Mayor Deke Copenhaver will be Guest Speaker at Peace Officers Training Academy Ceremony

Augusta Technical College is pleased to announce that Mayor of Augusta Deke Copenhaver, will be the guest speaker for the Peace Officers Training Academy (POTA) Swearing-In Ceremony for the sixth class. This class has 25 students and is the largest class to finish in this program.

“We are excited to have Mayor Copenhaver as the keynote speaker for the swearing-in of our sixth and largest class in the academy’s history. We applaud his dedication to our community and his commitment to celebrate the accomplishments of our students alongside Augusta Tech faculty and staff as well as family, friends and supporters,” Academy Director Ken Jones said.  

The Swearing-In Ceremony will be held at 1 p.m., Tuesday, November 29 at the Jack Patrick Information Technology Center on the Augusta Technical College campus off Deans Bridge Road. Augusta Tech was one of six technical colleges in Georgia to participate in this pilot project that would allow potential law enforcement officers to receive their basic law enforcement training at a state technical college and obtain college credit at the same time. Upon completion of the program, POTA graduates will receive their GA POST (Peace Officers Standards and Training) certification as law enforcement officers in addition to a technical certificate of credit from Augusta Technical College that can be utilized toward a Diploma or Associate Degree in Criminal Justice. Those interested in being a student in the next class should apply now. The deadline for application is December 1, and classes start January 4, 2012.

The following are the 25 students and their hometowns that will be pinned as the sixth class to finish in the academy. 

   

STUDENT NAME	Hometown
Robert Arthur	Martinez, GA
Joshua Bartlett	Evans, GA
Shawna Brunson	Augusta, GA
Elizabeth Dozier	Appling, GA
Trevor Dunston	Augusta, GA
Matthew Hammond	Harlem, GA   Junction City, OR
Hillary Ivey	Warrenton/Thomson, GA
Scott Jacobson	Evans, GA
Ryan Jones	East Point, GA
John Kicklighter	Statesboro/Sylvania, GA
Aaron Krewson	Grovetown, GA
Jared Mason	Grovetown, GA
Kristen McAlevy	Evans, GA
Tyler McEnery	Grovetown, GA
Loretta Middleton	Davisboro, GA
Christopher Mullis	Warrenton, GA
Jarrett Nieves	Marietta, GA
Christopher Osby	Chicago, IL
Catherine Perkins	Augusta, GA
Donyell Porter	Augusta, GA
Brandon Reed	Lincolnton, GA
Austin Reid	Appling, GA
Malcome Savage	Fayetteville, NC
Tyrone Tablada	Waynesboro, GA
Terry Windley	Riverdale, GA

About Mayor Copenhaver:

Deke Copenhaver currently serves as Mayor of Augusta, Georgia having been first elected in 2005 to serve out an unexpired term and being subsequently re-elected in 2006 and 2010. Mr. Copenhaver was born in Montreal, Canada and raised in Columbia County, Georgia. After attending the University of Georgia and earning a B.A. in Political Science from Augusta College, Deke worked for Nations Bank Securities in Atlanta for several years. After relocating to Beaufort, South Carolina in the mid-nineties, he went on to a career in real estate, serving as a principal in the firm of Huffines, Dukes, and Copenhaver LLC. After moving home to Augusta in 1998, Deke worked as a sales representative for Blanchard and Calhoun Real Estate. He accepted the position of Executive Director of the Central Savannah River Land Trust in July of 2001. During his tenure, Mr. Copenhaver directed the expenditure of over $1.1 million in greenspace purchases throughout Augusta-Richmond County while at the same time developing a program that is widely considered the finest of its kind in the state.

In 2004, Mr. Copenhaver was appointed to the Georgia Land Conservation Partnership Advisory Council by Governor Sonny Perdue, serving on the Partnering and Leveraging Committee. In 2005, the Council's work resulted in the setting aside of $100 million in state funding for statewide land conservation through the passage of the Georgia Land Conservation Act. In 2005, Deke served as Augusta’s co-chair for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s “Red Carpet Tour”, which promotes statewide economic development. Deke currently serves on the boards of the Georgia Municipal Association having also served as chair of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee, the Community Foundation for the Central Savannah River Area, the CSRA Regional Commission, the District 7 Regional Transportation Roundtable, the Richmond-Burke County Job Training Authority (chair), Georgia Forward, the Georgia Humanities Council and currently serves as chair of the Augusta Regional Transit Study Committee. He is a past board member of the Augusta Symphony, Historic Augusta, Young at Art, Mainstreet Augusta, the Family Y of Metro Augusta, the Georgia Alliance of Land Trusts, the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the Georgia Conservancy, the Augusta Museum of History and the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation. Mr. Copenhaver served as chair of the Environmental Issues Committee, along with serving on the Editorial Committee, for Leadership Augusta’s Destination 2020 Initiative.  Deke is a 2004 graduate of Leadership Georgia and a 2011 graduate of the Mayor’s Institute on City Design. He currently serves on the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s International Development Committee, the Savannah/Upper Ogeechee Regional Water Council and the Georgia Downtown Task Force. Mr. Copenhaver is a member of the Kiwanis Club of Augusta and Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church.

In 2003, Deke was recognized by Georgia Trend Magazine as one of Georgia’s “Top Forty Under Forty”. He is the 2003 recipient of the Family Y of Metro Augusta’s “Linda H. Walter Leadership Award”. In 2006 and 2008, he was named a Notable Georgian by Georgia Trend Magazine and in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011 was named as one of the 100 Most Influential Georgians by the same publication. Mr. Copenhaver was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by Augusta State University in 2008 and is the 2007 recipient of the “Brother Commissioner Lee Norris Beard Award” given by the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity (Alpha Chi Lambda Chapter) at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Breakfast. In 2009, Deke was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. In 2010, Mr. Copenhaver was awarded the “Exemplary Service for Community Unity” award by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Committee.  In 2011, Deke was inducted into the National Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.  In 2010, he became the first U.S. mayor to complete all three legs of an officially sanctioned Ironman event at the ESi Ironman 70.3 Augusta. His hobbies include golf, hunting, running, writing, triathlons and reading. He and his wife Malisa live in Augusta with their two dogs, Surrey and Gracie Lynn. 

Peace Officers Training Academy Class 006 picture identifier:

Front Row: Tyrone Tablada, Ken Jones (Director), Linda Miller (Secretary), Eric Snowberger (Lead Instructor), Aaron Krewson

Second Row: Catherine Perkins, Scott Jacobson

Third Row:  Christopher Mullis, Kristen McAlevy, Brandon Reed, Joshua Bartlett, Donyell Porter, Terry Windley, Robert Arthur

Fourth Row:  Elizabeth Dozier, Malcome Savage, Hillary Ivey, Loretta Middleton, Shawna Brunson

Fifth Row:  Trevor Dunston, Jared Mason, Ryan Jones, John Kicklighter, and Matthew Hammond

Sixth Row:  Christopher Osby, Austin Reid, Jarrett Nieves, and Tyler McEnery