Sowing Big Dreams in a Small Town
By: Kelley Freund
With applications at an all-time high, the Institute remains committed to expanding access to students from all over Georgia. One alumnus is helping the cause, creating a pipeline from his own small hometown to his alma mater.
The town of Douglas, located in Coffee County in southeast Georgia, is about an hour from the nearest interstate. As Georgia Tech’s Assistant Vice Provost and Executive Director of Undergraduate Admission Rick Clark likes to put it, “You have to dig in to get there.” But despite its remoteness, Coffee County is recognized as one of the most progressive communities in southern Georgia, with Douglas serving as the county seat and a center for shopping and dining, professional services, and industrial growth.
Much of that has to do with Francis Lott, Arch 58, Arch 59. Following his graduation from Tech and a few years in the Air Force, Lott returned to his hometown of Douglas to join family-owned Lott Builders Supply Company. He eventually led the company’s diversification into commercial real estate development with the founding of Lott Properties, Inc., in 1981. Since then, Lott has played a major role in the economic development of his hometown, building everything from shopping centers and restaurants to apartments in Douglas. He helped recruit new industries to the community and established an Economic Development Fund with a $1 million endowment to the Community Foundation of Coffee County. This leadership and philanthropy earned him Volunteer of the Year awards on two separate occasions from the Georgia Economic Development Association.
Lott would go on to extend that community spirit to Georgia Tech. While on a retreat with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, fellow board member Bill Todd, IM 71, asked if Lott knew then-Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough, CE 64, MS CE 65. It turned out Clough also hailed from Douglas. Todd went on to talk about Clough’s great leadership at Tech and how something should be done to recognize him in Douglas.
“And then he stuck his finger on my chest—like I owed him money—and said, ‘You need to do it!’”
So Lott did. He helped launch Wayne Clough Day; then he and his wife, Diane, made a gift to the Tech Promise Scholarship Program, which was established by Clough in 2007 to provide a debt-free education for Georgia students from low-income families. Today, the Francis and Diane Lott Promise Scholarship Endowment gives priority to residents of Coffee County, then to students from 64 other counties that make up southern Georgia.
While three Coffee County high schoolers earned Lott’s scholarship that first year, Lott recognized the difficulty in building up a steady stream of students from his hometown to Georgia Tech. According to Clark, recruiting students from more rural areas is not just a challenge for Tech—universities across the country come across the same issues.
“In rural areas, you find that higher education isn’t as prevalent in a prospective student’s family history,” Clark says. “Often the norm is to attend a community college, technical college, or move right into work. That direct route from high school into a four-year college is often not part of the family pattern.”
For many of these students, the cost of attending a school like Georgia Tech seems too high, and the idea of living in a large city can be daunting. And since it’s often not logistically or financially feasible for representatives of these universities to visit rural communities, many students in these areas aren’t always aware of all the colleges available to them.
But Georgia Tech recognizes its responsibility in helping change that narrative.
“We’re a public school in Georgia, and we exist to serve the state first, and not just Atlanta or the big cities,” Clark says. “We want to be a place for all talented Georgians, particularly those who are interested in STEM.”
To live up to that ideal, Tech launched the Georgia Tech Scholars Program, which guarantees admission to the valedictorians or salutatorians from any school in Georgia that has more than 50 seniors. The Institute has also teamed up with the University of Georgia, Georgia State University, and Augusta University to reach more prospective students across the state. This collaboration, known as the Peach State Tour, provides information sessions that, pre-pandemic, could be found within 50 miles of every Georgian.
The admissions team also has specific communication campaigns for recruiting in rural areas to relieve the intimidation factor that comes with enrolling at a school like Georgia Tech. Talking points for students in more rural areas are geared toward the impact and influence the Institute already has on small communities like theirs. Highlighting Tech as a public good for the state, and emphasizing how Tech is invested in improving the lives of all Georgians, makes the school less intimidating and more accessible.
Clark understands that the cost of a Tech degree and the amount of financial aid available is a big challenge. On average, the Institute meets less than 40 percent of a student’s demonstrated financial need. The school’s Tech Promise Scholarship and the state’s HOPE Scholarship and Zell Miller Scholarship offer some help for prospective students, and Clark is optimistic Georgia Tech’s new Strategic Plan recognizes and will begin to more intentionally address the financial need, which often prevents talented rural students from choosing to attend Tech.
But why should universities go to such great efforts to recruit students from different communities?
“The Tech experience is better when people from different backgrounds challenge each other to see a bigger picture and understand varying perspectives,” says Clark. “But I also think we are focused on the long-term goal, and that is to create a more thriving Georgia. And to do that, it’s incumbent upon Tech to enroll students from all over our state.”
Students from rural areas are more likely to return to those communities following graduation, using the knowledge gained at Georgia Tech to have a positive impact. Lott is a perfect example. Not only did he return to Douglas and improve the economic viability of his hometown, but now he’s on a mission to help students from these communities attend Georgia Tech and have an impact of their own.
“Georgia Tech taught me a lot about hard work and focus, and it gave me confidence,” he says. “I wanted others to have the same experience. So I’m trying to create this pipeline from Coffee County to Georgia Tech. I’ve kept plugging away at it because I feel like it’s such a great opportunity.”
Lott began visiting Coffee High School in 2015 to speak about Georgia Tech. At first, he aimed his talks at high school juniors and seniors, but eventually realized the importance of expanding them to parents and counselors, as well as younger students. Kieran Lane, EE 21, was one of those younger students.
Lane was a bit different than those Lott usually met with because Lane knew from a very young age he wanted to attend Tech. It started out as a kind of joke—his father was a University of Georgia fan, and Lane was always finding ways to compete against his dad. But once Lane learned more about the school, he became more serious about his intentions. His uncle arranged a meeting.
“Mr. Lott was known in the community as the guy who went to Georgia Tech, and I was the kid who everyone knew wanted to go to Georgia Tech,” Lane says. “It was natural that we would meet one day.”
Lane says he walked into Lott’s office in a pair of khakis, a nice shirt, and his Georgia Tech tie. Lott remembers that Lane wore a blue blazer and carried a folder with a bio and some report cards. The two talked about what it would take to get into Tech, the school’s rankings, and Lott’s own experiences, and with that discussion, Lane’s vision of attending Georgia Tech became much more of a reality.
Lane says Lott is still somebody he can talk to about anything. “Mr. Lott gives you this respect, and he really pours into you as a person. And he’ll do everything in his power to help you out and make sure you succeed.”
In 2019, Lott organized a field trip for 33 Coffee High School students to Georgia Tech, which featured a campus tour and sessions with key officials. (It was the first field trip for the high school to a major college.) In September of last year, Lott hosted over 40 Coffee High School honor students at his beach house in Fernandina, Fla., for a “GT Day at the Beach.” Students not only had the chance to explore the town, but also hear from Tech administrators and alumni. A month later, Clark came to present at the high school; Lott says the presentation garnered such interest that Clark stuck around for an hour afterwards to answer student questions.
In April, Lott presented his sixth Tech Promise Scholarship to a Coffee County student, and as of early May, seven Coffee High School seniors have officially enrolled at Georgia Tech, an all-time high from a single graduating class there.
“I’ve had a role in helping change some lives,” says Lott. “To motivate kids to apply to and attend Georgia Tech, one of the premier state schools in the country, is exhilarating to me. I’ve been more rewarded by this type of engagement than anything I’ve done in my business career.”
Lott’s journey from Douglas to Georgia Tech (and back) provides an example to other students from rural communities of what’s possible with a college education. And Lott’s latest mission is an example to other alumni of the good that can come from investing time, talent, and treasure into their alma mater.