{"210391":{"#nid":"210391","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Briggs Loves Giving Applicants Good News","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThere\u2019s nothing like watching a high school student light up when she learns she\u2019s been accepted to Georgia Tech \u2014 especially when you\u2019re the person telling her.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s great to see the joy on students\u2019 faces when they hear the good news,\u201d said Christopher Briggs, assistant director of Undergraduate Admission. \u201cThe feeling you get by being a part of that moment is amazing.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 2011, Briggs hand-delivered acceptance packets to students at Atlanta-area high schools who had been accepted to Tech.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe coordinated with the guidance counselors at the respective schools to surprise the students \u2014 they didn\u2019t realize that we were hand-delivering the packets,\u201d he added. \u201cMoments like these are just one of the many reasons why I love my job.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBriggs and his colleagues were unable to hand-deliver the packets this year because of changes to the way decisions are released, but they hope to do it again in the future.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERead on to learn more about Briggs and his time at Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat did you want to be when you were a kid?\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003EI always wanted be a sports agent. But once I got to college, it all became less appealing; I realized that being a sports agent could be a very cutthroat job. Around that time, I was working as a tour guide at Elon University, where I went to school. I got involved with an Elon mentoring program that paired older students with younger, first-generation students. These experiences made me realize that maybe a career in admissions was a good fit for me. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow did you arrive at Tech?\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003EActually, this is my first job since graduating from Elon. I started in 2009. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is an average day like in your job?\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003EI\u2019m responsible for coordinating the office\u2019s efforts to recruit African-American students \u2014 and I have several average days. This time of year, I stay busy trying to get people who have been accepted to Tech to enroll. I taught GT 1000 this fall, which led to an opportunity to serve as a group leader with Tech\u2019s Oxford program this summer. In this role, I will be in charge of a group of students as they travel around Europe for five weeks. (For more about this program, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.oxford.gatech.edu\u0022 title=\u0022www.oxford.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ewww.oxford.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E.) During the fall, I do a lot of traveling, as I\u2019m responsible for recruiting in Washington, D.C., Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia. I\u2019ll typically visit about four to five high schools a day when I\u2019m on these trips. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is one thing you\u2019d like people to know about your job?\u003C\/strong\u003E \u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003EFaculty members are very valuable to the recruiting process. Students often want to speak with them more than they want to speak with us, because faculty members can answer questions related to classes and careers that we can\u2019t. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is one piece of technology you couldn\u2019t live without?\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMy iPad, because I use it for everything.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWould you rather a world with only Facebook or a world with only Twitter?\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003ETwitter is fun because you can see people discovering things \u2014 think the Manti Te\u2019o fake girlfriend incident \u2014 at the same time you are. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhere is your favorite campus spot?\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003ENorth Avenue Dining Hall. You can\u2019t beat the all-you-can-eat cereal available there. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is the greatest risk you\u2019ve taken \u2014 and did it pay off?\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003EMoving to Atlanta for this job was a risk. I didn\u2019t know anyone here at the time. But this has been an amazing place to begin my admissions career. I get to work with people that I respect as colleagues and value as friends. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhere is your favorite place to have lunch?\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003EFerst Place (in the Student Center) on Thursdays. They serve the most amazing fried chicken, collards, and mac and cheese. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETell us something unique about yourself.\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003EI only wear bowties.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThere\u2019s nothing like watching a high school student light up when she learns she\u2019s been accepted to Georgia Tech \u2014 especially when you\u2019re the person telling her.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"There\u2019s nothing like watching a high school student light up when she learns she\u2019s been accepted to Georgia Tech \u2014 especially when you\u2019re the person telling her."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2013-04-30 09:00:48","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:14:12","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-04-29T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-04-29T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"210231":{"id":"210231","type":"image","title":"Chris Briggs","body":null,"created":"1449180018","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 22:00:18","changed":"1475894871","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:47:51","alt":"Chris Briggs","file":{"fid":"196877","name":"briggs_students.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/briggs_students_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/briggs_students_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2489313,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/briggs_students_0.jpg?itok=NbX3RSeU"}}},"media_ids":["210231"],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"65431","name":"Christopher Briggs"},{"id":"65441","name":"Undergraduate Admissions"}],"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:amelia.pavlik@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Pavlik\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}