Brittany Robinson

Brittany Robinson hopes that George P. Burdell soon will join the legion of legends traipsing through Savannah, Ga.

Now that Georgia Tech has established a Savannah campus, Burdell's feisty legend has become one of the more recent arrivals in the coastal city, Georgia's oldest. Robinson thinks he'll fit right in among the centuries-old folklore.

"I want students to know about all the legends, George P. Burdell, the whistle, everything surrounding Homecoming, even what leads up to graduation — to help foster that in Savannah," said Robinson, ChE 95, an environmental engineer with International Paper in Savannah who heads student recruiting for the Savannah Georgia Tech Club.

Toward that end, Robinson directs a club mentoring program that pairs 15 students with 15 alumni for a series of one-on-one meetings designed to foster both professional growth and school spirit.

Georgia Tech opened the Savannah campus in fall 2003. It now has about 200 students in an array of undergraduate and graduate programs. The 50-acre campus anchors a 170-acre development near Savannah International Airport that city officials plan to become a high-tech corridor for southeast Georgia.

Tech's Savannah campus "looks like an office building, not a real college campus, so how do we build that tradition, that sense of community, at that campus?" Robinson asked. For starters, students and mentors will take a look at several projects throughout the area in which Tech people are involved.

"We'll be touring a project going on in downtown Savannah, revitalizing the Old City Market; architects, geologists and engineers will present that project," Robinson said. "Then we'll go to Georgia Power, something the mechanical and electrical engineering students will be interested in."

Before beginning the student mentoring program, Robinson already was active in several Savannah civic groups. For several years, she served as the scholarship chair of the Savannah Georgia Tech Club. Last year, the club raised money to provide $9,000 in scholarships to six students.

The Tech connections, she said, are worth the time they take.

"My time at Georgia Tech was some of the best years of my life. I loved every minute of it and gained so much from it. I learned a lot in the classroom and I was given the opportunity to grow and develop as a person," Robinson said.

"It's very important to not overlook those types of skills that students need in the real world and to create a sense of community so they have the same types of opportunities."