{"72294":{"#nid":"72294","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Alumni Spotlight: Ramson Siblings Make Their Dream a Reality","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESherri Ramson (IE 2011) and Eric Ramson (IE 2011), a\nbrother and sister duo from South Florida, recently graduated from the H.\nMilton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE). Unlike most\ntraditional ISyE undergraduate students, Sherri and Eric decided to make their\ndream of earning a college degree a reality after being in the workforce for\nten years.\u0026nbsp; With the support of their\nfamily and each other, Sherri and Eric graduated from ISyE with high honors. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESince graduating, Sherri has been working as a consultant\nat Clarkston Consulting, and Eric is a software implementation consultant at\nPower Plan Consultants. They both share a common goal for the future: never\nstop learning.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EISyE:\u0026nbsp; What prompted you to pursue your\nundergraduate degree after being in the workforce for ten years?\u0026nbsp; Was it something you always wanted to do? \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESR:\u0026nbsp; I would have\nliked to go to college after high school, but it always seemed like an\nunrealistic option for me. I come from a family of a single mom with three\nkids, and no influential adults in my life had a college degree. Finances were\ntight and school was expensive. My mother doesn\u2019t have a degree, but she has an\namazing work ethic and a constant desire to succeed in life. She instilled\nthose values in me and my brothers, and it helped me to excel professionally. I\nworked for a few companies and was always put on the fast track to management.\nI came to a point where I was on a great track to make a career out of retail\nmanagement. But I wanted more. I wanted something more challenging. \u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EER:\u0026nbsp; I always\nwanted to go to school, but as Sherri stated, I didn\u2019t really have the\nopportunity.\u0026nbsp; Although I had a relatively\nsuccessful career, I never felt that I was intellectually challenged at my\njob.\u0026nbsp; After talking it over with my wife,\nthen girlfriend, Sandra, we came up with a plan to send me to college.\u0026nbsp; Without Sandra\u2019s encouragement and influence,\nI probably would have never gone to college. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EISyE:\u0026nbsp; What influenced your decision to study at\nGeorgia Tech?\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESR:\u0026nbsp; Both Eric and\nI were attracted to Georgia Tech because it had the #1 IE program in the\nnation. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EISyE:\u0026nbsp; How was it that you and your sibling decided\nto get your degree at the same time, and at the same school?\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESR:\u0026nbsp; We both had\ntoyed around with the idea, and then Eric started talking about really taking\nthe steps and moving to Georgia to pursue a degree from Georgia Tech. The more\nwe talked, the more we realized how much we could be there and support each\nother. I was nervous about going back to school, but when Eric told me I\nwouldn\u2019t be alone, I knew this was the time to take the leap or I may never go. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EISyE:\u0026nbsp; Did you both have the same class\nschedule?\u0026nbsp; In what ways did you support\neach other with your work load?\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESR:\u0026nbsp; Though we\ndidn\u2019t always have the same schedule, were always there to motivate each other.\nWe each have different skills and were able to combine those. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EER:\u0026nbsp; We always had\na reliable study and homework partner in each other. We each have different\nstrengths and skills, which made us a great team. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EISyE:\u0026nbsp; How do you think your \u201cnon-traditional\u201d\nundergraduate experience compares to that of a traditional one?\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EER: Our experience was very different than that of a\ntraditional undergraduate experience. We missed out on the social side of\nthings, like living in dorms and being involved in Greek life. It had been some\ntime since we had been in a classroom, and there were many times when we fell\nbehind in the information needed for the class. The age difference\nautomatically makes you feel a little different. At first this seemed like a\nnegative trait to have, but as we got to know more students, we realized we had\na lot to offer them by having some real world work experience. We felt at times\nalmost like an unspoken mentor.\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EOn the plus side, we were very focused and able to\nappreciate the value in learning the material. We viewed the classroom in the\nsame way we would a work office, and treated it with the same maturity and\nprofessionalism. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EISyE:\u0026nbsp; What was your favorite spot on campus?\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EER:\u0026nbsp; The ISyE main\nbuilding was near most of our classes where we did most of our studying, and\nthere was a microwave there. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESR:\u0026nbsp; Juniors was my\nfavorite spot on campus, and our favorite place to eat.\u0026nbsp; We were always looking for an excuse to go\nthere. Sadly, it closed. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EISyE:\u0026nbsp; What is your fondest memory of your Georgia\nTech experience? \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESR:\u0026nbsp; Graduation day\nat the Dome when Professor Chen Zhou walked over and shook my hand, congratulated\nme, and wished me luck on my future. That was the moment I realized I did it! \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EER:\u0026nbsp; The week\nbefore we started at Tech, Sherri and I snuck into the IC building.\u0026nbsp; We walked around, looked at the classrooms,\nand talked about what we thought it would be like to go to Tech.\u0026nbsp; We were both so excited at the opportunity to\ngo to such a prestigious school. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EISyE:\u0026nbsp; You both graduated with high honors.\u0026nbsp; What do you feel contributed to your academic\nsuccess? \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESR:\u0026nbsp; Determination.\nWe both knew how great the opportunity to attend college was for us. We had\nboth had a challenging path just to get there, and knew that we were setting\nthe example for future generations. We didn\u2019t want to just get through it, we\nwanted to achieve success. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EISyE:\u0026nbsp; What is the most important thing you learned\nwhile at ISyE? \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EER: Both of us agree that learning how to handle any\nproblem presented to us was very important. In ISyE, you are given problems\noutside of your scope of knowledge. You have to be able to do research to find\nanswers, leverage all available resources , and break the problem down into\nsmall achievable pieces. You gain a special confidence after solving a few\nproblems that seemed impossible in the beginning. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EISyE:\u0026nbsp; What advice would you give to a student\nconsidering coming to Georgia Tech to study ISyE?\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESR:\u0026nbsp; Be prepared to\nfind answers outside of the classroom. The professors give you work that is\nbeyond what is covered in the lecture, and you have to learn how to research\nand solve problems on your own. It\u2019s hard and can be frustrating at times, but\nit prepares you to have confidence when faced with something outside of your\ncomfort zone\u2014a valuable tool to have when starting a career. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EER:\u0026nbsp; Be prepared to\nwork hard! \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EISyE:\u0026nbsp; Can you tell us one interesting thing about\nyourself, that you don\u2019t mind us sharing with the rest of the world?\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\n\nER:\u0026nbsp; I\u2019m\nhappily married and the father of a three and half year old daughter , who was\nborn my second year of college.\u0026nbsp; My\nfamily has served as my support structure; I don\u2019t think I would have done so\nwell at Georgia Tech if it weren\u2019t for them.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESherri Ramson and Eric Ramson, a\nbrother and sister duo who recently graduated from ISyE, pursued a degree at Georgia Tech after being in the workforce for\nten years.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27511","created_gmt":"2011-11-02 09:14:23","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:10:38","author":"Ashley Daniel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-11-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-11-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"72295":{"id":"72295","type":"image","title":"Sherri and Eric after graduation.","body":null,"created":"1449177454","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:17:34","changed":"1475894653","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:13","alt":"Sherri and Eric after graduation.","file":{"fid":"193658","name":"bench.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bench_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bench_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1393055,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/bench_0.jpg?itok=slPMat4c"}},"72296":{"id":"72296","type":"image","title":"Sherri and Eric at Junior\u0027s Grill.","body":null,"created":"1449177454","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:17:34","changed":"1475894653","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:13","alt":"Sherri and Eric at Junior\u0027s Grill.","file":{"fid":"193659","name":"juniors.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/juniors.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/juniors.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1553689,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/juniors.jpg?itok=KJ_ERZ85"}}},"media_ids":["72295","72296"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"}],"keywords":[{"id":"14965","name":"Eric Ramson"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"426","name":"isye"},{"id":"169388","name":"Sherri Ramson"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:barbara.christopher@isye.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara Christopher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404.385.3102\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}