Change Starts Here

Peden Rucker enjoyed a successful college baseball career at USC Aiken and had just finished his first season pitching for the Riverhawks, a minor league baseball team in Rockford, Ill when he decided to turn in his baseball cap for a chef's hat. “I was talking to a friend who was moving to Charleston and I started thinking about how I always wanted to go to culinary school. So I flipped a coin and the rest is history,” he laughs. He stopped playing baseball and enrolled at the  Culinary Institute of Charleston (CIC).   He wanted to channel his energy and passion into cooking, which was nurtured from a young age by his grandmother. He made the right choice. Peden is now the culinary director at Patrick Properties Hospitality Group, and he credits his instructors at CIC for inspiring him and making him want to get better. “It was awesome. They are amazing chefs and I learned so much from every one of them,” he says. While still in college, his very first food and beve

Five Trident Technical College employees received SKIP awards at the college’s Leadership Cabinet meeting on March 18. The SKIPs were created by former Trident Tech vice president Skip Godow to identify and reward employees who are setting an example of innovation at TTC. The nominations exemplify innovation that significantly enhances the student experience, improves an administrative process or truly puts TTC on the cutting edge. Awards were given in two categories, noninstructional and instructional. Winners were selected by a committee of innovative leaders in the community. Marianne Weinstein won in the noninstructional category for the Win with Wellness Team Challenge. Marianne’s project involved developing a team based wellness challenge that was designed to boost morale among employees, allowing them to work together towards common health and wellness goals. In the instructional category, Sherri Carter, Laura Brigada, Debra Leach and Maureen Baur won for the Developing

By Heather Hobbs, Instructor, Veterinary Technology Program When people hear about the Veterinary Technology program offered at Trident Technical College, what often comes to mind is “How fun – puppies and kittens!" Walter, after treatment But in reality, it's not just about playing with baby animals. More often, we pick up animals from the local shelter who are less likely to be adopted because of medical and surgical needs. The students work them up (physical exams, bloodwork, radiographs), then treat them according to a veterinarian’s instructions (assist in surgery, dental cleaning, hospitalization and behavior modification). Once these patients are well, they return to the shelter ready to be placed in their forever homes. One recent case that took all of our students’ skills and dedication is Walter, a 10-month-old, standard poodle weighing 21 pounds (he should be 40 pounds). The day he entered the shelter he was so emaciated and weak, the shelter staff ha

Electronic health records (EHR) have the potential to make health care more predictive, preventive and precise, and a group of Trident Technical College nursing faculty set out to make sure students enter the workforce ready to do just that. Electronic health records are real-time, patient-centered records that are a part of everyday life for medical professionals. Yet nursing students are not always offered consistent opportunities to learn how to use them in a clinical setting. Recognizing the fact that using technology in health care cannot be dismissed by nursing programs, department head Sherri Carter and instructors Laura Brigada, Maureen Baur and Debra Leach have implemented a way to incorporate electronic health record education into classroom seminar, clinical orientation and high-fidelity simulation. It is the answer to an issue widely recognized in the nursing education community. The National League of Nursing issued a call to action for nursing faculty to better