A Jewel Retires from CE

July 6, 2020

It is bittersweet that we announce the retirement of Ms. Jewell “Judy” Hendrix, executive assistant to the director and an all-around amazing woman, effective Aug. 1. Over the past 30 years with the Division of Continuing Education (41 with the University), she has positively impacted countless lives—student, instructor and coworker alike. 

Whether working with the National Youth-At-Risk Conference, the Governor’s Conference and Model UN, among others, her favorite part of work has always been the people that she’s met along the way. “[It’s] the clients you get to work with, the partnerships and friendships you form.” Hendrix said. “As the years have passed, you see their families grow and change and you celebrate the happy times and mourn the sad times. I always enjoy the feeling of knowing that I have done my best and when a customer walks away with a smile on their face.”

Before joining the Division of Continuing Education in 1990, Hendrix served as senior secretary for the Department of Management in what was then the School of Business, where she began in 1979. In 1988, she was acknowledged for her outstanding contributions by then Georgia Southern Vice President, Harry S. Carter, and again in 1989 as one of Today’s Women in Bulloch County. “The Georgia Southern of 1979 is very different [from] the Georgia Southern of 2020 and we are living in unprecedented times. It is encouraging to see the way that our administrators, faculty and staff have come together to support the University and the community.”

This community—Statesboro and Bulloch County—is one that she has called home since she was 14 years old, when her family decided to move back to her parents’ hometown. She currently is involved with her church, working in their nursery, and has assisted with weeklong camps she says have “shaped and changed the lives of many young people.”

Before calling Statesboro home, Hendrix spent her early years in the countryside of Acworth, Georgia where she and her family belonged to another tight-knit community. She fondly recalls swinging with her siblings on the neighbor’s giant tire swing, helping her parents tend the gardens, and taking care of the cows—especially Betsy—using the milk to make homemade butter.

Now, a few weeks before her retirement is official, she says she’s excited about the future. “I’ll continue to be faithfully involved in my church and its ministries. I’m looking forward to turning the page and following the path that the Lord has for me because he has promised that he will guide me and will never forsake me, and I can trust him in the sunshine and in the storm.”

Before she leaves Georgia Southern and settles into retirement, Ms. Judy wants to leave just one more nugget of wisdom. “Take time to enjoy the occasions, really enjoy time spent with parents and family, the joy of a child’s laughter, the wonder on their face, listen to the birds singing, smell the flowers, take a photo, enjoy a hug, share a whispered prayer, really listen, smile at a stranger, help when no one is looking, read a verse and savor the Lord speaking to you. Sing to your heart’s content, feel the sun’s rays on your face, enjoy the journey, you are never going to say, ‘I wish I would have worked more.’”

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The mission of the Division of Continuing Education is to support Georgia Southern University’s commitment to extending the learning environment beyond the classroom to the communities it serves, promoting lifelong success by delivering multi-modal, multi-site and empowering opportunities for the individual. Our offerings are available online and in-person, designed to meet various cultural and generational learning needs and provide traditional and non-traditional learners with the flexibility needed to maintain a work-life balance.