Girl Meets City: Augusta
I had been trying to get to Augusta it felt like forever when I was accepted into the Georgia Forward Young Gamechanger’s program.
My friend Lisa Bryant first saw the Girl Meets City posts rather early on and began lobbying for me to come to Augusta. This was when I also realized I had many friends living there and from there back from my days at Mercer.
I’ll segue for a moment to explain Young Gamechangers, from their website: “Young Gamechangers is a leadership action program that brings together 50 of Georgia’s brightest minds under the age of 40, to help solve persistent challenges of ONE Georgia community. Each class works for six months to generate big ideas and recommendations for persistent challenges in a Georgia community which they present to the community at the conclusion of the program.”
(Note- if you are reading this BEFORE May 12th then you have time to apply! See below.)
When the Fall 2016 class was set for Augusta, it seemed like serendipity. I would finally get to Augusta. And because this Girl Meets City post is pulled from my three different visits to that city, it’ll be laid out a little differently. So let’s get ready folks, because Girl Meets City: Augusta goes forth from here.
I set out to get some good coffee- leaving Macon at approximately 5-something in the morning meant I was due for my third cup by the time we got to town. This meant heading into the New Moon Cafe.
Then there was a whirlwind bus tour around Augusta, hearing from various city leaders. I really enjoyed getting to listen to the President of Augusta University speak- it’s really amazing to hear their ideas for the future. Here’s our class by the school:
I made myself turn in early that evening, so I’m afraid to say there was no gallivanting around town. The next day I found out I would be assigned to the Riverwalk Group, to tackle challenges facing connectivity with the town and the riverwalk and general issues regarding river usage.
We would also get another tour, during which we got to stop in the Augusta History museum and The Morris Museum of Art.
Again, I was not able to stick around because I had to immediately head to the Atlanta airport to board a plane. (Which is a whole other story, see Girl Meets New Orleans for that one.)
Our second trip to Augusta, I was determined to get out a little bit. After a full day of learning about the Savannah River, the focus of our part of the project, we were set to eat dinner with our group at The Bee’s Knees: Tapas Restaurant & Lounge.
Also, special thanks to the guys in the visiting convention who shared their beer with us in the lobby of the hotel!
Next was Craft & Vine for some custom curated cocktails and appetizers.
And then we discovered champagne bongs were a real thing.
Thankfully I didn’t participate in that round of fun otherwise I might not have survived the next day.
Although before hitting the road home I did go for a quick round of shopping with my classmates Tiffany and Bernadette. (Miss you ladies!!) Then some tacos & sushi before hitting the road.
On my last visit to Augusta for our Young Gamechangers presentation I was left feeling bittersweet. The morning was rushed as we practiced our presentations, and then gave them to the community. It took the better part of the whole day. We had one last party and dinner as a group before heading back to the hotel, and then back out on the town. Craft & Vine would again be the site of our last get together.
I decided not to stay out late. I’m not good at goodbyes, and while we only had three classes together- we still had many many phones calls and lots of hard work put in together on our projects. I would miss these people. I would miss this town.
The next morning I wasn’t quite read to go, so I grabbed a quick brunch in North Augusta.
And just like that… it was done. I couldn’t delay the inevitable. It was time to go home.
Augusta, you’re a pretty amazing city. I certainly hope that I get to return and see all the amazing ways y’all grow!
Love to all y’all,
Molly
