{"id":2585,"date":"2019-09-18T16:56:06","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=2585"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:56:22","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:56:22","slug":"injured-nfl-prospect-gets-a-fresh-start-at-polk-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2019\/09\/18\/injured-nfl-prospect-gets-a-fresh-start-at-polk-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Injured NFL prospect gets a fresh start at Polk State"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">George Williams knew from a young age what he wanted to do in life \u2014 he wanted to play football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williams attended college on an athletics scholarship and became an NFL prospect. He was a free agent who had a brief stint with the Buffalo Bills. He was playing football professionally in the Arena Football 2 (AF2) League when a wrist injury ended his football career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BR_0m6ziwOs\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He had to start over at 28 years old \u2013 not only for himself but also for his daughter who motivated him to find a new purpose in life so that he could provide for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe issue was that I didn\u2019t know anything other than football \u2013 I didn\u2019t have the skills to get a good job,\u201d Williams explained. \u201cI knew I had to go back to school\u2026 and Polk State College has given me more than I could have ever imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williams has an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.polk.edu\/academics\/degrees-and-certificates\/associate-in-arts\/\">Associate in Arts<\/a>&nbsp;and a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.polk.edu\/academics\/degrees-and-certificates\/bachelor-degree-programs\/\">Bachelor of Applied Science<\/a>&nbsp;in Supervision and Management with a concentration in Business Information Technology from Polk State. He is successfully employed with Polk County Public Schools as a teacher at Fort Meade Middle-Senior High School and serves as a tutor in Polk State\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.polk.edu\/teaching-learning-computing-center-tlcc\/tlcc-locations-hours\/\">Teaching Learning Computing Center (TLCC)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He is a shining example of student success and the opportunities available at Polk State,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.polk.edu\/career-development-services\/\">Career Development Services<\/a>&nbsp;Coordinator Rosebud Leslie said. Although Leslie was an administrative assistant for Student Services during Williams\u2019 time at Polk State, she assisted him as an advisor would \u2013 a role she would later transition to at the College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEven though George was older, I\u2019m a mother before anything else and my instincts kicked in,\u201d Leslie said.Video Player01:3001:38<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They quickly bonded over football, which Leslie\u2019s son played in college. Williams was also able to relate to Leslie, who pursued her higher education while she balanced two jobs and raising her children. At Polk State, the average student age is 25 and 74 percent of students attend part-time, with many balancing full-time jobs and raising families with their studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The student-advisor relationship between Williams and Leslie illustrates the personal attention and care Polk State staff and faculty provide students to ensure they receive the support and guidance they need to persevere on their paths to degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When USF Polytechnic closed in 2012, Williams was faced with the decision to commute to Tampa to continue classes with USF or to enroll at Polk State closer to home. The self-proclaimed \u201cold-school learner\u201d wanted to take classes in person rather than online, meaning Polk State was a good option for Williams, who was also juggling a job as a school custodian and providing for his daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA lot of times I felt like I couldn\u2019t do it, but Ms. Leslie explained that Polk State is an affordable and flexible option, and she gave me a sense of reassurance by helping me focus on the things that I&nbsp;<em>can&nbsp;<\/em>do rather than on the fear of what I couldn\u2019t,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to completing his degrees, Williams started a mentoring club on campus that allowed him and his peers to guide and motivate younger students who felt uncertain like he once did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf they see someone like them, they will realize that they can do it too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His advice for students: develop relationships with advisors, faculty, and staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat relationship is imperative,\u201d Williams said. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for Ms. Leslie connecting me to resources, helping me get into the classes I needed, and just being there to reassure me that I could succeed when I was having a bad day, I wouldn\u2019t have graduated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cAt Polk State, that support system is in place for students to make sure they are successful. Thanks to Ms. Leslie and others I encountered during my journey at Polk State, I am now able to live a life I enjoy and provide for my daughter.\u201d<\/p><p>\u2014 George Williams<br>Polk State alum and tutor<br>Polk County Public Schools teacher<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leslie echoed a similar sentiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNetworking is the foundation to success,\u201d she said. \u201cMake sure your advisors know who you are and go see them before each semester starts \u2013 they will have a transformational impact on your college journey.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Polk State continues to advocate at the state level for additional operational funds to hire more advisors. The College secured $500,000 in recurring operational support in 2018, allowing Polk State to hire several new Student Success Advisors, which has reduced the wait time for students meeting with advisors on the Winter Haven and Lakeland campuses, as well as for those who utilize online advising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also, for the first time in the College\u2019s history, all incoming first-time-in-college students are assigned their own advisor. Additionally, every Polk County public high school has an assigned Polk State advisor and advisors now have more time to visit classrooms both within the College and in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAt Polk State, that support system is in place for students to make sure they are successful,\u201d Williams said. \u201cThanks to Ms. Leslie and others I encountered during my journey at Polk State, I am now able to live a life I enjoy and provide for my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polk.edu\/advising\/\">More information about advising is available here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>George Williams knew from a young age what he wanted to do in life \u2014 he wanted to play football. Williams attended college on an athletics scholarship and became an&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"32","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polk-state-college-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}