Scott Hardy, director of GPC’s Plant Operations, now leads the college’s alumni association board. (photo by Bill Roa)

By Kat Friedman

Most people at Georgia Perimeter College know Scott Hardy as the director of Plant Operations—the man who plays a vital role in managing the college’s largest staff and operational budget and making sure classrooms are clean, grass is cut and lights are turned on.

But Hardy is also an alumnus of the college, and in February he began wearing yet another hat—that of president of the GPC Alumni Association Board.

Hardy, who was sworn in to his new position at the Feb. 5 board meeting, has been an alumni board member since 2009 and most recently served as its treasurer, helping to set the board’s  first annual fundraising goal, which was for $10,000.

“I want to create a legacy for every person who serves and works for the GPC Alumni Association,” Hardy says. “I want everyone to be able to look around and feel that their service to the GPCAA made a difference in the life of a student. The GPCAA has an infinite capacity of resources available to help our students.”

Hardy first came to DeKalb College, now GPC, as a baseball player, recruited to play catcher for the DeKalb North Stars in 1983 under Coach and History Professor Tommy Barber.  While at the college, he focused on general studies, later transferring to Georgia Southern University, where he graduated with a degree in Building, Construction and Contracting in 1986.

After completing his degree, Hardy returned to DeKalb College/GPC to work in plant operations, helping construct and plan new buildings for the growing campuses.  His first major building project was the Jim Cherry Learning Resource Center (JCLRC) on Clarkston Campus, which Hardy helped design and plan, as well as coordinate the  building contractors needed for the project.  In 2006, Hardy began planning GPC’s Newton Campus baseball and softball complex, the project of which he is most proud and the one that brought him full circle to his DeKalb baseball roots.

Today, when Hardy is not working as director of Plant Operations for GPC, he serves as the fall season coach of the Rockdale High School Baseball Team, for which his son is a player.  He also is a board member of their booster club.

“I believe we can work together and take a number of small steps so that we make a big difference in the lives of our students,” says Hardy. “I have always felt I was the luckiest man in the world, all because I was able to take my first step at DeKalb College.”