Jack Bush always knew he wanted to be a Georgia Bulldog – he grew up a die-hard fan. His lifelong love for the University of Georgia led him to Athens, and his desire to make a lasting difference for students who came after him inspired him to do something truly extraordinary. During his senior year, Jack established the Jack Bush Engineering Scholarship to benefit future students. He chose to endow the scholarship, meaning that it will last into perpetuity, and Jack’s love for UGA will have a profound impact on generations of students to come.
“I wanted my scholarship to perpetually provide opportunities for underrepresented UGA engineering students.”
What attracted you to UGA, and ultimately, UGA Engineering?
“UGA was always my school of choice. I grew up a die-hard fan. When selecting colleges, UGA was on the top of my list. For a student wanting to go into the aerospace/aviation industry, UGA Engineering probably wasn’t the ideal choice in the state of Georgia. But the family environment and the opportunity to be a part of so much growth within the College of Engineering was what led me to ultimately choose UGA Engineering.”
What inspires you?
“I’m inspired by the prospect of being able to set a foundation for future generations to pursue and achieve equitable improvements within our businesses, communities, nation, and world.”
What was your inspiration for establishing the Jack Bush Engineering Scholarship?
“I wanted to find a way to create equity for engineering students who look like me in pursuing their degree paths. I am very aware of the difficulty of financing a college degree; add to that the rigor of an engineering education, and many highly skilled and motivated students can be deterred from even attempting to pursue a degree in engineering. I wanted to try to help alleviate that issue for potential students.”
What is the most gratifying part of being a scholarship donor?
“It is so gratifying and inspiring to be able to connect with my scholarship students to hear the stories about how the scholarship has impacted their college experience.”
“I intend for my legacy to be that of a person who wholeheartedly loved Bulldog Engineering and contributed to its growth and success by creating equity through service, mentorship, and giving.”
What are your hopes for the students who will receive your scholarship?
“I hope that my students will be able to focus on their education without the worries of how they will pay for that education. I also hope to inspire them to be involved in paying it forward to future generations of engineers.”
You chose to endow your scholarship, meaning that it will last into perpetuity. What was your motivation behind doing this?
“I decided to endow the scholarship because I wanted my scholarship to perpetually provide opportunities for underrepresented UGA engineering students. That being said, my end goal is to fund the endowment to point of providing full-ride scholarships to Bush Engineering Scholars.”
Following graduation, what do you feel is the legacy you have left at UGA?
“I’m not sure that I can say that I’ve left a legacy yet. I feel like I have much more left to do before I can qualify as having left a legacy. I intend for my legacy to be that of a person who wholeheartedly loved Bulldog Engineering and contributed to its growth and success by creating equity through service, mentorship, and giving.”
What do you see as the greatest challenge facing today’s engineers, and how do you plan to tackle it?
“In all honestly, I believe it’s similar to challenges of decades past. As engineers develop and build in added functionalities, higher efficiencies, and more complex systems, how do we ensure that we are not adversely impacting our communities surrounding our advancements? I plan to tackle this problem by consciously making myself and my coworkers aware of the societal, governmental, legal, ethical, and business impacts my work may have. In essence, I plan to act on the principles I was taught as a student in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia.”
Click here to see a profile on one of Jack’s scholarship recipients, Joselin Ortuno.