Georgia Institute of Technology

Meet Seth Osekre, custodian and safety advocate

Seth Nii Ablorh Osekre is a custodian in Facilities Management. He was born and grew up in Accra, Ghana, where he studied electrical construction at Royal Technical College. He worked in the printing industry for 16 years, making notebooks and ledgers, before coming to Georgia Tech in 2007.

“My cousin introduced me to Georgia Tech when I came from Ghana, looking for a new life in America,” Osekre said. He joined his mother, three brothers, and three sisters who had already relocated to Atlanta.

In 2020, the coronavirus brought the implementation of new safety precautions for Osekre’s work as a custodian on campus.

“My job, specifically, includes cleaning carpets, shining floors, deep cleaning the restrooms, and cleaning and misting public areas to keep people safe. I always want to keep people safe. We always put on masks and gloves,” he said.

During his years at Tech, Osekre has worked in a number of buildings and made friends all over campus. He met Susanna Printz, director of Research and Prospect Management in the Office of Development, when he worked in the Wardlaw Center.

“Seth has a wonderful smile, a hearty laugh, and a great personality,” said Printz. “I looked forward to saying hello when he made his afternoon rounds. He and I are soccer fans, so we would compare notes on the teams and players. He’s such an interesting person.”

Osekre’s favorite part of working at Georgia Tech is the people.

“I like the atmosphere,” he said. “There are good people here at Georgia Tech. If you need something, people will help you and direct you to resources.”

Osekre is Muslim, a table tennis enthusiast, and he played amateur soccer with the Accra Hearts of Oak. He watches American soccer, but he has not attended an Atlanta United game. He also likes watching the news to stay on top of current events, and he’s a big fan of action films and Bollywood movies.

“Arnold Schwarzenegger is my favorite. And I like Samuel L. Jackson and Morgan Freeman,” he said.

He likes the dancing in Bollywood. When asked if he can dance like they do in the movies, Osekre laughed and said, “I can dance, but it’s different from that.”