Grant Thomas
Director of State Relations, University of Georgia
University of Georgia BA ’15
Atlanta, GA
In deciding where to attend college, Grant understood how beneficial the HOPE Scholarship would be for him. Instead of looking outside the state for options, he kept his focus to Georgia schools. “It is just such an incentive to keep people in state and I definitely wanted to take advantage of that opportunity. I knew that it would be huge for alleviating some of that worry of paying for college that I had and that my family had. It got me to University of Georgia in the first place by helping me decide to go to there. Once I got to college and had the HOPE Scholarship paying for most of my tuition, it really took a lot of those financial worries away and allowed me to really focus on diving into my studies my first semester, which helped me get into the honors program at UGA.”
Although the sheer size of the student body was intimidating, Grant quickly found a community in the student organizations he joined. “I was a little skeptical of the size of UGA. It was so different from the small high school I was used to. But immediately I was able to start getting involved in student organizations. I joined a fraternity. I was in the College Republicans. I was in the Student Government Association. Those experiences, getting involved in those groups really made the university smaller. I started to build my network, build different friendships with different student across campus with different backgrounds from across the state. I really enjoyed that. Getting involved in those student groups sparked my interest in politics.”
He counts the opportunity to get involved in these student organizations and study abroad programs as one of the most beneficial aspects of his college experience. “I benefitted from the Honors in Washington program, I got to study abroad in China one summer through the honors program. The basis of what really allowed those opportunities to happen was being on the HOPE scholarship. The different internships and experiences I had really allowed me to get a head start.”
Grant now works as the Director of State Relations for the University of Georgia. He is also set to graduate from UGA in December of 2020 with his MBA.
“I’m an alum, I am a current student, and I’m an employee. I don’t think I would be any of those three without the HOPE Scholarship incentivizing me to go to UGA in the first place as an undergrad.”
“It combines two things I love: University of Georgia and politics. It combines them into one role and I get to advocate and represent my alma mater at the state capitol and advocate for different funding priorities, different legislative priorities for the university, with ultimately the hope that this is going to benefit the students on our campus and make their college experience better. It’s just a form of giving back for me. I had such a good experience at UGA that really prepared me for my career now and got me to where I am, and I benefitted from that tremendously. Being able to help advocate for the university and improve the student experience to provide more teaching, research, and service opportunities is very fulfilling and rewarding.”