Scholarship is springboard for awareness, philanthropy
In February, on the occasion of his retirement from Coca-Cola European Partners, colleagues and friends of John F. Brock III, ChE 1970, MS ChE 1971, HON Ph.D. 2016, and Mary Rockett Brock,
HON Ph.D. 2016, honored the couple by establishing a scholarship in their names at Georgia Tech.
Natives of Moss Point, Mississippi, the Brocks have devoted nearly half a century to service, supporting education and philanthropy at Georgia Tech and in the communities in which they have lived and worked. In honor of their visionary leadership, and in recognition of the financial assistance John Brock received as a Georgia Tech undergraduate, the Mary Rockett and John F. Brock III Scholarship Endowment Fund will provide support for students from Mississippi with demonstrated financial need.
“Georgia Tech nurtured my love of engineering, gave me the tools I needed to succeed, and provided opportunities I never dreamed of,” said Brock, who would not have been able to attend if he hadn’t received scholarship support. “To have this scholarship bear our names, knowing how many lives it will touch, is truly an honor.”
He knows firsthand. In high school, Brock was a bright student and a budding engineer constrained only by a lack of financial resources. He was able to attend Georgia Tech on the Schroeter-Ergenzinger Scholarship, and he has never forgotten it. “Because someone came along years before me and chose to provide financial support to qualified students for whom a Georgia Tech education was out of reach,” he said, “I was able to achieve my dream.”
In academic year 2016-17, there were 11 undergraduates from Mississippi enrolled at Georgia Tech. Of these, three demonstrated financial need — totaling more than $97,000. The burden of borrowing to meet all of the costs of attendance was shouldered by the students and their parents to the tune of almost $69,000. And that was just for one year.
Across all states in the country, students face similar need. Many are qualified to attend Georgia Tech, but may never apply because of the prohibitive cost. Others are admitted but do not attend.
As Rafael L. Bras, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs and the K. Harrison Brown Family Chair, put it, “We are competing with the best universities for the best students from across the nation. And we are losing some of them because they are receiving more attractive financial aid from very good universities. Our goal should be that every student admitted to Georgia Tech ought to be able to attend without undue financial burden.”
Fourteen Mississippi students have been accepted to Tech for fall 2017. It remains to be seen how many will be able to attend, and how many will have to look elsewhere.
To inquire about making a gift in support of a geographically based, statespecific scholarship fund, please contact any development officer or Matthew Ryan, executive director for Regional Development, at 404.894.4515 or matthew.ryan@dev.gatech.edu.
Increasing need-based scholarships for academically qualified students is one of the Institute’s most important priorities.