Macon State College MVPs is a web feature that profiles notable students, alumni, faculty and staff.
Johnathan Jackson is SGA president and an aspiring alternative energy entrepreneur.
Full Name: Johnathan Wayne Jackson.
Age: 20.
Hometown: Charleston, S.C.
Residence: Macon.
High School: William S. Hutchings Career Center, where he was president of Future Business Leaders of America (Phi Beta Lambda).
Family: “My mother, Kendra Smalls, and three younger sisters: Bryanna attends Macon State. Jasmine and Jaime are in middle school. I also have an older brother, Bryan.”
Current Employment: Student worker in the Macon State School of Information Technology.
Degree Objective: “In May 2013, I will graduate from Middle Georgia State College with my associate’s in engineering technology, then I will transfer to Georgia Tech for my bachelor’s in environmental engineering. From there I want to go to graduate school at Arizona State University for a professional science master’s in solar energy engineering & commercialization and a master’s in business administration.”
Activities: “I’m currently leading a very intelligent, highly motivated and passionate group of student leaders that make up the Macon State Student Government Association.”
Career Goals: “My career goal - my mission - is to start my own major Alternative Energy Enterprise that taps into the massive potential of alternative sources of energy such as solar, wind and geothermal.”
He chose Macon State College because … “Nothing beats Macon State when it comes to receiving a good quality, affordable education.”
The one thing that surprised him about Macon State was … “I’m not sure anything really surprised me about Macon State, but as SGA president I’m always excited and motivated by the stories I hear from my fellow students. The stories I hear over and over again are ‘I graduated from high school and went off to such and such university but I never quite fit in or it didn’t work out, but I came back to Macon State and they were here for me, they turned my college career around and I’m proud to be here.’ I love those stories and I want to make sure that what many of us have come to love and take pride in about Macon State is not just here through consolidation but for generations to come.”
His favorite professor is … Dr. Steven Wallace. He is a really great professor, and of the five jokes he may crack in one class period, at least one of them is worth telling a friend. I also appreciate that he, like many of the professors and staff are very invested in this institution besides just coming and receiving a paycheck.”
His favorite place to study is … “The SGA office located on the second floor of the Student Life Center.”
One thing people don’t know about him is … “I’m a Peyton Anderson Scholar, which means I’m part of a larger community investment effort started by the late Mr. Peyton Anderson of Macon. The Peyton Anderson Foundation has invested more than $70 million in Macon and Middle Georgia.”
His friends make fun of him because … “I have so many statistics, facts and numbers floating around in my head and can spout them off at a moment’s notice. Whether it’s stats about the best NFL safety ever, Troy Polamalu, or the troubling statistics regarding funding for HOPE Scholarship and educational investment in the State of Georgia, I know them.”
The one person he’d most like to meet is … “Andrew Carnegie (the father of the steel industry) or John Rockefeller (the father of the oil and petroleum industry) so I could ask them if they have any advice on creating my own industry. Carnegie and Rockefeller were also very philanthropic, which is something I admire. I would love to be mentioned among their names one day as a great humanitarian.”
Five years from now he sees himself … “Opening my own mom and pop small business taking residential, industrial and commercial structures partially or either entirely off the electric grid. Shh! Don’t tell Georgia Power.”