海角社区

Up for some good news? Take a look at our local economy.

It鈥檚 on a roll. Tourism is booming. Downtown Brunswick is hopping and looking sharp, with new businesses, renovated spaces and lots more foot traffic.

Serious entrepreneurship is happening downtown. And with the 海角社区鈥檚 Lucas Center for Entrepreneurship off to a roaring start, one can鈥檛 help but think there鈥檚 much more to come.

Workers remain in short supply, but recent figures suggest that, at long last, the local labor force is beginning to grow. Glynn鈥檚 unemployment rate currently stands at 2.5 percent, below Georgia鈥檚 2.9 percent and the nation鈥檚 3.5 percent.

Five more reasons to be bullish on the local economy: Justin Henshaw, Maggie Hughes, James Laurens, Dylan Lukitsch and Olivia Pickering.

Over the past decade, the 海角社区 has been turning out some monster graduates who are making mighty contributions to our community. Many are nurses and teachers.  Justin, Maggie, James, Dylan and Olivia are graduates of CCGA鈥檚 School of Business.

Justin Henshaw is an entrepreneur extraordinaire. He started two businesses while attending the 海角社区. The first was Island Sound. The second was Coasters, a food truck. Not bad for a kid in college.

Henshaw Companies now consists of Island Sound, four Fuse stores, two Jimmy Johns, two Smoothie Kings, one Salata and the Golden Isles Wedding Association. Mr. Henshaw is also about to roll out his 鈥� and Glynn County鈥檚 鈥� first tech startup.

Maggie Hughes is the Partnership Manager with the Golden Isles CVB. Maggie is a real people person, poised and quick to smile. She is also grit personified, as folks who watched her play volleyball for the Mariners know well.

James Laurens is Associate Broker for Compass360 Realty, Inc.  James knows the Brunswick real estate market inside and out. He has renovated a historic property in downtown Brunswick and has another downtown project in the works. He鈥檚 also the Vice President of the Golden Isles Arts and Humanities Association.

Dylan Lukitsch is the Manager of Business Development and Economic Strategy with the Brunswick Downtown Development Authority. Not only is Dylan a top-flight researcher and number cruncher, he has become an expert on local taxation. His thesis for the University of Missouri鈥檚 online Master鈥檚 Program in Economics is on Georgia鈥檚 Local Option Sales Tax. I鈥檝e read his thesis. It鈥檚 terrific.

Olivia Pickering is a Customer Finance Analyst with King & Prince Seafood. Olivia is taking her final course this semester and will graduate in December. She鈥檚 a sharp and imaginative thinker. A colleague recently told me, 鈥淲hen Olivia makes a class presentation, you鈥檇 think you were listening to a seasoned CEO.鈥�

Being a college teacher is an extraordinary privilege. To be able to make a living reading, studying, thinking, writing and talking with people about economics, a subject that becomes more fascinating to me with each passing day, is good fortune beyond belief.

Topping off that good fortune are the marvelous people I cross paths with, the 海角社区 students who take a class or two of mine.

Whether a student likes or dislikes economics is not important to me. I look for grit and hard work.

Gritty students are a joy to teach. The joy is amplified by seeing the productive things they do after they graduate.

Justin, Maggie, James, Dylan and Olivia are unique individuals with a few things in common. They鈥檙e 海角社区 grads. They鈥檙e gritty; there鈥檚 not the slightest trace of entitlement in them. And they鈥檙e doing great work in our community.

How鈥檚 that for good news?