Each spring, Georgia Tech students have an opportunity to award tens of thousands of dollars to the campus initiative they deem worthiest.

All Georgia Tech students are invited to vote on the Student Alumni Association’s (SAA) 2017 Gift to Tech options. This year’s winning project will receive more than $40,000 — the largest Gift to Tech donation yet.

Funds are raised through SAA membership donations; students donate $10 a year to be a member, and $5 of every donation goes to Gift to Tech. The SAA donation is matched up to $10,000 by an alumnus each year. This year’s matching donor is Gary Jones, a 1971 industrial management graduate who now teaches in the Scheller College of Business.

Students can vote on one of the top eight projects here until Friday, March 17. On March 27, SAA will announce the top three projects for a final round of voting by SAA members. The winner will be announced at the annual Gift to Tech celebration on Tuesday, April 18, at 11 a.m. at the Kessler Campanile.

This year’s projects include:

Alcohol and Substance Abuse Recovery

The Counseling Center’s Collegiate Recovery Program is based on recommendations from the President’s Mental Health Task Force and ongoing efforts by the Division of Student Life and the Counseling Center to provide services to students in recovery from alcohol and other substances. The program offers a safe and welcoming community for students in addiction recovery.

C2D2 Traveling Kiosk and Dream Board

The Center for Career Discovery and Development (C2D2) Traveling Kiosk and Dream Board will give students the chance to “dream big” about career options in industry, service, nonprofit, and professional careers that require additional education and to begin to design a plan to act on those ideas. The SAA gift would support the creation of a portable dream board that travels to various locations around campus. The week following the display, C2D2 staff would provide on-site guidance for students who want to take next steps in career planning.

Net Impact – Carbon Reduction Program

The Carbon Reduction Challenge engages students in a competition to reduce carbon emissions in partnership with local businesses, corporations, and other organizations, including Georgia Tech. The program plans to scale this opportunity up by partnering with Georgia Tech’s Internship and Co-op Program. The idea is for students to work on a supervised carbon reduction challenge as a key part of their co-op or internship assignment. The final projects will be presented at the Carbon Reduction Challenge Expo, and the top three competitors will be invited to visit the Georgia State Capitol and/or Capitol Hill to discuss the implications of their projects for regional and/or national energy and climate policy.

Personal Finance Course

This project will lead to the creation of a personal finance course open to all majors on campus. The course, which may come under the GT course prefix (GT4xxx, similar to GT1000 or GT2000), would cover a core set of knowledge to help students with financial literacy and building wealth. The course may be offered online and could be open to both graduate and undergraduate students. 

Pi Mile Activity Stations

This proposal would provide equipment to enhance the Pi Mile with additional physical activity components. Outdoor activity stations would allow participants to add strength training and flexibility components to their workout in an outdoor setting and would expand access to strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular equipment for the entire campus community.

Students’ Temporary Assistance and Resources

Students’ Temporary Assistance and Resources (STAR) is a safety net that helps students regroup and get back on their feet. A STAR board was established with the mission to “provide stability so students can pursue a fulfilling college experience by facilitating collaboration between organizations offering student support and increasing campus awareness of these programs.” The five STAR points of need are food, housing, clothing, money, and connection.

STEM Tutoring in Atlanta Public Schools

GTRI STEM aims to inspire, engage, and impact Georgia students by providing access to experts in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. This proposal would fund the hiring of undergraduates to tutor and mentor minority and low-income Atlanta students. In addition to receiving a stipend, participating students would develop leadership and communication skills through tutoring and leading small groups that aim to develop students in STEM fields. The long-term goal is to increase the number of Atlanta public school students applying and being accepted into Georgia Tech.

Tech Ends Suicide Together

Tech Ends Suicide Together, developed by the Counseling Center and Division of Student Life, is based on the effective international Zero Suicide initiative, which creates a campuswide linkage of programs and support that work together to reduce risk factors for suicide and enhance protective factors against suicide. The program has already garnered local and state-wide attention in the media and at the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. Georgia Tech is one of the first colleges or universities in the U.S. to implement a zero suicide initiative on campus.

For more information on SAA and their Gift to Tech contribution, check out the SAA Facebook page.