Jamie Jordan
Director of Programs and Business Services, Technical College System of Georgia
University of Georgia BS ’13, MBA ‘17
Atlanta, GA
Jamie has always known he wanted to serve his community.
“I had known for a long time, middle school through high school, that I wanted to go into public service in some regard. I don’t know where the initial spark came from and I sometimes say it’s in my DNA. There’s days when I get frustrated and I want to walk away but I know it’s so much engrained into my interests and my passions that it would eat at me if I tried to walk away and say forget it.”
Growing up in Griffin and attending a very small high school, Jamie had goals of leaving Georgia to attend an Ivy League. The opportunity of the HOPE Scholarship changed his mind.
“It was the HOPE scholarship that inevitably convinced me to stay in the state. HOPE funds allowed me to be a first-generation college completer. Both my parents attended college, but did not complete, same with my older brother. The HOPE Scholarship and the funds provided through that, allowed me to not only complete college, but do so successfully without having to be burdened with the cost of living as a college student.”
“It was impossible to pass up the opportunity to utilize the HOPE Scholarship: to stay in state, to go to some of our fine institutions here, and to be able to have that added benefit of not having the cost of tuition be an additional burden. So, no doubt the HOPE scholarship was singlehandedly the reason I stayed instate to pursue higher education.”
Jamie now serves his community as the Director of Programs and Business Services for the Technical College System of Georgia, specifically working to educate members of the community about the opportunities that exist at TCSG institutions and the financial aid that is available to pursue them.
“I get to work every day to help people connect with the HOPE Grant side of things. The funds that come from the HOPE Grant help them get training they never had before. It is helping individuals who likely would not have had the opportunity to pursue college of some sort and get life skills and experiences that will translate into a career that will change their life forever. For me, getting to work to expand those programs, and being a part of Governor Deal’s initiative to expand that program, has been biggest accomplishment of the last seven years of my professional career, of seeing that program expand and seeing more and more Georgians take advantage of it. Without it, I don’t think we’d be where we are as a state right now.”
Jamie lives in Atlanta and hopes to do all he can as a public servant to benefit his community in the future.