research projects for 10-12 weeks (between May and August) in their area of interest.

The University of North Georgia's Corps of Cadets had 27 cadets graduate from the Army's Air Assault School at the Warrior Training Center at Fort Moore, Georgia, in December.

Almost 50 of the University of North Georgia's (UNG) newest cadets began their time in the Corps of Cadets with Freshman Recruit Orientation Group (FROG) Week from Jan. 7-11. The week mixed physical challenges with an array of workshops about available services and how to succeed as a cadet and a student.

The University of North Georgia (UNG) Esports program achieved its greatest milestone yet, earning the fall 2024 Halo college national championship. Esports entails competitions on multiplayer video games, and Halo is a wildly popular science fiction game.

In a ceremony held Dec. 6 by the University of North Georgia, 17 graduating cadets were awarded commissions as second lieutenants.

Twenty-four cadets have been named Distinguished Military Graduates for the 2024-25 academic year, including five who are in the top 70 out of more than 5,000 in the national ROTC class.

The University of North Georgia (UNG) honored 28 of its Blue Ridge Campus students with almost $15,000 of scholarships and celebrated the philanthropy that made those scholarships possible at the seventh annual Tomato Sandwich Supper held Nov. 7.

University of North Georgia (UNG) cadet Vincent Furtado was awarded the 2024 National Military Intelligence Foundation (NMIF) Fecteau Scholarship and received $4,000 on Sept. 8. Furtado, who is pursuing a degree in modern languages with a concentration in Chinese for global professionals, is expected to graduate in spring 2026.

A total of 18 University of North Georgia (UNG) cadets earned Distinguished Military Student (DMS) status for the 2024-25 academic year. The cadets were formally recognized at the DMS dinner and review the weekend of Sept. 20-22.

Maya Adok and Alexandra Soto were among the five University of North Georgia (UNG) Debate Team members who competed in the Soda City Debate in Columbia, South Carolina, on Sept. 14. The duo placed first, and UNG students also garnered second and third place at the event, hosted by the University of South Carolina (USC),

Ryan Coyle, a spring University of North Georgia graduate with a degree in chemistry with a biochemistry concentration, received the Outstanding Undergraduate Student of the Year Award from the Northeast Georgia Section of the American Chemical Society (ACS). In April, he accepted the award at the combined ACS/University of Georgia chemistry awards banquet in Athens, Georgia.

The University of North Georgia's Dahlonega Campus American Chemical Society student chapter took first place in the third annual Trivia Night event hosted by Georgia Gwinnett College and Augusta University. They outperformed teams from Georgia, North Carolina and Florida. The group's faculty advisers are Dr. Greta Giles and Dr. Ryan Meier.

University of North Georgia (UNG) senior Jack Curry earned a President's Volunteer Service Award at the bronze level for his 180 hours of community service in 2024. Curry, a cadet pursuing a degree in cybersecurity, has offered community service in a variety of ways. The effort where he has dedicated the most time is through "The Ability Experience" with his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi. "The Ability Experience" is the fraternity's philanthropic initiative that aims "to instill a passion for lifelong service in our fraternity members while helping to empower people living with disabilities."

University of North Georgia senior Alexander Smiarowski earned the 2024 Undergraduate Student Award from the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) for his work with Dr. Isaac Agyekum, associate professor of chemistry. Smiarowski presented their research, which is a novel, faster and more streamlined analytical method of fatty acid analysis, and received his award at the ASMS Annual Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics in June in Anaheim, California.

The University of North Georgia's (UNG) 220 newest cadets began their time in the Corps of Cadets with Freshman Recruit Orientation Group (FROG) Week from Aug. 4-10. The week mixed physical challenges with an array of workshops about available services and how to succeed as a cadet and a student.

Fourteen University of North Georgia (UNG) cadets commissioned as second lieutenants in the Army and Georgia Army National Guard on July 25 in a ceremony in the Hoag Auditorium at UNG's Dahlonega Campus. The university also honored three cadets who graduated this summer on the National Service Leadership Track.

Nine University of North Georgia (UNG) students were chosen as Gilman scholarship recipients this spring. This achievement marks four more students than the previous year.

University of North Georgia (UNG) Cadet Benjamin Smith earned Distinguished Honor Graduate recognition in his class this summer at Air Assault School at the Warrior Training Center at Fort Moore, Georgia. He was the best student out of the class of roughly 230, which included mostly cadets and some active-duty personnel.

Cooper Warrington, a May graduate with a degree in cybersecurity, won the Best Application of Theory Award at the Northeast Decision Sciences Institute, held in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Tamirat Abegaz, associate professor of computer science, presented Warrington's paper, "A Comparative Analysis of ChatGPT, Bard, Snapchat, Hugging, and Perplexity on Unintentional Biases," on his behalf.

University of North Georgia students took third place overall at the National Cyber Exercise (NCX) hosted by the National Security Agency (NSA) at the Maritime Conference Center near Baltimore, Maryland. UNG was the top in-person team at the event with the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Air Force Academy, the highest finishers, participating remotely.

Fifteen University of North Georgia (UNG) students in UNG's Corps of Cadets participated in study abroad excursions this spring. For the first time, two cadets studied at the Hellenic Army Academy in Athens, Greece. Two cadets from Greece came to Dahlonega, as well.

In a ceremony held May 2 by the University of North Georgia, 52 graduating cadets were awarded commissions as second lieutenants.