[Michael Shannon, Ph.D. - President of UNG] - It is so hard to believe we're already at the end of September, but what a great month it's been and what an incredible start to this academic year. We have accomplished so much, and I'd like to give you a little bit of recap of where we've been and where we're headed.
Our athletics teams are off to such an incredibly exciting start. Our women's soccer team today are ranked number 18 in the nation in Division 2 women's soccer, and they're ranked number three in our region. Our men's soccer team continues to fight and work hard and has picked up some really big wins over the last couple of weeks. Our tennis teams competed very well at the ITA tournaments last week, and we're really excited about the future they're going to have this this year in tennis. And our golf teams are off to a accelerated, momentous start as they have gone through several invitationals and have placed very high. And finally, I'm so excited about our cross country team. Our women's cross country team has done a tremendous job and we just hosted a very large invitational meet at our Gainesville Campus, where they placed very high, where several of our ladies placed in the top 10. Really excited about athletics. This month we had the Hall of Fame induction where we were able to induct three former student-athletes; Dean Mike Hyams, who many of us know; as well as the 2005-2006 women's basketball team. What an incredible night, and if you haven't seen it, our Athletics Department is moving forward with their strategy of bringing us into the retail space, where we've just launched our very first product, our Nike sideline Air Pegasus shoes, so if you haven't gotten a pair yet, go to the caption below, hit the link and check out our new sideline shoes, available now.
The cadets have had a tremendous month, as well. We've hosted Boar's Head Weekend, where several cadet alumni have come back to campus to celebrate. We honored our Distinguished Military Students, which are our seniors about to graduate who are in the top of their class not only at the University of North Georgia but nationally in Army ROTC. We also had a very special cadet review where we broke ground on the first building of our new military district, the Military Science Center, and what was more exciting was we were able to through approval from our Board of Regents name it the Wynne-Mathews Military Science Center. It was an incredibly special day, and I thank all those who were involved.
We're also doing some work with Dahlonega in terms of bringing the message of not only the University of North Georgia but the message of Dahlonega to people to bring them to our communities this fall, and we're really excited about that partnership.
Probably one of the coolest things that I was a part of this month was the Georgia Film Festival on our Gainesville Campus, and in that festival I was honored to be able to host the UNG Shorts segment where our students showcased their work. They showed us short films from a variety of genres, and I will tell you our film production majors are incredibly talented, and I am excited for the work that they have ahead of them and the careers that are unfolding for them.
We also hosted our REED Tour. That is our Regional Education and Economic Development Tour, where we focused on Lumpkin County and Dawson County, two very critical counties within our 30-county community. And I will tell you it was an incredible couple of days as we met with local business leaders, entrepreneurs, the chambers of the respective communities, as well as several representatives and leaders from the K-12 systems that we support. And I will tell you it was it was an amazing couple of days, and we were really, really honored to listen to our community leaders so that we understand their needs.
Another highlight was the Tomato Sandwich Supper right here on our Blue Ridge Campus. By the way, if you haven't been to our Blue Ridge Campus yet, you need to get up here. It is spectacular. This event, a tradition in this community, brought together community leaders, our students, our staff, and our faculty to not only celebrate our community but celebrate the work of the University of North Georgia in our community. I was so honored to experience this for the first time and had such a great night fellowshipping and being a part of this really special event.
So, folks, the work of the University of North Georgia continues, and I'm so excited. On top of all of that, in the midst of all of that is the hard work and effort of our students and our faculty. Every day our students are in the classroom working on making themselves better, and I could not be more proud of their performance and so proud of my colleagues on our faculty who deliver every day. So there you have it, September was a very exciting month at the University of North Georgia, and I am really looking forward to October as we launch our seven strategic big bets. This will be the future direction that we take at the University of North Georgia, and I can't wait to share those with you here in the next couple of days. So with that, happy September. I hope you had a great day, and go Nighthawks!