Clayton State College of Business Students Consult with the Henry County Schools Board of Trustees

(April 22, 2026) - On February 12 three students representing the Henry County Schools Board of Trustees consulting team presented their comprehensive Plan of Work to the Henry County Schools Foundation Board under the leadership of Dr. Maria Lumpkin. The meeting brought together distinguished leaders from across the county, including Superintendent Dr. John Pace III.

“Our students did a phenomenal job. They presented with professionalism, confidence, and clarity — and received overwhelmingly positive feedback from both board members and the superintendent,” said Kimberly Johnson, Professor of Management at Clayton State University College of Business. “It was a powerful example of experiential learning in action and a testament to the caliber of students we are developing,” Johnson added.

“We've actually built a program called the Student Consulting Group, which allows students to have experiential opportunities with live clients, real-world challenges, and projects,” said Richard Sylvia. “I am also a member of the Advisory Board for the Clayton State University College of Business.”

“This isn't an internship where they go work for somebody,” Sylvia added. “We actually meet the client, speak with them about their objectives and their requirements relative to a strategic program that they're trying to get off the ground.”

“I was one of the speakers at the board meeting. In our conversations with Dr. Lumpkin we learned what we have to deliver for their annual report, laying the foundation of what all it would include,” said student Tylea Martin. “They have different funding buckets that the money will go to including scholarships for example that is one of the main buckets that the funding, along with grant for teacher innovation. Our goal is to have the annual report completed by April because they have a July annual meeting this year.”

“It was a great experience, real world experience, hearing more information about the foundation as well as meeting the people we're going to be working with, and learning about their expectations,” said student Laiya Killingham. “They were really focused on the storytelling, the community impact, what they've done in the past year.” 

Student Ankitha Kaguturu agreed the clients were focused on storytelling and also getting to know the Clayton State team. Kaguturu was honest about how challenging she found giving a presentation in front of a group.  She said “For me, it was really nerve-wracking. But it actually kind of helped me doing this because I got to gain some confidence and it'll be helping me in future presentations I have to give.”

Killingham shared that, “Knowing my peers were nervous too. It was a little bit of comfort that I wasn't the only one. Also, just researching about the Foundation prior to the presentation helped, and realized that these are people, these are parents, teachers. These are humans just like me.” She added, “I've been online school for majority of my college, so I've never actually presented in front of anyone, but it was really good experience.”

Martin revealed that moving forward that the Clayton State team will continue to communicate with the Foundation as they work on developing the annual report. “We will have biweekly check-ins with the Executive Director, Dr. Lumpkin over the Foundation to make sure everything is aligned with her vision for the report.”

According to Sylvia, “The students are actually creating questions, and they'll be conducting interviews with the Superintendent, the president, the board's chair and for Doctor Lumpkin, and some of their major donors and then the recipients.” He added that “Those will be in person. So, we will probably again meet at the administration building and we'll probably schedule 1/2 day to get most of that work done and I would imagine most other meetings will be virtual.”

Sylvia said ultimately the student team will create content for the foundation that will include “a digital book that be online where you can kind of flip through. That'll be the annual report along with a presentation deck that the board members can use to solicit and attract new donors.”

Martin summed up the team project preparing for and delivering their presentation to the Foundation Board by saying, “this whole experience just helped me really grow professionally by strengthening my communication and leadership skills. It helped me to prepare more confidently when I need to operate in high level professional environments.”

Student Jazmin Morales-Gonzalez shared “I feel like one thing I've learned here is how to take more initiative. I feel like in certain companies and internships, you're just waiting for them to tell you what to do. And here it's about being proactive, taking initiative, taking ownership.”