Piedmont College reopens its Demorest and Athens campuses today after being closed for two days. College president James F. Mellichamp made the announcement Wednesday in a post to the school’s website. He took the opportunity to thank those who went “above and beyond” following Tropical Storm Irma. “Our security and maintenance personnel have been terrific; our residence life staff, including our professional staff, RDs, and RAs, have done a fantastic job; and our food service crew have carried on without missing a beat,” praises Mellichamp.
“Events associated with Hurricane Irma have had a significant impact upon all of us in recent days,” he writes. “In comparison with others, however, we have come through this experience relatively unscathed, and for that we are grateful. In my 35 years as a faculty member and administrator at Piedmont, I have never seen anything like this before.”
Essential utility services were restored to the Demorest campus on Wednesday. Classes at the Demorest and Athens campuses resume Thursday as scheduled. Off-campus cohorts will meet according to conditions at the host locations. Students are urged to use their best judgement in deciding if travel conditions are safe for them to return to class.
Mellichamp sums up the experience, not only of Piedmont students and staff but of all Georgians when he writes, “…we can all agree that Fall Semester of 2017 has given us a number of memorable experiences so far — the Great Eclipse and now the Great Storm. Here’s hoping that we will not experience anything as acute as the recent hurricane again.”
