University of North Georgia

The University of North Georgia's (UNG) Ranger Challenge team is returning to the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition for the first time in four years. This milestone comes after UNG's "Black" team took second place out of 43 groups at the 6th Brigade Titan Ranger Challenge event held Jan. 23-24 at Fort Benning, Georgia. Titan Ranger Challenge included Army ROTC programs from universities and colleges in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Puerto Rico. Ranger Challenge is the varsity sport of Army ROTC and a Corps of Cadets specialty unit at UNG, and in addition to the second-place group advancing to the May 1-2 Sandhurst competition at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, UNG's "Gold" team placed 13th.

Students in a digital marketing class in the fall at the University of North Georgia (UNG) created social media plans for a small business and a nonprofit organization. One group assisted Farmhouse Coffee in Gainesville, Georgia, and the other helped the Junior League of Gainesville-Hall County. Dr. Caroline Munoz, professor of digital marketing, has regularly used this project in classes at both the Dahlonega and Gainesville campuses, boosting the social media efforts of more than 50 small businesses and nonprofits over the past decade.

The University of North Georgia (UNG) welcomed more than 40 new cadets during Freshman Recruit Orientation Group (FROG) Week, held Jan. 6-10 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 Dec. 9 by the University of North Georgia, 36 graduating cadets were awarded commissions as second lieutenants.

UNG senior Kira Feeser is the No. 1 cadet to commission into the Army Nurse Corps from the nation's senior and junior military colleges for 2025-26.

The University of North Georgia (UNG) swept top honors from U.S. Army Cadet Command this fall, boasting both the No. 1 overall ROTC cadet out of 5,538 nationally and the No. 1 National Guard commissioning cadet out of 1,491. Benjamin Smith is the top overall graduating Army ROTC cadet for the 2025-26 academic year, and Kyle Sanders achieved the No. 1 Army National Guard ranking and No. 11 overall.

A team of University of North Georgia (UNG) students, faculty and staff won the college division of the Atlanta Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival, held Sept. 6 at Lake Lanier Olympic Park in Gainesville, Georgia. UNG has won the collegiate division all 12 years it has competed. UNG tallied a time of 1:04.17 to beat out second-place Clemson University and third-place Agnes Scott College.

Five University of North Georgia (UNG) cadets completed Army ROTC Basic Camp this summer at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Madison Shook, a senior, pursuing a degree in interdisciplinary studies with concentrations in health science, social science and military science, attended Basic Camp to catch up on training because she is a transfer student. While there, Shook won the Military Order of World Wars Award of Merit.

This summer, 105 University of North Georgia (UNG) cadets graduated from Advanced Camp at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Nine won PT awards, and UNG cadets also earned six leadership awards.

Thirty University of North Georgia (UNG) cadets have earned Distinguished Military Student (DMS) status for the 2025-26 academic year, an increase of 12 DMS honorees from the previous year and the most among senior and junior military colleges nationally. The cadets were formally recognized at the DMS dinner and review the weekend of Sept. 19-21.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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),

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."

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.