Like any other event set in the midst of a Southern summer, Georgia Tech’s 2011 FASET program kicked off on a day thick with humidity. Pockets of construction dotted the grounds, and North Avenue’s intersections were crowded.
But that hardly deterred the Ramblin’ Reck, piloted by student leaders, as it zipped and beeped its way around campus. After completing the rounds, the Reck pulled into the Student Center parking lot, nervous freshmen and anxious parents following behind its gold-plated fender.
As the Ford maneuvered off the roadway and parked on the sidewalk, its doors swung open to unleash a wave of enthusiasm upon Tech’s new arrivals. Cheering students poured out of the Reck in a flash of gold glitter, transforming the Student Center into a yellow-tinged pep rally, complete with pom poms and chants.
Day one was in full swing.
FASET (Familiarization and Adaptation to the Surroundings and Environs of Tech) is the Institute’s orientation program for rising freshmen, a two-day submersion into life as a college student at one of the best public universities in the country.
Each year, the first day encompasses information sessions that introduce students to what Tech has to offer along with events like the student activities fair and the FASET social. Day two features course registration, part of the program that was initiated three years ago by Bethany Naser, Tech’s director of orientation. Students and parents both participate, engaging with the campus as a whole to become acquainted with college life.
Greg Ehmer, an incoming first-year from Atlanta, moves into his dorm during a summer FASET session. Photo by Tim Nowak.
“I definitely feel that, right now, I’m prepared for the academic side of Tech,” said Greg Ehmer, a graduate of Marist School in Atlanta and an incoming business administration major at Tech.
Though he’d graduated from high school less than a month before this quasi-induction into college, Ehmer was surprisingly at ease, far from the typical vision of the overwhelmed, overstressed, overspent new freshman.
As a member of the freshman class of 2011, Ehmer is in good company. More than 14,000 high school seniors — a record number for Tech — applied for a spot in the class, and about 2,746 are expected to attend. The class’ average GPA of 3.89 is one of the highest high school GPAs of any incoming group of freshmen in Tech history, a fact that was frequently touted by FASET administrators and an obvious source of pride for Ehmer.
Ehmer, a football player in high school who likes to refer to himself as “well-rounded,” made no bones about his excitement to become a part of campus life, and he downplayed any jitters.
“I only live like 15 minutes away, and I’ve been around Georgia Tech my entire life,” he said, pushing through the crowded Student Center lobby in the direction of an information session on academic success.
Ehmer’s father, Walt Ehmer, IE 89, is the president and chief operating officer of Waffle House and a member of the Alumni Association Board of Trustees Executive Committee.
“He’s very involved in the campus life, especially as an alumnus, and he made it a part of my life growing up,” Greg Ehmer said. “I’m pretty comfortable in the new environment. I’m excited, but anxious and nervous about it. I’m nervous about the academics part of it, the social part of it, all that stuff, but I think being around Tech a good bit of my life has really made the transition easier.”
He laughed and added, “When I go to college, not only do I know my dad’s a phone call away, he’s probably a block or two away, too.”
Ehmer is one of almost 800 students in his class with family members who are alumni of Georgia Tech, be they siblings, parents or grandparents. For many of these legacy students, Tech was a fixture in their lives long before the process of filling out college applications.
While the decision to attend Tech was, for some of the new freshmen, simply a part of their personal family histories, there are others to whom Atlanta is a new creature entirely: 48 of the 50 states are represented in the class of 2015, and students hail from 38 different countries.
Incoming freshman Christine Proctor, center, decided to attend Tech in part thanks to its diverse student body. Photo by Tim Nowak.
For Christine Proctor, that diversity is a serious part of Tech’s appeal. Another FASET attendee and member of the Institute’s newest class, Proctor graduated from the Lovett School in Atlanta and will also major in business administration.
“I’ve been at Lovett since first grade, which is part of why Tech is so appealing — it’s just such a change of scenery,” she said. “Just being in that area of Atlanta and moving into the city and being around tons of different kinds of people and a whole new atmosphere, it’s just a totally different world.”
Tech’s newest class comprises a variety of cultures. Of the freshmen, about 40 percent are minorities, including 14 percent who are traditionally underrepresented minorities.
“I love the people I met at Lovett, but I knew everybody in my grade, four years above me and four years below me,” Proctor said. “It’s so exciting to meet so many new people from different countries.”
Unsurprisingly, Tech’s newest class — most of whom were born in 1993 — is made up primarily of students planning to major in some type of engineering. As students in the College of Management, Ehmer and Proctor contribute to the about five percent of their class who intend to major in business administration.
“Though some people may think it’s strange to go to Tech for business, in my mind it’s actually an asset because it intertwines technology and business together,” Proctor said. “Obviously, the world is becoming more dependent on technology every day, and you need to have that baseline knowledge. I think having that will give me an edge.”
Between FASET’s rotating schedule of small-group information sessions, freshmen flooded the Student Center’s third floor lobby, creating a shifting tide of wide-eyed students and their parents. The same upperclassmen who had piled out of the Ramblin’ Reck earlier kept the crowd moving and the enthusiasm up by starting a chanting match between the two sides of the lobby. They also directed befuddled attendees to their proper locations.
While parents were off learning “What Every Yellow Jacket Parent Should Know,” new Yellow Jackets moved from small group to small group, covering topics that ranged from Greek life to study abroad to the Georgia Tech Marching Band.
After parents and freshmen reunited for an afternoon ice cream break in the Student Center courtyard, a palpable shift took place. Parents stood back while freshmen began to interact with one another. Laughter — the organic kind, not an obligatory chuckle at a speaker’s joke — began to spread.
Greg Ehmer, center, listened to an orientation session on the first day of FASET. He is one of about 800 legacy students in the class. Photo by Tim Nowak.
Between bites of ice cream, Proctor explained why she was attracted to Georgia Tech as a woman and an entrepreneur.
“I’ve always been a go-getter,” Proctor said. “I have a very competitive side to me. I need to prove girls are as good as guys, that you can be a successful girl and not be buried in your computer all day.”
Proctor is part of the almost 40 percent female population of her class, a record number that flies in the face of an old joke that assumes women on Tech’s campus are most likely visitors. Proctor, who started her own cake-baking business in high school, said she has always been driven and self-motivated, two factors that pushed her to select Georgia Tech over other state schools.
“As a girl, I’m not afraid to be out and doing things at a mostly guy school, and I’m not afraid to say, ‘Yes, I do go to Georgia Tech, and I love it. And I love studying. And I also love my friends when we go out,’” Proctor said. “That’s what life is about. It’s not going to be Athens bars all night or a tailgate every day, and you need to get used to that. So why not start now?”
Christine Proctor posed for her Buzz Card photo. An incoming freshman, she started a business baking cakes while in high school. Photo by Tim Nowak.
Bethany Naser said the goal of FASET is to leave students feeling confident in their decision to attend Tech and parents feeling secure in leaving their children on campus.
“That comes with establishing the school’s expectations,” Naser said, “and getting the foundational things taken care of, like learning about their resources, finding out about billing, meeting professors, all of it.”
Naser also emphasized that, more than being a crash-course in College 101, FASET’s organizers strive to impart a sense of the broader community that the new freshmen have joined.
“It’s important that the students learn about what makes Tech unique — our history and traditions — so that the incoming freshmen are able to know those traditions and learn about Tech’s community,” she said. “We want them to not only know our history and culture, but it’s important knowing that we are, in fact, a community.”
As far as Proctor is concerned, FASET has done its job.
“It shows you that the staff, your classmates, the older students and the faculty are all really passionate about the school and making it a really great learning environment,” she said. “They’re dedicated to using all the tools we have in Atlanta but making it fun as well.”
Ehmer agreed.
“You know, the thing I can say I’ve really enjoyed the most is the sense of pride that they all have. The speakers, the other students, the faculty — everyone just seems like they all really love the school and are proud to be a part of it,” he said. “So it’s just this sense of community already, on the first day, that I already feel like I’m a part of. It all just makes me feel really proud to be going to school here.”
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Aery informative and wel written piece of journalism