Recently, the NMI has been honored to host new friends from near and far, and we are over the moon to explore how these fresh friendships could blossom into potential partnerships.   First, we welcomed Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz to our humble abode. During the Mayor’s visit, he spoke with New Media Production students to learn why they chose earn the certificate and what it means for their career pursuits. After, he had a chance to catch up on all our innovative undertakings through presentations from our Capstone teams. In addition to hearing from our students, the Mayor discussed potential collaborations with the Athens-Clarke County Unified Government and made plans to form a job recruitment pipeline for our Certificate and EM students!   In addition to the mayoral visit, we also welcomed a few VIP visitors from the world of big tech. Manish Gupta, Director of Marketing Insights (AR/VR) at Facebook, and Prachi Gupta, Engineering Director at YouTube, visited from the west coast to tour our space, learn about our mission, and witness our students creating digital solutions first-hand. We’re eager to explore how this visit could open a channel for an exciting collaboration moving forward.   We’re so glad that Kelly, Manish, and Prachi all took the time to learn how we make it work, and we’re stoked to explore the unique ways they can help us make it work better!