VSU Student Earns Scholarship from "Undercover Boss"

“This wasn’t a ‘right place at the right time’ situation. This was meant to be.”

This is how Missouri native Albert Sandford speaks of an experience that ultimately afforded him a full scholarship to attend Valdosta State University as well as nationwide exposure on a television show.

In the fall of 2009, then-21-year-old Sandford was stretched thin working as a guest services and front gate attendant at Silver Dollar City and attending Ozark Technical College in Branson, Mo. He had worked at the popular amusement park since he was 16 and was now using his earnings to cover tuition and fees for college.

Despite the demands of work and school, Sandford’s positive and professional attitude remained apparent. Perhaps this is why he was asked to participate in the filming of a training session for Silver Dollar City in preparation of the park’s 50th anniversary celebration.

“I was asked to spend the day with a gentleman by the name of John Briggs,” said Sandford. “The filming took two days, during which time I trained him like I would any new employee.”

What Sandford did not know was that the man posing as John Briggs was really Joel Manby, the CEO of Herschend Family Entertainment, the company that owns 24 amusement parks nationwide including Silver Dollar City and Wild Adventures.

About two weeks after the filming, Sandford was flown to work at a sister park in Stone Mountain, Ga. for a day. Still oblivious to John Briggs’ true identity, Sandford was taken to Herschend’s corporate office in Atlanta after work. There he learned who his trainee really was, and that he had made such a profound impression on the CEO that he was selected to receive a full scholarship for college. MORE

Valdosta State University’s Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Criminal Justice, and Marriage and Family Therapy announces the opening of the Center for Applied Social Sciences. The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved the center’s formation in July.

“Everyone has been very supportive … It has been a dream of mine to start this center,” said Dr. Darrell L. Ross, department head and center director, who joined the VSU family in August of 2010.

During a reception on Thursday, Sept. 8, representatives from Meggitt Training Systems Inc., a division of Meggitt Defense Systems Inc. located in Suwanee, Ga., presented the department $20,000 in start-up money for the center.

“We picked Valdosta because of Dr. Ross, its size, its aggressiveness and its desire to do business with the private sector,” said Randall L. Murphy, new product development, Meggitt Training Systems Inc. “We plan on bringing a lot of stuff down here and doing a lot of big things, and we look forward to it.” MORE

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