Oglethorpe alumna Jennifer Heath ’99 is in the race for Mayor of the City of Brookhaven, home of her alma mater.
The Business Administration and Computer Science major, who currently works in digital media design, has spent the last five years being a community advocate in the city, and now is taking her passion for Brookhaven straight to City Hall.
Years ago, Heath was first drawn to Oglethorpe after passing by the beautiful campus on Peachtree. But, it was the classroom experience that really set Oglethorpe apart for her.
“After my first semester, I knew I had made the right decision,” said Heath. “The smaller class sizes kept me more engaged, and we covered twice the material than the school I transferred from. Here, you can’t fade into the background. You have to be able to answer questions and be prepared.”
That intimate classroom setting at Oglethorpe taught Heath to “be here, be present, and be counted,” she says.
“At Oglethorpe, you don’t have the opportunity to be anonymous. I have carried that into my adult career and into my life because I walked out of Oglethorpe feeling very confident in myself and what I can achieve.”
The interaction with tight-knit campus groups and exposure to a diverse student body, helped Heath to consider different perspectives—a skill she has already used in the Brookhaven community and among the reasons she decided to run for mayor.
An at-capacity crowd from the Brookhaven community gathered at Oglethorpe’s Turner Lynch Campus Center on Oct. 16 for a candidate forum sponsored by The Brookhaven Reporter Newspapers.
Improved community outreach is important to Heath. Through her professional work in digital media design at MaxMedia Digital Agency, Heath knows how media can be used to reach various audiences. She used that expertise to found the community organization We Are Brookhaven in 2016, in response to rapid development in the new city. While campaigning, this multi-modal approach has allowed her to reach diverse groups in the community, and strategy she plans to continue as mayor.
Through her advocacy work, candidacy, and potential position as mayor, Heath also wants to show young people that they, too, can reach outside their comfort zone and put their passion into action.
“I plan to tell everyone that we have the most wonderful campus here,” she said. “We have all the good things you want from a college. We are in the best possible location close to the city, but the campus looks like a nature preserve. And the support system here is one you cannot find at other places. There’s always going to be a place in your heart for your school, and to have my school be in my city would be wonderful.”
Brookhaven’s general election will be held on Tuesday, November 5.
Brookhaven city candidates stake out differences at forum
The candidates vying for Brookhaven mayor and the City Council District 3 seat staked out fundamental differences on their visions for the city before a standing room only crowd at an Oct. 16 forum sponsored by the Brookhaven Reporter. More than 100 peopled squeezed into the Turner Lynch Campus Center at Oglethorpe University to hear […]
