The Houston Clan i
t's always risky to feature a single alumni club in an alumni magazine, especially when a school has as many excellent, active clubs as Georgia Tech has. An alumni magazine is supposed to be diplomatic and all that. But sometimes the weight of evidence accumulates that a given club is truly outstanding, and it seems almost like hiding its light not to feature it. dissect it, and offer it as an example. More than one Georgia Tech alumni club fits in this category, and the The Greater Houston Alumni Association is beyond question a prime specimen.
Perhaps the most immediately visible evidence of the club's vitality is its Blake R. Van Leer Memorial Scholarship, awarded this spring for the eighteenth consecutive time to an entering freshman co-op student from the Houston area. The scholarship award. $850, covers almost all of an out-of-state student's first-quarter expenses. Since the recipient is always a co-op student, usually he is able to earn most if not all of his subsequent college expenses. The award is quite an honor; the applicants must rank in the upper one-fourth of their high school class, and they usually have well
above average scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. The students must be recommended by their counselors or principals, and only as a last, all-other-thingsbeing-equal criterion is financial need considered. The result is that a significant number of outstanding young people have attended Georgia Tech who might have gone to college in their own state to avoid out-of-state fees or even who might not otherwise have been able to attend college at all. In fact, the scholarship's value for recruiting top-quality students for Georgia Tech is shown by the fact that 75 percent of the
The annual orientation program, held in the fall, features (left to right) Jim Wohlford. Tech's co-op director; two co-op students on their work quarter in (he Houston area such as Mark Vela from Dow and Mike Thurmond from Houston Lighting and Power; chairman of the orientation committee, Ron Martin; chairman of the scholarship committee. Howard Tellepsen; and an administrator from the campus such as Frank Roper, registrar. Spring 1972