Volunteers with the Georgia Appalachian Studies Center will meet at anytime, any place, and discuss anything.

They have almost no limits because they are working to help North Georgia residents compete in the global economy by encouraging more education while preserving the arts, environment and culture.

Frogtown Community Radio, the smallest broadcast station in North Georgia, was the main topic of discussion last Sunday afternoon when the culture preservation subcommittee met at the Three Sisters Vineyard in Lumpkin County. The low power FM station, which serves a radius of about 10 miles, may be used to record stories of traditional mountain culture and to teach youth interested in the broadcast profession.

Preserving heirloom seeds and plants that have been passed down through family generations was the topic Monday afternoon when the environment subcommittee met at North Georgia College & State University. The Saving Appalachian Gardens and Seeds project will have a booth at the Bear on the Square festival April 21-23.

Volunteers will accept the seeds and plants along with information about their uses and history. Volunteer master gardeners will help, and SAGAS may eventually be an Elderhostel program for senior citizens.

Discussions of other groups include possible projects such as a student business incubation program and a virtual office where individuals can come in for an hour or a day to rent space with a facsimile, a copy machine, the Internet, a telephone and other business equipment.

Another division of ASC, the Georgia Appalachian Center for Higher Education, is working on the futures of between 12,000 to 15,000 high school students across North Georgia. This program will begin this fall and use qualified college students to mentor high school students, explaining the college experience to them and encouraging them to attend.

High schools selected for GACHE will be assisted with a $20,000 annual grant; last week was the deadline for application. The applications, with school identification removed, will go before the Campus OutReach for Education team for scoring. On April 17, the scored anonymous applications will go before presidents of 21 North Georgia colleges for final decisions.

The Appalachian Studies Center, based at North Georgia College & State University, is supported jointly by the federal Appalachian Regional Commission (see story below), the state of Georgia and the university.

ASC is operated by a 45-member advisory board of educators, business owners, health care professionals and others. The projects are selected by the board and must fit in with the goals of the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Georgia Department of Community Affairs and the NGCSU strategic plan.

The directors of ASC and GACHE have been involved in study of Appalachian customs for many years. ASC director Alice Sampson is a native of a northern state and did her doctoral thesis on Woody Gap school.

GACHE director Shirley Davis is a native of Suches and a graduate of Woody Gap High who returned as principal. Her background includes serving as assistant director of the Okefenokee Science Curriculum Project and as principal of elementary schools in Gwinnett County.

This year, ASC has adopted three projects in the culture arena. It is joining with the Mountain Music and Medicine Show, a live radio show produced in Dahlonega and broadcast by the University of Georgia radio station, WUGA. The MMM Show, an all volunteer effort, already has won three Gabby awards from the Georgia Association of Radio Broadcasters.

The next MMM Show will be produced Saturday in the Buisson Arts Center Music Hall (old Dahlonega Baptist Church). The doors open at 7 p.m., preshow entertainment at 7:30 and live broadcast with audience participation begins at 8.

Featured entertainers will include the four-man Little Mountain gospel, blue grass group, and The Masters Bouquet with "Daisy, Lilly and Rose" harmonizing on traditional blue grass, gospel and folk songs. Tickets are $10; for information, call (706) 867-0050.

A Georgia Mountain Marketplace will be produced in collaboration with the Bear on the Square event, and the third project will involve the Sautee Nacoochee Community Association in "Stories from a Goodly Portion of Northeast Georgia."

In the economic subfield, an arts business conference scheduled this fall will help mountain artists market and promote their creations.

In environment, in addition to saving heirloom seeds and plants, a group will inventory invasive non-native plants along the 85 mile portion of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia. This will involve a formal partnership with the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club, and include the U.S. Forest Service. Lumpkin County Middle School students, NGCSU biology professors and students as well as volunteers will be trained to recognize the plants.

The third active environment project involves measuring the economic impact of the hemlock tree decline.

In the health field, students at Woody Gap High School will compare community health resources to local health conditions. In the second health project, NGCSU nursing students will collect home remedy stories from local elderly residents.

More information about the ASC and its projects is available by calling (706) 864-1540 or visiting ngcsu.edu/resource/ASC.

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