Augusta, GA
Augusta Tech gets additional $500K to boost auto repair program
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Master Automotive has pledged $500,000 to support the Automotive Institute at Augusta Technical College.
To be located on the site of former Johnson Cadillac at 1122 Walton Way, the first classes will be offered at the site in fall 2025. The college currently offers a diploma and numerous technical certificates of credit programs in automotive technology.
These offerings will be expanded to include more programs in the new institute, including auto body and collision, and light, medium and heavy diesel.
Augusta Tech also plans to add automotive industry classes to its Associate of Applied Science degrees in the School of Business. The institute will also provide noncredit training and upskilling through the college’s Division of Economic Development.
At 65,000 square feet, the Automotive Institute will dwarf the college’s current 10,000 square feet occupied by the automotive program.
SCHOLARSHIP FUND:
- Augusta Technical College President Dr. Jermaine Whirl and his wife, Marqueta, have pledged $10,0000 to create a new endowed scholarship fund at Augusta Tech. Called the Dr. Jermaine Whirl Presidential Leadership Scholarship, the annual award will be given to the student who is elected as the College’s Student Government Association president. The first recipient Rashell Tanner.
As revealed in November 2023, the facility itself will be named the Jim Hudson Automotive Institute in recognition of a $1 million gift from the Jim Hudson Automotive Group. The college also received $1 million each from the Augusta National Golf Club and the Knox Foundation to acquire the facility.
Augusta Tech is currently in conversations with individuals and companies across the automotive industry in the CSRA, throughout Georgia and South Carolina, and even nationally to raise additional money to renovate and equip the building.
“Together with partners like Will Schafer at Master Automotive, we are building a national model for automotive training,” said Dr. Jermaine Whirl, president of Augusta Tech.
Master CEO Will Schafer said: “There is a major need for a facility such as this in our community and we are excited to be a part of it.”
The institute is among the “big 5″ projects that are turning Augusta Technical College into a destination school.
Also at Augusta Tech …
- College President Dr. Jermaine Whirl as the distinguished recipient of Georgia Southern University’s 2024 George and Lucy Armstrong Alumni Award. Dr. Whirl earned his second master’s degree in adult education and community leadership from Armstrong State University, which merged with Georgia Southern University in 2018. This accolade is bestowed upon an Armstrong alumnus/alumna who epitomizes the University’s fundamental values, including collaboration, academic excellence, discovery and innovation, integrity, openness and inclusion, and sustainability.
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AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Democratic candidate for Georgia governor Olu Brown visited Augusta on Friday evening, stopping near the Sand Hills Community Center as early voting continues.
Brown is one of six candidates in the Democratic primary.
Campaign priorities
Brown said his vision as governor would focus on three main areas.
“One, it’s affordability around health care and making sure we expand Medicaid and expand Peach Care and make sure we continue to make our rural health care systems healthy and vital,” Brown said. “Number two, we’ve got to address education in all of Georgia, making sure every kid in Georgia gets an excellent education, and we’re paying our teachers more. And number 3, we’re protecting the rights of all women. Folks in the Gold Dome shouldn’t be making decisions about their bodies or the choices that they make.”
Brown is running against Amanda Duffy, Derrick Jackson, Geoff Duncan, Jason Esteves, Keisha Lance Bottoms and Mike Thurmond.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – An Augusta Prep student was arrested on a charge of terroristic threats over a picture of a LEGO gun he posted on social media.
It happened Wednesday, according to an incident report from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
Eric Hedinger, the principal of Augusta Preparatory Day School, told deputies a student had uploaded a picture to Snapchat of a “pistol” with the caption “shooting up the school so I don`t have to take the stats exam tomorrow. Don`t come yall!”
The principal said he spoke to the student and his father about the photo.
The principal also provided deputies with the student’s address in Grovetown.
A deputy went there and was told by the student that the “pistol” was a LEGO set that he had built.
He also said the comment he made was supposed to be a joke because he was not looking forward to taking his Advanced Placement statistics test this week.
The student showed the deputy the box that the LEGO set came in, and how the set was already disassembled.
The deputy also looked in the boy’s room to make sure he was not in possession of any weapons.
The mother advised that there was one firearm in the residence but it was locked up.
The deputy contacted Judge Leslie Morgan and she issued a warrant for terroristic threats.
The student, age 18, was taken into custody and transported to the Columbia County Detention Center.
News 12 is not reporting his name or publishing his photo since the LEGO gun could not have actually harmed anyone.
Copyright 2026 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
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