For Gregg Worley, CHE 1986, and his wife Karla Worley, current Executive MBA candidate, Georgia Tech is a family tradition. Gregg and Karla have three daughters. Their oldest, Maisie, is currently a biomedical engineering student at Tech, and their younger daughters, Josephine and Anslie, are in high school. All three of the Worley daughters grew up attending summer camps and going to football games at Tech, and now that their mother is pursuing an MBA at the Scheller College of Business, the family’s school spirit has never been stronger.

Gregg and his family recently established the Worley Family Scholarship Endowment to support undergraduate students who are participating in study abroad, internship abroad, or work abroad programs at Tech. The scholarship is especially significant to Gregg and Karla because the study abroad program at Tech has had a significant impact on Maisie’s time at the Institute. Maisie met some of her closest friends during her study abroad experience, and she bonded with her grandmother, Margaret, when talking about the program. “Even though my mom had dementia at that time, she could still remember important things from their lives and their travels,” said Gregg. “She would give Maisie advice like ‘Remember to bring rain boots to England.’”

The family’s decision to create the Worley Family Scholarship Endowment was inspired by a desire to honor Gregg’s parents, H.E. and Margaret Worley, both of whom recently died. H.E. and Margaret were both first-generation college students and their lives continue to inspire Gregg and his family.

Margaret was the oldest of eight, and her decision to pursue higher education paved the way for her younger siblings to attend college as well. She grew up in a home without much money in the Mississippi Delta, in a small town where there were not many professional or higher education opportunities for women. Margaret worked hard throughout her youth and earned her undergraduate degree from Mississippi State College for Women, began a career as a K-12 educator, and later went on to earn a Master of Library Science degree from the University of Mississippi.

H.E. grew up in similar circumstances. He was one of seven children, and his father died when he was 2. His mother had to care for the large family while working in a small town in Tennessee. H.E. joined the Air Force after graduating high school and served for 22 years. He was stationed in Florida when he met Margaret, who was teaching there at the time. They built a life together full of travel as H.E.’s military career took the family across the country and the world, including a period where they lived with preschool-aged Gregg and his sister in Germany. During that time, the four of them would regularly travel to different European countries, memories that Gregg cherishes.

After H.E. retired from the Air Force, he also became the first in his family to go to college. He graduated with an associate’s degree in engineering technology. 

When Gregg’s parents died, he decided to honor them by supporting two areas that mattered to them: education and travel. “I had a scholarship to Tech when I first started, and I’ve always had the mentality that you give back,” said Gregg. “So when my parents passed, I was looking for a way to honor them, and I knew a study abroad scholarship would do that.”

During his time at Tech, Gregg was interested in the study abroad program at Oxford but could not afford it. Now he and his family have seen how meaningful study abroad has been for Maisie, and they want to make that a possibility for future students to broaden their horizons and enhance their education.

“This scholarship is especially meaningful because of Maisie’s great experience and my own understanding of how much people today need a worldview to gain broader perspective,” said Gregg. This scholarship will do just that: help generations of Georgia Tech undergraduates have access to meaningful study abroad experiences that they might not otherwise be able to afford while honoring and perpetuating Margaret and H.E.’s legacies.

To make a gift directed to programs through the Office of International Education, contact Jim Hall, senior associate vice president for major gifts and next generation philanthropy, at jim.hall@dev.gatech.edu.