The University of North Georgia (UNG) won a pair of awards from Junior Achievement (JA) of Georgia for students' volunteer efforts at the Mike & Lynn Cottrell JA Discovery Center at North Georgia, which is located near UNG's Cumming Campus.

UNG received the Volunteer Partnership Award and the No. 2 Impact Award, which was for having the second-most volunteers of all Mike & Lynn Cottrell JA Discovery Center at North Georgia partners. College of Education and Master of Business Administration (MBA) students accounted for UNG's 192 volunteers for the 2018-19 school year.

Dr. Lauren Johnson, associate professor of teacher education, said students in UNG's social foundations classes thrive on the opportunity.

"That gives them some insights into the differences between students in terms of their backgrounds and language abilities and interests," Johnson said. "They can get a broad view of what is going on in north Georgia schools."

The Mike & Lynn Cottrell JA Discovery Center reaches about 16,000 middle school students per year from its partners in the Calhoun City, Dawson County, Forsyth County, Gainesville City, Hall County and Lumpkin County school systems. It seeks to teach them life skills ranging from business to budgets.

Steven Kronenberg, director of the Mike Cottrell College of Business's graduate programs, sent volunteers from his professionalism class in the MBA program.

"Community service is a major part of being a professional," Kronenberg said.

Kyle Redner, director of volunteer experience and partnerships for Junior Achievement, said of the Mike & Lynn Cottrell JA Discovery Center, "We really couldn't do it without the partnership of the University of North Georgia."