When Richard Huckaby crosses Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion stage on May 5 with his diploma in computer engineering, it will represent a big first: Richard will be the first in his family to graduate from a four-year university — and with an engineering degree, no less.
“Being in a highly technical field … no one’s tried that before,” said Richard. "The idea of pursuing an engineering degree just hasn’t happened — not even in my extended family.”
Richard didn’t stop at an engineering major though; he also completed a minor in engineering & business as part of the Denning Technology & Management (T&M) Program at the Scheller College of Business. A highly-selective program for undergraduates across all colleges, T&M is a two-year program that offers its students cross-curricular coursework and hands-on experiential learning through a client project. Richard’s project team collaborated on an iOS app to improve their client’s equipment decommissioning process, with a projected first-year savings of over $460,000.
With his real-world experience and collaborative skills gained through T&M, Richard is ready to thrive in the workforce. He’s especially cognizant of the importance of a promising profession, given the financial challenges that he knows his family faced over the years because his parents weren’t ever able to earn their own college degrees.
“My parents have been a huge driving factor for me,” said Richard. “They always stressed getting an education and being well-rounded. In high school, I could tell they weren’t financially stable, which motivated me even more. I wanted to have a stable career to support my family in the future.”
Read more of Richard’s story here.