In 1977, Phillip Tremble became one of the first 500 African American students to attend Georgia Southern.

On Tuesday, Feb. 11, Tremble told his story to a room full of students and faculty during a Talk Tuesday event, hosted by the Diversity Peer Educators.

Tremble, 61, was raised by his grandparents on a 60 acre farm in Statesboro, Georgia. 

He said he grew up embracing hard work, honesty and treating others the way he would want to be treated.

It was Tremble’s grandmother who urged him to get a college education, as his grandparents never finished high school.

Tremble’s grandfather passed away when he was in the 10th grade, leaving his grandmother to continue raising him. While going to college was something his grandparents always wanted him to do, Tremble, being a rebellious teenager, felt the opposite. He wanted to go into the Air Force and be the “Tom Cruise before there was a Tom Cruise.”

One day, while Tremble was working on his family’s farm, his grandmother came up to him with tears in her eyes and asked, “Phillip, what are you gonna do?” Not wanting to break her heart, he changed his mind and decided to go to college.

“I couldn’t tell her no,” he said. “I couldn’t break her heart.”

Having to work a full-time job, and, only taking one or two classes at a time, Tremble spent a total of nine years at GS, which was called Georgia Southern College at the time.

Tremble was a straight A student all throughout elementary school, which he began in first grade, because he did not attend kindergarten.

The integration of schools happened between Tremble’s fifth and sixth grade years. He said at first the transition was difficult, and, in sixth grade, his grades dropped to the point that his grandparents feared that he would not pass.

By seventh grade, he was able to adjust. His grades improved, and he began to make new friends. This improvement continued through his senior year of high school, where he ran track and played on the varsity basketball team.

When talking about his life experiences, including experiences at GS, Tremble said that it is important to understand that these were his experiences. He knows that different people all have different experiences and perspectives, and it is important to keep that in mind.

GS integrated in 1965, meaning that African American students had been attending for a little over a decade when Tremble began his college career. He said he knows that earlier African American students faced levels of prejudice that he himself did not face.

Racial slurs were used to them, face-to-face,” said Tremble. “They were told ‘get out of my class.’ Their tests were not graded equally…they had those things they would tell.

Phillip Tremble

While these things still happened in some cases by the time Tremble began college, they were not done in such an obvious way.

“I can tell you that by the time I got there, it was a little more covertly done,” he said. “You knew that you were Black. It wasn’t a secret. You didn’t have to look in the mirror to tell because of how they were treating you.”

Tremble said that when he became a student at GS, it was at first very overwhelming. For the first time he was around people not just from Bulloch County, but from all over the United States and other countries. He said that he was not quite ready for the college environment.

“I was scared, lost and somewhat shy, but excited all at the same time,” said Tremble.

He said he realized that he was not alone in how he felt and quickly began making new friends.

Tremble said that GS has always had a diverse campus, even back then. He made friends with all races, including those from countries outside of the United States.

“In Georgia Southern, it was everybody from all over the planet,” said Tremble. “Even when I first started, we would have students from everywhere from every country, every state…”

Upon arriving at GS, Tremble declared a major in electrical engineering. He was inspired by his uncle, who was a mechanical and civil engineer. After a while, he realized that he was bored with engineering. Tremble then changed his major to education, planning to be a science teacher and coach.

As time went on, he was still unsure about what he actually wanted to do for his career, so he enlisted the help of a counselor on campus. She told Tremble that he clearly is a people person. He then found his home majoring in psychology.

Tremble, like many other college students both now and then, was asked what he was planning on doing with a degree in his major. Undeterred by any criticism, he simply responded that he was going to make a life for himself, and he did just that.

At GS, Tremble felt as if it was immensely different than what he was used to in high school.

“I was responsible for my education,” he said. “I was responsible for making sure I showed up in class and if I didn’t show up in class, the teacher didn’t turn me into the principal and write me up, you know, those things you get when you’re in high school. I became responsible for all of that, and it took me a while to grasp that.”

Tremble was good in school, and, despite the challenges of having to work full-time, and sometimes not feeling accepted, he eventually received a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology in 1986.

Tremble said that his time at GS shaped him in numerous ways. He also said that he often used what his grandparents taught him to approach any challenges that he faced.

“The experiences I’ve had at GS have allowed me to be a better rounded person with a greater understanding and appreciation of others,” he said. “My experiences at GS have taught me not to be selfish, but to be more understanding of the views and perspectives of others.”

Tremble said that understanding does not always mean agreeing, but that he takes the time to try to understand others and why they feel the way they do.

“I learned patience and how to more openly get to know and understand different people, different cultures and different environments with much less stress. I actually enjoy it,” Tremble he said.

When asked what advice he would give to African American students attending GS today, Tremble said that he would give the same advice that he would give to any student, regardless of race. He said that GS is a great university and that anyone willing to do the work required has the same opportunity to find success and anyone else.

“The GS I know today embraces diversity and works diligently to maintain a culture that is inclusive for everyone,” said Tremble. “It’s a great university and I am proud to be a graduate of GS.”

When talking about racially motivated incidents on campus, Tremble said that, as a positive person, he thinks it is important to stay calm, and try to find a solution that works for everyone. He said this does not mean that you ignore or accept the situation, but try to find ways problem to be solved with a better outcome.

When you fight fire with fire, you tend to get a bigger fire. I think it is important that you take a higher road to deal with that, diffuse that in a different way. Use that as an opportunity to make things better.

Phillip Tremble

Tremble is now the director of Human Resources for the Bulloch County Board of Education.

He is also heavily involved in the Statesboro community. He serves on the Board of Directors for the local United Way of Southeast Georgia, the Bulloch Alcohol and Drug Council, Ogeechee Area Hospice and the East Georgia Regional Medical Center.

Tremble is a member of the Statesboro Area Society of Human Resource Managers and the Georgia Association of School Personnel Administrators (GASPA), and he sings in his church choir. Tremble and his wife Liz, have a daughter named Larkyn, who plans to attend GS this fall.

Jenna Wiley contributed to this article

The rich history of the Black Primitive Baptist Church traces all the way back to the Civil War. Piecing together its story is the culmination of years of research by Dr. Alvin Jackson, Board President of The Willow Hill Heritage & Renaissance Center.

In Bulloch County, prior to the Civil War, African Americans who were Primitive Baptists were members of the White Primitive Baptist Church.

For 10 to 15 years after the Civil War, African Americans in Bulloch County were still attending White Primitive Baptist churches while other African Americans, particularly in the Missionary Baptist movement, were forming their own churches.

The first African American Missionary Baptist Church, Antioch, was formed during slavery in 1863.

The first African American Primitive Baptist church was founded in 1879, but there was a long period of time before when African Americans that were Missionary Baptists were forming churches.

Dr. Jackson said that this Primitive Baptist history dates back to when many people from Ireland and Scotland moved to America for economic and religious freedom.

In the 1770s, a man named John Donaldson came to America from Ireland with his son, Robert. They traveled to Virginia and the Carolinas, before settling in Effingham County, Georgia.

Robert Donaldson started several White Primitive Baptist churches in Bulloch and surrounding counties.

“Robert Donaldson was one of the leading elders and the founder of Nevils Creek Primitive Baptist Church which was founded in 1790,” said Jackson. “It was founded before Bulloch County was [organized] in 1796.”

Many members of the Primitive Baptist churches were slave owners, so their enslaved individuals were members of the church as well.

“Several of my ancestors, the Hodges family, the Donaldsons, and the Lees, were members of Nevils Creek,” said Jackson. “And we know that because we have the minutes of Nevils Creek and we found their names in the records.”

During the era of slavery, only the first names of slaves were recorded. Once liberated, they took their former owner’s last name. After that, both their first and last name were recorded in the church records.

Aaron Munland was born into slavery in Marion County, South Carolina in 1848. In 1856 he, his siblings and his mother were sold into slavery in Bulloch County. They then joined the Nevils Creek Primitive Baptist Church.

“As Aaron grew as a young man, he was inspired. He was a dreamer,” said Jackson. “He had several dreams. In fact, we know about that because he was one of the few enslaved individuals who wrote an autobiography of his life during slavery.”

The work was called “Life History of Aaron Munland.” It was written by Aaron Munland and Willie A. Munland.

Aaron felt inspired to preach and told several members of the White Primitive Baptist church that he felt this calling, but because of segregation, and the role of slaves at that time, he was not allowed to exercise his gift.

Elder Wilson was a member of Nevils Creek who had heard Aaron speak in places that were not the church and was aware of his conviction. Wilson told Aaron that if he felt that he truly had the will of God to speak then he should go start a church amongst his own people.

That was the origin of the African-American Primitive Baptist church and churches in Bulloch County.

In May of 1879, Aaron Munland and his wife Luncindy, Moses Parrish and Munland’s sister, Dinah Hodges, and her husband Martin Hodges, came together and organized the Banks Creek Primitive Baptist Church, the first African-American Primitive Baptist church in Bulloch County.

The membership of the church began to grow.

“My great-great- grandfather was a member of that church,” said Jackson. “That, initially, was the church for all of the Black Primitive Baptists [in Bulloch County] and so many of them had to come far for worship services.”

In 1882, Elder Aaron Munland, who was chosen as the pastor of Banks Creek, and other members organized the second Primitive Baptist Church, Bethel, which was below Statesboro, off Highway 67. The church was organized because many people had to travel far to get to Banks Creek.

Dr. Jackson’s great-great grandfather, Elder Washington Hodges, was the first clerk of Banks Creek Primitive Baptist Church and was chosen as the first pastor of the Bethel Primitive Baptist Church, serving from 1882-1921.

Mount Pisgah Primitive Baptist Church, also known as Fish Trap Church, was organized in 1883, making it the third African-American Primitive Baptist church in the area. Aaron Munland was the First Pastor and Elder Washington Hodges was the second.

“In those days, because of travel, because there was horse and buggy and many other things, most churches met only once a month,” said Jackson. “Say, for example, if a church met on the first Sunday, then everyone would come to that church. On the second Sunday, when it would be meeting at another church, then everyone would go to that church.”

Because the location of weekly church services rotated, one person could be the minister of more than one church. Only current ministers could ordain someone to be a minister.

“Aaron Munland, and many of the early Black Primitive Baptist ministers were ordained by the White Primitive Baptist ministers,” said Jackson. “One of the ministers was Elder Matthew Donaldson, who was the son of Robert Donaldson, the one who had come over from Ireland in the 1770s and who had started six Primitive Baptist churches.”

Once Munland was ordained, he then had the ability to ordain other ministers.

“Bear in mind that this whole process of Blacks starting Primitive Baptist churches, was happening in other counties like Tattnall County, Emmanuel County, and those counties that surround Bulloch County,” said Jackson.

In 1887, five of the Primitive Baptist churches from Bulloch and surrounding counties met in Bulloch County at the Banks Creek Primitive Baptist Church to organize an association called the Mount Pleasant Association of Primitive Baptists.

Elder Aaron Munland was the first moderator of the Mount Pleasant Association of Primitive Baptists.

“Interestingly enough, these former slaves kept records,” said Jackson. “I have many of the minutes from those meetings.”

From those meeting minutes, Jackson was able to piece together the story. His great-great grandfather Elder Washington Hodge was the first clerk of the Association. All the Primitive Baptist churches from the various counties would meet in October. The meetings were usually three days and would move from church to church.

“I recognized a long time ago the value of a document for recording a story because a lot of African-American history was oral history, oral recording,” said Jackson “So, whenever I found a paper document, that was like I’d found some gold.”

Piecing together this story has been years in the making for Dr. Jackson. He has been across Bulloch and surrounding counties, gathering documents and obituaries. He is currently working on a manuscript on the Black Primitive Baptist churches of Bulloch County.

A lot of his information came from a lady named Miss Essie Mae Powell, former secretary of the Banks Creek Primitive Baptist Church. She was knowledgable about the church’s history, and African-American history. In her home, she had a minutes and obituaries that came into Dr. Jackson’s possession, following her death.

“She was secretary of the Banks Creek Primitive Baptist Church for 33 years, so she had a very extensive history, and she could call numbers, dates and there are few people I’ve run into that had the clarity of her thought,” said Jackson.

Dr. Jackson’s time with Miss Powell increased his interest in the history of the church.

“I was already interested, but [Powell] really stimulated an interested to continue collecting,” said Jackson.

Jackson now has a pact with the funeral homes in Statesboro. Whenever anyone dies, they automatically save the funeral programs for the Willow Hill Center Archives.

Maeweather began attending GS in January 2016 and graduated in December of 2019. He now serves as the Provost Student Fellow.

During his time at GS, Maeweather said there have always been issues with diversity and having an inclusive environment.

“I think a lot of people don’t understand that just having people from different backgrounds in one place doesn’t fully mean that it’s inclusive,” said Maeweather. “You have to make people feel like they belong here.”

He said that following the issues that have happened on campus, the university never responds in an effective manner.

Maeweather said that he personally emailed University President Kyle Marrero and told him that the racial issues on campus are not new, saying that problems that arise are always swept under the rug.

Maeweather suggested that there be a school-wide campaign that would serve as a more internal approach to mending issues.

Maeweather proposed the “I Am Georgia Southern” campaign that looks to shine a light on the beauty of diversity and inclusion around campus, showing why it is important to go to school and be around people who are not from the same place that you are in life.

“Before I came to college and had to live own my own and be a man, I hated police officers,” said Maeweather.

He said that he’s from an inner city and this opinion was common amongst people that he knew.

“Then I got here and got a little older, and realized, mistakes do happen,” said Maeweather. “A lot of times we tend to just take sides because of where we’re from and not necessarily what happened to us.”

He said that he questioned how he could have that view about police officers if he had never, personally, had a bad experience with one.

Maeweather said that the time period where he grew and came to realize this was important. He said that he feels that it is the university’s job to help facilitate that growth.

As part of the I Am Georgia Southern campaign, Maeweather said that he has started working on social media to get videos, 90 seconds or less, of university students to feature.

He has since started working with the communications department on campus. They now have a system where the university Instagram page posts I Am Georgia Southern videos.

He said that the department started doing alumni videos at the same time that he started doing student video. He said that he thinks featuring current students is important because it caters to the inside perspective of the university.

“When I say diversity, I’m not just looking at race,” said Maeweather. “You’ve definitely got to talk about sexuality, sexual orientation, just background in general, military background, first-generation college students. There’s different types. It’s not just where you’re from or how you look.”

Maeweather said that he hopes to be able to make posters of students featured and plaster them all over campus with quotes about diversity and why being an inclusive campus is important.

If you are interested in being featured in the campaign, reach out to [email protected]

The purpose of the events was “to provide students from all genders and sexual orientations information on health in relation to people who are LGBTQ+ and Transgender,” according to the event flyer.

Dr. Katie Mercer, from the College of Public Health, led the presentation.

“I think this event is important because we have all identities represented here on campus,” said Mercer in an email. “There are unique experiences that are had by some LGBTQ+ individuals that may contribute to poor health outcomes and health disparities when compared to the general population.”

She said that in terms of clinical medicine, it is beneficial for health practitioners to have an understanding of what the literature says about the epidemiology of certain conditions that are prevalent in the LGBTQ+ community. This will allow health care providers to have the best practices for these patients in terms of the provision of care.

“From a public health standpoint, becoming more equipped with the knowledge of poor health outcomes that befall this population, health promotion professionals will be more prepared to create additional inclusive, and perhaps more focused, health prevention programming,” said Mercer.

There were several key takeaways from the event.

LGBTQ+ individuals often have unique experiences that may contribute to poor health outcomes and health disparities when compared to the general population.

Mercer said that some LGBTQ+ individuals face barriers to receiving care. These barriers may include:

• fear of judgment
• past negative healthcare experiences
• lack of health coverage (including lack of sufficient coverage for identity-related issues)
• lack of culturally-competent practitioners
• lack of affirming healthcare and public health spaces.

“Mental health of LGBTQ+ individuals is of particular concern,” said Mercer. “Fear, trauma and stress related to their LGBTQ+ identities can contribute to poor mental health outcomes, including high rates of depression, anxiety and suicide.”

She also said that having to “come out” is a good example of an activity that can cause fear of judgement and violence. It may also cause trauma from reactions of family and/or friends.

There is also a lack of data in some areas regarding LGBTQ+ healthcare and experiences.

“More data needs to be collected on this population,” said Mercer. “Additionally, there needs to be work done to improve the language that represents complex identities, in order to collect data that will be useful. Intersectionality must be considered when creating data collection methodologies, in order to gain a true read of which identity may cause what problem(s), and what the relationships between an individual’s identities does to one’s health.”

Intersectionality is defined as “the theory that the overlap of various social identities, as race, gender, sexuality, and class, contributes to the specific type of systemic oppression and discrimination experienced by an individual,” according to Dictionary.com.

Mercer said that she thinks GS will see more events like this in the future.

“I am willing to be a part of creating awareness and change regarding this subject no matter the scale or stage,” she said.

The club, which has about 25 to 30 members, began in 2012.

Junior political science and Spanish double major Brendan Merritt is the president of the organization. He has been involved in the club since his freshman year.

“I’ll do a welcome to everybody, I’ll go check on everybody, then we’ll have a warm-up where we go through our basic steps,” said Merritt. “Then throughout the meeting, I’ll go over a basic set of moves.”

Merritt said former members of the club, who have since graduated, taught him everything he knows about the routines.

“I don’t know a lot, so I can’t say that I’m a teacher-teacher, but I do know enough that I can get someone through a social setting where they are doing those dances,” said Merritt.

Merritt said he discovered the club when looking for something to do that would be related to his heritage.

“My dad was raised in Panama, and my grandmother was from the area so I wanted to learn a little bit more about that,” said Merritt.

Merritt said he loves dancing and this club gives him the opportunity to do more of that.

“I believe this club is important because it’s very fun,” said Merritt. “It teaches other cultures. Personally, I joined it because I wanted to learn about my culture on my dad’s side, while on the other hand it gave me different people to meet and a different environment to learn in.”

He said it also gives students a change to learn partner dancing, which is normally only learned once in elementary school and never taught again.

Merritt said the club is trying to work with other Latinx organizations in order to expand and learn more about many different cultures.

Every semester the club hosts Noche Latina at the RAC Pavilion. It is a chance for anyone in the community can come to learn dance moves, socialize and celebrate the end of the semester.

Merritt said that there is no required skill level to join the organization because all different levels are taught at the meetings.

The club meets every Thursday at 7 p.m. in RAC room 2105. The first two meetings are free. After that, students can pay $3 per lesson, $20 for a semester or $30 for the year and get a T-shirt.

For more information and updates, follow the GS’ Latin Rhythm Dance Group on Instagram @lrdg_gsu.

Men of Vision and Excellence (MOVE) is Georgia Southern’s African American Male Initiative, a program that is sponsored by the University System of Georgia (USG). The goal of the initiative is to increase the retention, progression and graduation rates of African American males throughout the state of Georgia.

“There’s a bit of a history with the program in the African American Male Initiative, which is the grant from the University System of Georgia, that supports MOVE, but on our campus, here in Statesboro, it was formally the Student African American Brotherhood (SAB),” said Maurice Nelson, coordinator of diversity education and program outreach for the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) and advisor for Men of Vision and Excellence (MOVE).

Nelson has been the advisor since October 2018.

When the OMAs on the Statesboro and Armstrong campuses combined, the two organizations came together and the new MOVE was born.

The goals of the program are reached through four key foci: academic skills enrichment, leadership development, mentoring and student support services.

In Fall 2019, there were 126 active members on the Statesboro campus. Since then, the program has experienced growth through spring recruitment. The group is in the process of reconciling exact numbers, but has estimated that there are currently 150 active members.

Nelson said that recruitment for the organization happens perpetually throughout the semester, but that there are also dedicated recruiting efforts at the beginning and end of every semester. 

Membership is voluntary, and there is no cost associated with joining, because the organization is grant funded. Additionally, the program is supported by the OMA. However, students do make a commitment to be actively engaged in the program.

“If, for some reason, we find that students aren’t engaged just based on their participation then we can actually reach out and just find out what kind of challenges may be preventing that,” said Nelson.

The terms of being an active member are specifically spelled out. The engagement of each member is tracked because being involved allows them to get the intended benefits of the initiative.

Nelson said that it is understandable that members will not be able to come to every event, but that in order to get the benefits of the program, the general expectation is that members attend at least two thirds of the program to be considered active.

Being an active member includes different things. One such thing is attending the weekly meetings of the organization.

The formality of the meetings alternates. Some meetings are formal business meetings, talking about the business of the organization, and other meetings are brotherhood meetings, which are all about bonding and team-building.

Another membership requirement is making an academic plan, where the students sit down with Nelson or with graduate advisor Chris Hill and write out an individual academic mission and three measurable academic goals. The students also make out weekly schedule to map out their days and chart their academic success. Nelson said that this requirement is actually the foremost important requirement.

The members also take part in community service activities. Members are asked to complete at least two hours of community service per month, which is the equivalent to attending on of the organization’s community service initiatives each month.

As part of this community service, MOVE does a campus clean-up after every home football game. They also do work with Habitat for Humanity, Restoring the Breach, with Statesboro Public Library, Trick-or-Treat at Mill CreekTrunk or treat?, landscaping and facility management at YMCA, Fostering Bulloch, among other opportunities around the community.

The last requirement of memberships is to join one of the organization’s committees. There are six committees to choose from. Nelson said that this is where the members are doing most of their active work because they are going to sub-committee meetings and working as a team.

In order to join, students just have to be interested. There is no GPA requirement.

“The goal is for us to help enhance their GPA and academic performance, regardless of where the starting point is,” said Nelson. “So, if you’re already really strong in that area, then we’re going to try to help make you stronger. If you’re having issues in that area, we’re going to try to fill that gap and help you improve.”

“That indicates, I think, that there was real support at the national government level for what we were doing,” said Director of the Center for Irish Research and Teaching Howard Keeley, Ph.D.

The ceremony took place in the mid-afternoon. Once the ribbon cutting was completed, a ceremony took place inside the foyer of the extraordinary building.

Keeley said that this opportunity has come after a decade of engagement in southeastern Ireland. The contacts made by GS during this time helped spearhead this project and make the GS Wexford possible. He said that it is important to realize the GS Wexford is not simply a nice facility. It also offers students valuable opportunities and networks.

“It is a superior international professional network of, really, friends and colleagues. And I think that’s absolutely the critical dimension of this,” said Keeley.

The learning center was made possible by an $800,000 third-party investment, according to the Irish Georgia website.

The opening of the center addresses one of the strategic imperatives outlined by the University System of Georgia. One of the imperatives incorporates a fundamental action plan and internationalizing the student body.

“So as an institution, although we have always had a commitment to international education, and we need to be more focused on that, more programmatically focused on that, than we have been in the past,” Keeley said.

Keeley said he wanted to emphasize that the university is not abandoning the international programs and investments that have already been made. He said that the university, as a consolidated entity, is adding a substantial investment to the international learning.

Georgia’s Irish Roots

Choosing Wexford as the location for the learning center was not arbitrary. Keeley said that the choice was historically grounded. Savannah is considered the most Irish city in the Southeastern United States, hosting one of the largest St. Patrick’s Day parades in the world.

Years ago, a group of graduate and undergraduate students at GS began an archival project to try to understand the Irish history of Savannah more intimately. He said that one of the most significant discoveries made came to light on the 1860 federal census of Chatham County. The 1860 census showed that of the white population, or what would then have been called the “free” population, one in four people had been born in Ireland.

Keeley said that this highlights the fact that people in Savannah or Chatham County during this time who called themselves Irish were born in Ireland, rather than being Irish because their parents or grandparents had been born there.

Keeley added that the students found that this migration from Ireland, in large part, occurred about a decade before the census, so in the late-1840s and early 1850s.

“It happened because three shipping companies in a part of Ireland made a commercial decision to open up a route between southeastern Ireland and Savannah, which ran in the winter, starting in 1845,” said Keeley.

The route ran until 1856.

“In a way by opening a facility in Wexford, Ireland, we are circling back 170 years later,” Keeley said. “So 170 years ago, hundreds and hundreds of people from Wexford, Ireland, were coming to Savannah.”

He said the hope now that hundreds or even, eventually, thousands or GS students will be traveling to Wexford.

Economic Significance

Dave Legasse, chairman of the Georgia Grown Commission and former chairman of Visit Savannah said that the partnership in Ireland is multifaceted.

“It has the impact of creating an economic partnership,” said Legasse. “I think that it has a lot to do with tourism, the development of economics, the sharing of education and also culture.”

Legasse said that Savannah has a rich Irish heritage that dates back to 1733 when Irish people first came to Georgia with James Oglethorpe. In this respect, Georgia’s partnership with Ireland has been in place for over 200 years.

Keeley said that Ireland is an ideal location for the new learning center because it is the only english speaking nation in the European Union.

“The European Union is the largest single economic unit in the world,” said Keeley. “So, GS is all about economic development. We’re trying to make our students more economically viable and we’re trying to make the state of Georgia more economically viable.”

Ireland was the fourth fastest growing source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the U.S. in 2018, according to SelectUSA.

“It’s a great place for our students to study abroad,” said Keeley. “So we’re really confident about the choice of Ireland and in building this next frontier for GS.”

The new learning center is also important on a regional scale. World Trade Center Savannah partners with Wexford County council and has a formal economic development partnership and program. The company led its first mission in Wexford in 2016.

“We work to help Irish companies from that region grow into the United States and then we hope that our regional companies can grow into Ireland and the European Union through Wexford,” said Jessie Jenkins, manager of research and trade development for World Trade Center Savannah.

Jenkins said that having a new campus and GS’ presence in Wexford is one more tool in the toolbox for all of their companies both here and abroad.

“A lot of economic development is all about relationships,” said Jenkins. “Of course, facts and education are the cornerstones for a project coming to life.”

She said that working in a partnership with GS is important to World Trade Center Savannah and that education, including higher education, is crucial to economic development.

“As long as we are working with companies and getting to know what they need from a workforce perspective, we have to have that really good relationship with higher education, so that they’re creating the workforce of the future that will attract the next big project,” said Jenkins.

She said that having an international campus will help realize that goal.

“A success for GS is a success that we want to celebrate right along with everyone,” Jenkins said.

The educational opportunities that come with this development cannot be understated. Keeley said that the university is in advanced negotiations regarding an initial, high value, student internship opportunity. 

“It’s a regional partnership,” said Keeley. “It’s Georgia Southern holding hands with economic development agencies.”

Keeley said that the Center for Irish Research and Teaching, as well as their partners in the Savannah economic community and in Ireland have received a €309,000 grant to bring their economic development initiative, called the Wexford-Savannah Trade Bridge Project, forward. The grant came from an entity called Enterprise Ireland, which is an Irish Government economic development agency.

“Georgia Southern, we are very much focused on the dynamic between education and economic development, particularly regional economic development,” said Keeley “So, we’ve made great progress here and that’s why we got the grant because we were able to demonstrate that we’re delivering.”

Keeley said that he hopes to have a group of students study at Georgia Southern Wexford during the spring for a short term and then have a group or groups of students study over the summer for a longer term.

One of the most important parts of a college town is the entertainment available when students want to take a break from responsibilities and have some fun. For anyone who has been to the Blue Room, one of the hottest spots in town, the name DJ Nino is well known.

The elusive DJ, a Denmark native, was raised in Stone Mountain, Georgia. He performs every weekend at the Blue Room to a crowd of excited listeners. He has been DJing since 2013.

Nino was exposed to many different kinds of music since he was a child. 

“My mom has always been open to all types of music,” Nino said. “Whenever I was younger riding in the car with her, it could be Lenny Kravitz, Kid Rock, Run DMC. It could be anything.”

As Nino got older, he found he had a natural talent for putting together music and making playlists that people love.

 “Being an athlete in high school, music would pump us up in the gym and then from there I found this website and just started messing around with it on my computer, and that’s how I really got a feel for it,” Nino said. “And all my teammates were loving it, so I really just went from there.”

Before getting a regular gig in town, Nino performed some other places around town like Shenanigans. He also opened for Migos in their 2015 concert in Statesboro. Additionally, Nino performs in Atlanta and Alabama.

When asked about challenges faced since the start of his career, Nino discussed the racism he has encountered. 

“So, when I first got here and started DJing, there were no DJs of color,” Nino said. “I’m mixed with black and white, and there were no DJs of color playing in any of the bars. No matter how good I was, it took people two to three years to realize ‘hey, we can actually have him in here.’’’

Nino says that the racism he’s encountered has gotten better over time.  

“It has now gotten a hundred times better,” Nino said. “That was in the beginning. That was when the Plaza was a thing.”

DJ Nino performs most often in the Blue Room of Statesboro. He has performed there almost every weekend since the club opened in August 2018.

One of the owners, William Bridwell, said Nino contributes to the inner workings of the bar and certain things he does allow things to run smoothly.

“He is a very intelligent DJ,” Bridwell said. “I think when most people think of a DJ, they think of a person just getting up there and playing a playlist. But, in my opinion, I think there are so many different aspects to entertainment and nightlife.”

An example Bridwell gave was Nino’s ability to read a crowd. “If he’s playing a certain genre and the crowd isn’t responding, he can tell that he’s not moving the big crowds in the back to the dance floor, so he’ll change it up.”

Nino’s value to the Blue Room goes beyond what the crowd may see. There are a lot more technical aspects that go into making each performance possible.

“In addition to who is performing, we place a high value on the entire scope of what our patrons are watching and our performers and production engineers can definitely read off each other,” Bridwell said. “One the other owners, Al Chapman, has a background in production and lighting so he comes in to run lights most lights. Al and Nino just mesh very well together and play off each other which ultimately in my opinion raises the bar of the whole experience.”

Nino also talked about his experience with owners at some clubs expecting him to play only rap music without appealing to other genres as well. 

“I appeal to the crowd, so I never just play one genre,” said Nino.”I actually don’t have a set playlist either, it’s all just off the top of my head. I might start off with ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’ and end with ‘Knuck If You Buck.’”

As far as the music itself goes, Nino has learned important things throughout his career. 

“What I’ve noticed and what a lot of other people are starting to notice now is that we all listen to the same music.”

DJ Nino

This article was previously published in the January 2020 print edition of The George-Anne Reflector Magazine

If you’re familiar with the live music scene of Statesboro, chances are you’ve heard Roadhouse perform. 

Roadhouse, also known as Kyle Thomas, is a senior English major. He began performing in Statesboro in 2015. Now he plays regularly in popular Statesboro venues like Shenanigans and the Grove. Every Monday night you can find him hosting open mic night at Nonna Picci. 

He first started performing in Statesboro at Locos. 

“They used to hold an open mic, and I worked at the RAC, and basically one of my coworkers was just like ‘you’re going to go do this open mic, and we’re going to tell everyone in the building so you have to go,’” said Thomas. “And they did. She sent out a chain to all the different departments at the RAC and told all their employees, so I went to the open mic, and they packed the place out.”

Thomas had only planned on doing two or three songs that night, but with the successful start and heavy crowd, the manager told him to just keep going. That was his first gig. Two weeks later, Locos booked him again for a Thursday night. 

“When I first started, the gigs were not consistent to say the least,” said Thomas. “I was only playing Locos, and occasionally I would get like Millhouse or something, but now they fall like water.”

Thomas found his love for music early on. 

“I grew up on Texas red-dirt country and bad-ass rock-and-roll and the old alternative country guys like Turnpike Troubadours, the old Willie and Waylon,” Thomas said.

Thomas’ grandfather also serves as a curator for his music taste. “He used to play with a bunch of old Texas legends back in the day,” Thomas said. “He raised me up on Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Guy Clark, these old country songwriters, so I started getting into that.”

Thomas has also gained inspiration from bands who play locally around Statesboro like Maples Crown, Play of the Game and Fellas.

After he graduates, Thomas plans to move to either Nashville or Austin to give singing and songwriting a shot.

Thomas talked about some of the obstacles he’s overcome as he performs more live gigs around town.

“The main struggle is playing ‘Strawberry Wine’ every night,” Thomas said. “I’m just kidding. I really do hate that song, but it’s definitely not the biggest struggle. The biggest struggle has probably been that there’s just not much of a music scene here in Statesboro.”

The solution, Thomas believes, lies in both the artists and the general public. 

“Most people here want to hear DJs, and I can’t really fault them for that, but I feel like if the bands can start putting out better product and recording things and getting them online to at least have something to build a fan-base around, and then the general patrons also do their part and come out to support, then I think we would build a live music scene around here,” said Thomas.

He said that creating a bigger live music scene could positively affect Statesboro and Georgia Southern. 

“It would be a cool thing to have because, if you could get a solid reputation as a local music scene, you might draw more students here who are creative and that would help create and foster the music scene,” said Thomas. “You might get more bands, you may have more venues that can support live music.” 

Thomas considers open-mic nights to be a very important part of any growing music community.

“I understand the prospect of going out and playing music for free is not super awesome to people who play music, but there are also a lot of people around here that have never played live before and don’t even know if it’s something they’re interested in, so these open mics are a great way to come out and do it,” Thomas said. “There are a lot of people out here that want to start a band, but they don’t know other musicians. 

It was while hosting an open mic night that Thomas met the members of the group a little over a year ago. “They literally showed up one day with a drum set and a bass and said ‘hey, can we just back you up?’ And we started a band.” 

This power trio, called Roadhouse and Company, performs together about two weekends a month. Thomas didn’t know either of the other members, Zach Futch, senior music major, and Tyler Tupper, junior business management major, until an open-mic night turned into an impromptu jam session. He said that’s even how their name came about. 

“I didn’t know them, so I was just like ‘Hey guys, I’m Roadhouse.’ ” Thomas paused. “And Company, and it just kind of stuck.” 

Thomas and his band don’t just play country music, even though most of his original songs are more rock or country blues.

“You will hear everything from Luke Combs. I don’t just look like him,” said Thomas. “I also play anything from Tom Petty, to Blackstreet, Dr. Dre, to Usher to Stevie Ray Vaughan; you’re going to hear everything.” 

Thomas enjoys playing in the group because it gives him a chance to interact with the other members rather than just standing on stage singing by himself.

“We’re Roadhouse band. We’re just rocking Roadhouses from here to California,” Thomas said. “Well, more realistically from here to Savannah.”

See upcoming performances at roadhouseandcompany.com and on the Roadhouse Facebook page. Follow Thomas on instagram @roadhouse_music

This article was previously published in the January 2020 print edition of The George-Anne Reflector Magazine