When you meet Andrew Mailman for the first time, you’re not surprised to learn that he initiated a community service club in his high school called the Redheaded League, inspired by a Sherlock Holmes’ short story.

The incoming red-headed freshman and academic overachiever who loves to read, is a history buff, and admits that he is a definite “Trekkie,” has an ambitious life plan: to become an aerospace engineer.

“I’ve always been a big space buff,” says Mailman, who graduated this spring from Ringgold High School where he served as President of the National Honor Society during his senior year and ranked eighth in his graduating class. “I wouldn’t mind specializing in the design field of aerospace engineering.”

Mailman’s high school involvement included the National Honor Society, the Future Business Leaders of America Club, the Beta Club, Ringgold High’s marching and concert bands, and his short-lived but colorful Redheaded League.

“It was a fun thing to do at the time,” he says. “It started out as a community service club and we had teacher sponsors. You didn’t have to have red hair to be a member; in fact, most did not.”

He admits that the club did not exist for long, but he was able to round up about 60 – 70 students for the Redheaded League’s yearbook photo, most of whom were not club members.

Mailman managed to achieve a very high grade point average at Ringgold, and only made one “B” during his entire high school career. As far back as middle school, all of his other grades were “A’s.”

“My third grade report card wasn’t as good,” he recalls, remembering that he earned a “C” and that “that was it. My parents put pressure on me to work harder.”

Their parental support paid off. His only “B” was in his Honors Algebra class.

“Of all the subjects, I have to work the hardest in math,” he says, noting that English and history are his favorite subjects and that he even chooses to read history books in his spare time.

When he starts his postsecondary education at Dalton State, Mailman will be entering as a Regents’ Engineering Transfer Program (RETP) student, which will enable him to spend his first two to three years at Dalton State, followed by guaranteed admission to Georgia Tech where he can major in an engineering field.

“I was accepted to Georgia Tech for this fall as well as to Dalton State, but I decided that starting closer to home would be the best option for me,” he says. “It is more affordable to do my first two years here, and my family and I were very impressed with the way the RETP program works when we came to an information session about it last year.”