Riley Fuller Named Outstanding Scholar

Riley Fuller has been named the Gordon State College Outstanding Scholar for the 2017-18 academic year.

As Gordon's Outstanding Scholar, Fuller was recognized along with students from other University System of Georgia institutions on Academic Recognition Day during the recent session of the Georgia General Assembly.

Academic Recognition Day was first held in 1987 as a "celebration of individual academic achievement and recognition of those students who exemplify that which is best about the University System of Georgia and its institutions."

As a dual-enrolled student, Fuller basically skipped high school and enrolled at Gordon State for the fall 2015 semester. She hopes to graduate spring 2019 with a B.S. in biology. Medical school, hopefully at Stanford University, is next on her list.

"I plan to take the MCAT (medical college admission test) this summer," Fuller said. "We'll see how I do and go from there."

Her interest in medicine follows her family's individual career paths. Her dad, Joel Fuller, is a local dentist, mom Christy is a nurse at Futral Road Elementary in Spalding County and her sister, Jordan, who was also a dual- enrolled student at Gordon, is about to graduate from the McWhorter School of Pharmacy at Samford University in Birmingham.

Fuller admits that being a dual enrolled student is hard work.

"But if you are willing to apply yourself, it's worth getting ahead," she said.