Index of Advertisers A WORD FROM THE PUBLISHER A New Newton

5 June

A & J’s Bonding

A&A’s Outlet

Alcovy CASA

Ausband Chapman Insurance

Austin Harris - Edward Jones

Beasley Drug Co.

Berry’s Tree Farm

Bradley’s Bar B Que

Bullseye Accounting Services

Cater 2 U

City of Covington

City of Oxford

City of Porterdale

Complete Automotive Tire Center

Conyers Jewelers Inc

Conyers School of Ballet

Covington Dance & More

Covington Police Department

Dawson’s Rustic Designs

Deep South Cattle Company

Fletcher’s Jewelry

Forever Mis Quinces

Georgia Outdoor Decor

Georgia Piedmont Techical College

Linda Hays

Hines Home of Funerals

Hometown Realty

JC Harwell & Son

JerJay Beauty Supply

Keep Newton Beautiful

Leapin Lizards Pet Shop

Leanne P. Cooper

Lester Lackey Funeral Home

Loganville Christian Academy

Mayfield Ace Hardware

McKibbens Music

Mosquito Joe

Natural Path Family Health Food Store

Newton County Board of Commissioners

Newton County Chamber of Commerce

Newton County IDA

Inoticed it almost immediately upon arrival back to Covington in July 2022. There was enough familiarity here to know that I was back in Newton County. But there was also more than enough evidence to show me just how much Newton County has changed.

Starting with the traffic, then some of the new restaurants, businesses and hotels littering the area, it was evident that growth hadn’t come to the area — it was already here and had already produced a new Newton County.

From unprecedented upgrades to iconic Sharp Stadium to new schools being built, new opportunities for education coming from the upgrades to Covington Town Center and ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings galore, it’s safe to say that the growth themes of our two previous Visions magazines have given birth to its intended newness. And there’s more on the way.

This is a good thing, Newton County. Because the newness not only invites new opportunities but also new people and new strategies to facilitate and continuously foster growth. But we would be naive to think that these results of growth don’t also present new challenges. Yet, those new challenges present us with new avenues to show once again that ours is a community that’s adaptable, flexible, cosmopolitan and still “old school” enough to not lose some of its small-town charm.

Piedmont

Plain Nuts Catering

Printability Signs

Ramsey’s Furniture

Ready Rent-All

Rotary Club of Covington

Shametria Dixon State Farm

Shannon D. Sneed Attorney at Law

Shear Bliss

Snapping Shoals EMC

Southern Heartland Art Gallery

The Meat House

Town House Cafe

Triumph Church of God in Christ United

In last year’s Visions, we chronicled how our community was “not only thriving, but surging.” Now that the surge is here and firmly planted, this year’s Visions magazine takes a deep dive into what that surge means in education, in business, in health and wellness, sports and even politics, and how we can find ways to celebrate the “New Newton” that’s formulating around us.

Dig in and enjoy.

Gabriel Stovall Publisher The Covington News

Newton County’s tech industry boom not slowing down any time soon

By Gabriel Stovall gstovall@covnews.com

When Georgia Piedmont Technical College president Dr. Tavarez Holston heard Absolics Chief Technology Officer Dr. Sung Jin Kim express a direct call for workers for the semiconductor industry-leading company, he knew then that a partnership between the school and the company had to happen.

And on March 9, that’s exactly what took place. That’s when Georgia Piedmont and Absolics officially teamed up together to provide work-ready education and training for residents in and around Metro Atlanta.

The partnership was officially sealed with a signing ceremony at GPTC, but it was a connection that was in the works since Absolics’ plans to build a facility in Newton County that produces a glass substrate for computer processing and memory chips became public knowledge.

Absolics broke ground on the facility, which promises to bring more than 400 jobs to the Newton County area, in November 2022. It was one of several companies that executed groundbreakings and grand openings representing Newton’s booming tech, engineering and manufacturing industry.

For example, two weeks after the Absolics ground breaking, Covington landed a Silicon Valley-based aerospace company called Archer Aviation Inc. which recently began construction on a 500,000 square-foot complex on 96 acres of vacant city land owned by the Covington Municipal Airport. That development is slated to create 1,000 jobs in the city.

Toward the end of March, Ascend Elements, a company that works with electric vehicle manufacturers and battery manufacturers to recycle used batteries, celebrated the grand opening for a plant on Covington’s Industrial Boulevard that will become North America’s largest electric vehicle battery recycling facility.

These are the kinds of rapid-fire developments that led Kim to declare Covington as a national and, perhaps, eventual international hotbed for tech, engineering and manufacturing. It’s also what triggers Holston to become aggressive about positioning Georgia Piedmont Technical College to be front and center for training students to take