Featured
Graduate
October of 2005
The town of Douglas is located where
Twenty Mile Creek and Seventeen Mile Creek come together.
This area was occupied for thousands of years by Native
Americans. The Cherokee (to the north) and Creek Indian
(to the south) had their Nations here. Methodist revivals
and baptisms were held at Twenty Mile Creek as early
as the 1830s.
The town of Douglas was established in 1858 and was
named for Senator Stephen A. Douglas, a powerful advocate
of popular sovereignty at that time. Senator Douglas
was a presidential candidate who ran against Abraham
Lincoln
Douglas was chartered as a town in 1895 and as a
city in 1897. The Georgia and Florida Railroad located
its offices and shops in Douglas in 1909. During the
1920s and 1930s Douglas became one of the major tobacco
markets in the state. This era of the city's history
is depicted in the Heritage Station Museum, located
in the old Georgia and Florida Railroad depot.
The Eleventh District Agricultural College was established
in Douglas in 1907. It became the first state junior
college, South Georgia College, in 1927. After World
War II, Douglas was one of the first small cities
in the nation to develop and implement an urban renewal
program to abolish slum housing and its effects throughout
the city.
By the 1960s poultry processing and manufactured
housing were the major industries in the city. Retail
sales and services and wholesale distribution centers
provided jobs for Douglas area residents at the beginning
of the twenty-first century. The city has two areas
listed on the National Register of Historic Places:
the downtown historic district and the Gaskin Avenue
historic district were created in 1989.
Pictured at the top of the page is
a beautiful graduate that will not have any troubles
getting employment in Douglas or anywhere else for
that matter. This is Citizens’ very own Kelli
Nicole Griffis. The unusual spelling of Kelli’s
name is not the only unusual thing about her. She
decided to buck mainstream tradition and homeschool
herself. She had two challenges to attending the local
government run high school. Her first issue was related
to sports. Kelli was made to feel that if she did
not participate in school sports, that she was not
necessary. Weather that was true or not, the feelings
associated with it are devastating on a young woman.
The second issue Kelli had to deal with was an unfortunate
car accident that made it nearly impossible for her
to attend classes.
Ms. Griffis researched many alternatives to brick-and-mortar
schools during her rehabilitation. With the support
of her parents, she decided on Citizens’ High
School to help her earn a diploma. Kelli started on
the unusual trek of self-taught, self-pace, home school
studies. She earned her diploma last August with an
impressive 3.6 GPA. She feels great pride in her accomplishments.
“It has made a huge difference in my life!”
Kelli is now attending East Central Tech College.
Her short term goal is to earn a degree in Cosmetology.
The long range goal for this unusual and brilliant
woman is to own a string of beauty shops world wide.
Although an ambitious goal for such a young woman,
we have no doubt she will achieve it. Kelli has already
proven she can attain what she sets her mind to.
Kelli has proudly represented Citizens’ High
School and has proven that home schooling works! For
her efforts, insight, intelligence, judgment, know-how,
learning, principles, and attainments, we bestow Graduate
of the Month honors for October 2005.
To read about other graduates, click
on the links below:
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