He began his Georgia Tech education at the Savannah campus and was there for about three and half years. When that location stopped offering undergraduate classes, he transferred to Atlanta.

Schriner was behind in credits and realized he’d need more than four years to graduate. Around that same time, his younger brother started college, and Schriner knew it would be a heavy financial burden on the family to have two kids in school at the same time.

He worked extra jobs to pay for some of the expense on his own. He ultimately took a year off to build up a financial safety net.

“In the year off I actually really, really missed Tech,” he said. “I’d already put so much time into school and I was really passionate about engineering. I had to come back. I had to finish.”

Coming back wasn’t easy. It was hard watching friends graduate and start their careers, while he was often the oldest student in class.

“I kind of soldiered through it, which makes me really proud of myself for not just dropping out when it got hard,” he said.

Learn more about Schriner here.