Scholarships enabled Randy Drake to graduate debt free.
“Having scholarships meant a lot in college because it gave me the room to focus on school and not necessarily have to work full time,” says Randy Drake. “And it helped a lot in my career selection. Because I didn’t have debt, it put me in the position to pursue what I wanted to do without debt burdening the decision. If I’d had debt, I would still have that expense right now. It would be financially still with me.”
At Houston High in Memphis, Drake excelled at math and physics. “I looked around,” he says, “but between the money that Tennessee offered with the HOPE and academic scholarships—the Volunteer and the Jack and Dorothy McKamey Scholarship for engineering students—it made sense financially. Then, when I came for orientation, I really liked the campus and the size of Knoxville.”
Because I didn’t have debt, it put me in the position to pursue what I wanted to do without the debt burdening the decision.
– Randy Drake
Majoring in civil engineering, Drake got an internship with Bechtel. “I got lucky,” he says. “The internship led to five years with Bechtel, working on the startup of TVA’s Watts Bar Nuclear Unit 2.” After two and a half years at Hargrove in Memphis, he got his current job managing industrial projects at Gresham Smith, helping make Nashville better for those who call it home.
