LaNette Holloman, a business management student at Atlanta Technical College in Cascade, has been named as the Technical College System of Georgia’s 2012 Student of the Year.

The award was announced during a banquet honoring the system’s top students and instructors at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel in Atlanta on April 26. Holloman also was presented with a new car as part of the honor.

Holloman, a Midtown resident, competed for the top student honor as part of the system’s annual Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership (GOAL) program, which recognizes the best students at each of the state’s 25 technical colleges and one Board of Regents college with a technical division.

The GOAL program's grand prize was a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze. Chevrolet and the local Chevrolet dealers are the statewide sponsors of the GOAL program.

Holloman returned to college after she, her husband and children were hit hard by the economic downturn.

“First we lost our home, then we lost our vehicle," she said. "Eventually, my husband, our seven youngest children and I found ourselves living in a one-room motel with two beds and a small kitchenette. At that moment, I realized that all of my wits and experience were not enough to make up for what I lacked in education. I decided to return to college.”

A business management major, Holloman was voted student government treasurer, and is a collegiate historian with the DECA marketing society. She is a member of Phi Beta Lamda, SkillsUSA, and the National Technical Honor Society, and holds a 3.9 grade point average.