{"57685":{"#nid":"57685","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The Importance of Second Chances","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETwenty years ago, Doreen Seaquist Hogan was your typical Georgia Tech freshman, juggling the issues of school work, social life, and growing up. A \u0022straight A\u0022 honor student, with a love of sports, academics, and music, she fit right in on Tech\u0027s competitive campus. Her successful future looked like a done deal. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe fall of Doreen\u0027s senior year, it all came to a grinding halt. A family tragedy shattered her world, plunging her into depression and threatening to destroy her hard-earned future. But for the faith of one professor, she was ready to drop out of Tech and forfeit her dream to be an industrial engineer. Doreen tells her story now to honor ISyE Professor Faiz Al-Khayyal and the many other professors like him who reach beyond their students\u0027 failures to understand their pain. In doing so, they help lost individuals rediscover the confidence and ability they need to persevere.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDoreen\u0027s story was particularly painful. Her mother, a longtime MS sufferer, succumbed to the emotional stress of her illness and took her own life. The family was racked with questions and guilt. Her death followed within a few years of the death of Doreen\u0027s brother at the age of 24. It was the beginning of fall quarter, so after leaving a week for the funeral, Doreen returned to a full load of classes. But her heart wasn\u0027t in it.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I didn\u0027t share my circumstances with the faculty\u0022 she remembers, \u0022I didn\u0027t want any special treatment. It was then that I met Dr. Al-Khayyal in Operations Research. I had failed his first test, really bad, as I just couldn\u0027t crack a book after my mom\u0027s death.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I\u0027ll never forget him bringing me into his office and saying, \u0027Seaquist, I expect more from you. What is going on?,\u0022 she continues. \u0022I pretended to be numb to the whole process, but turned around at the last moment and shared in confidence with him that my mother had passed away, with no further details. From that point on, Dr. Al-Khayyal said that if I worked hard, I could pull my grade up. He gave me no free lunches, and I worked very hard in his class.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EShe eventually got a B. \u0022It was knowing that I could confide in a teacher, and that he believed in me, supported me, and was there to go through any questions I had that made all the difference in the world,\u0022 she says.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe rest of Doreen\u0027s senior year was a blur, but she graduated and has worked with McDonnell Douglas\/Boeing for 17 years. Her contributions have earned her numerous awards and accolades. She\u0027s now working on her MBA. After avoiding campus for 15 years because of the painful memories, Doreen\u0027s been back twice, meeting Tech\u0027s star quarterback Joe Hamilton on her most recent visit. Her California license plate proudly reads \u0022JOJATEK\u0022.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDoreen is married to another Boeing employee, Eric Hogan, whom she met on the production line. She remains close to her father and her brother, Don, and is actively involved in her church. She would like to hear from other Georgia Tech graduates at \u003Ca href=\u0022dhogan.ie83@gtahzmni.org\u0022\u003Edhogan.ie83@gtahzmni.org\u003C\/a\u003E.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDuring that awful year, Doreen made Dr. Al-Khayyal a seashell plaque, which still hangs in his office today. I share this story every now and again with people to share the human spirit,\u0022 she says, \u0022and how necessary is sometimes to give people second chances.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EShe adds, \u0022It also signifies that professors not only have brains, but hearts.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27279","created_gmt":"2001-03-01 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:06:35","author":"Barbara Christopher","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2001-03-01T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2001-03-01T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara Christopher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=bt3\u0022\u003EContact Barbara Christopher\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404.385.3102\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["bchristopher@isye.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}