Rome is known for many things. Our abundance of natural beauty. For our rich history. For being a health care hub for Northwest Georgia. And for being the epicenter of higher education in the region as well.

That’s because we boast three colleges and a university — Shorter University, Berry College, Georgia Highlands College and Georgia Northwestern Technical College.

Among them, they have more than 16,000 students enrolled.

What’s interesting to note is that a majority of those students are women.

Of Berry’s 2,086 undergrad and grad students, 1,412 (some 68 percent) are female. Those numbers are mirrored at Shorter, which has 3,275 students enrolled, of which 2,567 are women.

The trend continues at Georgia Highlands where 64 percent of the students are women — 3,289 of the 5,132 en-rolled there.

GNTC has 9,795 students enrolled in technical education credit programs and 6,053 — or almost 62 percent — are female.

The woman power continues when looking at the staffing of area institutions of higher learning.

Georgia Highlands has 304 full-time staffers and 189 (62 percent) are women.

Berry and Shorter both have pretty much an even female-to-male ratio among their full-time staffers, though women still hold a slight edge.

Three hundred of Berry’s 568 employees are women. That 53 percent matches Shorter’s numbers where 149 of its 282 full-time staffers are women.

And GNTC has 280 instructors, 152 of which are women and totaling about 54 percent.

So that’s why it’s so fitting that we’re celebrating women of Rome’s colleges and university. In this edition, you get a glimpse of a student and a staffer from each school.

Now, as is our Magnolia M.O., these showcase portraits are not a look at the students’ and faculty members’ academic accomplishments and credentials. Our mission here is to celebrate them as women and to reveal bits and pieces you might not know about them — to take them out of the boxes defined by titles, degrees and majors and GPAs.

So we looked to local campuses to find intriguing women. The options were vast. Our campuses are rich in smart, involved, accomplished and interesting women.

And we salute and celebrate them all!

But the eight we’re showcasing show the diversity of students — they range in age from 19 to 48 — as well as those shaping the minds and education of students here.

Each is fascinating in her own way. And they’re all making a difference on campus and in our community.

They are inspirational and captivating. Each time I connect with women for our Magnolia portraits, I am so touched by their character, their heart, their interests and their stories. Of course, that’s why Magnolia exists ... to celebrate our lives as women and all the various versions and phases of those lives.

Whether you are affiliated with any of the local schools or not, rest assured they all have a huge impact on our community. They are partners in our community on so many levels, from providing jobs and educations to improving our local quality of life and economy.

And from Magnolia’s point of view, they help fill our community with amazing women.

So please join me in celebrating the women of Rome’s colleges — the ones featured in this edition plus all the others on our local campuses throughout the year!