It’s time to remember the chipper when disposing of your live Christmas trees.
Each December, Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful and its partners at Jackson EMC, Walton EMC, Republic Services, and the Gwinnett County Departments of Transportation, Parks and Recreation, and Fire extend the magic of Christmas. Through Gwinnett County’s annual Bring One for the Chipper event, these organizations team up to transform live Christmas trees into mulch that will grace public spaces and parks over the coming months.
Trees will be collected at select fire stations throughout the county between December 26, 2025, and January 21, 2026. The trees will then be transported to Bethesda Park at 225 Bethesda Church Road in Lawrenceville for Bring One for the Chipper 2026 on Saturday, January 24, 2026. Dozens of volunteers will be needed to ensure a smooth event from start to finish.
Marlatt encourages anyone who wants to volunteer to register now for the 2026 Chipper event on Saturday, January 24. Hosted from 7:30-10:30 a.m., volunteers must be 14 or older and can include individuals and families, school clubs, civic groups, companies, and neighborhood associations. To volunteer, interested parties must register online at Volunteer Gwinnett – Gwinnett | Gwinnett County. Questions may be directed to gwinnettcb@gwinnettcb.org or 770-822-5187.
Meanwhile, the city of Suwanee will have its own recycling of trees. Area residents may drop off their former living Christmas trees at Sims Lake Park, at 1600 Suwanee Dam Road, from December 26 to January 31.
Decorations, lights, and stands should be removed from all trees prior to donating. Last year, mulch from nearly 1,200 former Christmas trees were spread in Suwanee parks.
- To volunteer, contact Nicole Schnepper at nschnepper@suwanee.com or 770-945-8996.
From GGC graduate to NYU professor
The beauty of a collegiate journey lies in the opportunity to discover one’s passions and turn them into a purposeful career.
For McKenzie Preston, GGC ’16, that journey began after graduating from North Gwinnett High School and spending his first year of college elsewhere before transferring to Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC), a move that set the course for his future.
“I chose GGC because of its strong focus on teaching, affordable tuition and flexible course offerings, all of which made it possible for me to work full-time while pursuing my degree,” Preston explains. “During my time there, I balanced a full course load with full-time positions at JPMorgan Chase and Navy Federal Credit Union.”
Preston majored in business administration, drawn to its focus on management, leadership and marketing, areas that matched his growing interests. After earning his bachelor’s degree from GGC in 2016, he went on to receive a master’s degree in industrial-organizational psychology from the University of Georgia in 2018, followed by a Ph.D. in business administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2023.
During his graduate studies, Preston held positions in diverse industries, from business management software to real estate and even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but something still felt missing.
“I realized I hadn’t yet found my true sense of purpose,” he said. “Through several long conversations with Dr. Douglas Johnson, a former GGC professor now at Wake Forest University, I came to see that academia aligned much more closely with my aspirations for autonomy, problem-solving and making a meaningful social impact.”
That realization ultimately led him to join the NYU Stern School of Business as a tenure-track assistant professor. He described the position as a natural fit.
“NYU and GGC both share a deep commitment to education and innovative learning,” he says. “I still remember my capstone course at GGC, where we worked in teams to run a simulated company. It was an incredible hands-on experience that mirrors the type of experiential learning I now see at NYU.”
Though NYU operates on a global scale, Preston credits GGC’s faculty for laying the foundation for his success.
“Dr. Douglas Johnson’s leadership courses were not only engaging and informative, but they also had a lasting impact on my career,” Preston says. “He has continued to be a key mentor and source of guidance over the years. I also vividly remember many of the outstanding professors whose courses shaped my time at GGC — including Dr. Jason Delaney, Dr. Eric Gresch, Dr. Phillip Hartley, Dr. Ali Kooti, Dr. Sanjaya Mayadunne, Dr. Carlos Enrique Ruiz Burgos, Dr. Luis Torres and Dr. Mei Miranda Zhang. Their enthusiasm for teaching and dedication to students left a lasting impression on me.”
