New Vol State President Tours Cookeville Campus Meeting Students

New Vol State President Orinthia Montague started her welcome tour Monday by visiting students at the Cookeville campus.

Montague said meeting the people she will be leading helps gauge the needs of each Vol State site.

“For me, it’s vitally important that I get to know the communities I am serving and work with the business leaders, the students, the faculty, the staff and other community organizations to find out what is important, what they need cause each community is different.”

Montague said Cookeville students indicated to her that they want more engaging activities. Montague said they see what is happening at the main Gallatin Campus and want the same feel.

“As we are rebounding out of this COVID experience, that’s one of my goals to make certain all the students at all of our locations have engagement opportunities,” Montague said.

Montague said under her new role, she wants to transition students to the workforce quicker. Montague said her campus visits will continue next week with the Livingston and Springfield campuses.

“It’s equally important to me to be able to respond on behalf of our students to get them into that workforce,” Montague said. “I know everything that a community college student brings with them, and so, most of them are working full-time jobs. They have parental and family responsibilities whether they are a parent or they are taking care of senior parents, so we have to be able respond in a way to get them through that educational pipeline.”