05/06/2026
From a former canning plant to a vision for the future โ UGA Engineering students spent the past year working alongside the Colquitt County School District to explore what's possible.
Starting in the fall, a team from the The University of Georgia College of Engineering dove into a feasibility study for renovating the former Colquitt County Canning Plant into a multi-use Student Services facility. Over several months, they assessed the building's structural integrity, infrastructure needs, and long-term sustainability, and developed multiple floor plan options accounting for office space, storage, meeting rooms, and ADA accessibility.
When the team presented their final recommendations this April, school system stakeholders praised the quality and depth of their work โ calling their findings actionable, insightful, and a strong foundation for informed decision-making.
Rondesha Williams, Ed.S., Director of Student Services for the Colquitt County School District, captured the heart of the project well: "This space will serve as a central hub for support, connection, and opportunity โ ensuring every student has access to the resources they need to succeed both in and out of the classroom."
Student team member Ajay Singh echoed that sense of purpose from the engineering side: "This project helped me better understand how engineering decisions tie into real constraints like cost, feasibility, and working within an existing system. It was a great experience being part of a project with a real-world impact."
Thank you to the Colquitt County School System for your partnership throughout this project, and congratulations to this incredible team of students on work well done! ๐