ROCK SPRING, Ga. -- Ray Brooks, president of Northwestern Technical College, an-nounced Monday he will resign, effective Feb. 15.

Brooks has accepted the position of president at Piedmont Technical College in Greenwood, S.C.

"This has been one of the toughest decisions I have had to make in my life," Brooks said. "I've thought about it. I have prayed about it. Now I am very much at peace with it."

Brooks described the interview process with Piedmont Tech as lengthy, but said the school offered him the position last Thursday.

"The school is about twice the size of this one," Brooks said. "It serves an area of seven counties."

He will assume the role March 1.

"I am looking forward to a couple of weeks of vacation," Brooks said.

Brooks has served Northwestern as president for 22 years, starting in 1986.

"I actually started here as a student,” he recalled. “I then started teaching here in 1982 in automotive mechanics. Doors began opening that eventually led to me occupying this role as president."

During Brooks' tenure at the school, he has witnessed its humble beginnings of accom-modating about 250 students to its present status as a technical college that now serves ap-proximately 2,500 students from Walker, Catoosa, Chattooga and Dade counties. The school has a satellite campus in Catoosa.

"We have seen some wonderful accomplishments throughout the years," Brooks said. "However, credit must be given to the wonderful team that has been assembled here for these accomplishments. They are family, without whom none of this would have been possi-ble."

Among the accomplishments credited to Brooks are the purchase of 35 acres that allowed for the expansion of the college campus, as well as the creation of instructional programs that include 24 associate degrees, 26 diploma programs, with 56 technical certificates of credit. In addition Brooks oversaw the college achieving standing accreditation with the Commission of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as a two-year technical school within Georgia's technical school system.

Brooks' called Northwestern a "people's college."

"There is no institution that has a greater impact on the economic health of this area than this school," Brooks said, referring to the skills that his school has provided for the people of the surrounding community that has and will continue to attract jobs to the area.

"Sometimes change is a good thing," Brooks said. "New and fresh ideas are critical for growth. We have laid a solid foundation for the next person to build upon."