{"85001":{"#nid":"85001","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Tech, Decatur Students to Honor GE Family\u0027s Commitment to Education","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EOfficials with the Georgia Institute of Technology plan a special reception this evening to honor an on-going partnership with The General Electric Co. and its philanthropic foundation, the GE Fund. The event begins at 6 p.m. in the Gordy Room of the Wardlaw Center, 177 North Avenue.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAmong the guests will be students participating in the Mentoring for Success Program, a collaboration of the City Schools of Decatur and Georgia Tech\u0027s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC).\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe GE Fund recently provided Mentoring for Success a three-year, $255,000 grant to help the program increase female and minority student interest in science and math, especially among students in sixth- through 12th-grades.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u0022We\u0027re proud to support a program such as this, because developing brighter minds with a keen interest in math and technology makes sense for GE in so many ways,\u0022 said John Rice, President and CEO of GE Power Systems.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u0022In Mentoring for Success, Decatur students are paired with students from Georgia Tech and the Atlanta University Center schools,\u0022 Rice said. \u0022Working side-by-side, college students help their younger counterparts improve their math and science skills while, at the same time, hopefully sharpening some students\u0027 interest in careers that might use those skills and talents on a daily basis. Perhaps, one day, even a few of these young students might join us at GE.\u0022\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nDecatur was chosen for the program because it is a good school system with a mix of students of different races and incomes, CEISMC Director Paul Ohme said. Although the system\u0027s test scores are solid as a whole, African American students tend to score lower in math and science. Also, minority students and girls do not enroll in higher-level science and math courses as frequently, he said.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u0022These young people who have not taken these courses and have not challenged their minds may not be in a position to compete in the economy later on,\u0022 Ohme said.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u0022This is an exciting opportunity for both our students and our teachers,\u0022 said Jane Carriere, mathematics and science coordinator for the City Schools of Decatur. \u0022We welcome Georgia Tech mentors into our classrooms to work with, challenge, and encourage our students.\u0022\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBirgit Burton in Georgia Tech\u0027s Office of Development helped secure the original Blank Family Foundation grant of $50,000 for Mentoring for Success in 2002. She said she is pleased the program continues to earn support from prestigious companies such as GE.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u0022We need this type of support, particularly for these programs that reach out to the community,\u0022 Burton said, adding that only about 30 percent of Georgia Tech\u0027s revenue this past budget year came from the state. Much of the rest was raised from outside sources, often from private gifts and grants such as those from the GE Fund.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIn return, almost 6 percent of Georgia Tech\u0027s expenditures for 2002-just over $35 million-went to public service activities such as those offered through CEISMC and similar programs.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified technology and services company dedicated to creating products that make life better. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, medical imaging, television programming and plastics, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"Students participating in the Mentoring for Success Program -- a collaboration of the City Schools of Decatur and Georgia Tech -- will join Institute officials in honoring a new partnership with The General Electric Co.\u0027s philanthropic foundation, the GE Fund, April 1.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27304","created_gmt":"2003-04-01 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:02:10","author":"Matthew Nagel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2003-04-01T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2003-04-01T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"85011":{"id":"85011","type":"image","title":"Spring 2003 at Georgia Tech","body":null,"created":"1449178102","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:28:22","changed":"1475894706","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:45:06"}},"media_ids":["85011"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.decatur-city.k12.ga.us\/","title":"City Schools of Decatur"},{"url":"http:\/\/cos-web.admin.gatech.edu\/default.htm","title":"Georgia Tech College of Sciences"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.ceismc.gatech.edu\/","title":"Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC)"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.ge.com\/","title":"The General Electric Co."}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003E \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=\u0022\u003EContact  \u003C\/a\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}