{"674488":{"#nid":"674488","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Thomas Vandiver Just Keeps Pushing Through","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThomas Vandiver is completing Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ce.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003Ecivil engineering\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ce.gatech.edu\/academics\/graduate\/bs-ms-program\u0022\u003EBS\/MS program\u003C\/a\u003E this spring and headed to a dream job in structural engineering and building design. It\u2019s a much different future than seemed possible for Vandiver seven or eight years ago. And it may very well be because he refused \u2014\u0026nbsp;time and again \u2014 to give up or settle for the comfortable path.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EVandiver kept working. Kept putting himself out there. Kept overcoming obstacles.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter high school, Vandiver said he seemed to find trouble around every corner. He spiraled into substance abuse and had several run-ins with the law. For a while, he bounced around what he called dead-end jobs.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI always kind of floated along through life thinking that I was going to make it big one day,\u201d Vandiver said. \u201cSomething or somebody was going to come out of the blue and say, \u2018Hey, we\u2019ve been looking for you.\u2019 Thinking I was going to stumble on to something great.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAt 27, Vandiver decided something needed to change.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2024\/05\/thomas-vandiver-just-keeps-pushing-through\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERead the full story on the College of Engineering website.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech has helped the civil engineering master\u2019s graduate overcome a troubled past to create a new future for himself.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech has helped the civil engineering master\u2019s graduate overcome a troubled past to create a new future for himself."}],"uid":"27446","created_gmt":"2024-05-02 15:18:14","changed_gmt":"2024-05-02 15:20:38","author":"Joshua Stewart","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-05-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"673924":{"id":"673924","type":"image","title":"Thomas-Vandiver-grad-thumb.jpg","body":null,"created":"1714663104","gmt_created":"2024-05-02 15:18:24","changed":"1714663104","gmt_changed":"2024-05-02 15:18:24","alt":"Thomas Vandiver, in master\u0027s regalia, stands in front of the Georgia Tech historical marker. A graphic overlay reads: \u0022Helluva Engineer - Class of 2024\u0022","file":{"fid":"257380","name":"thomas-Vandiver-grad-thumb.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/02\/thomas-Vandiver-grad-thumb.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/02\/thomas-Vandiver-grad-thumb.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":721032,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/05\/02\/thomas-Vandiver-grad-thumb.jpg?itok=U-VuwWpa"}}},"media_ids":["673924"],"groups":[{"id":"1237","name":"College of Engineering"},{"id":"551651","name":"Center for Engineering Education and Diversity (CEED)"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jstewart@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJoshua Stewart\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jstewart@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}