Change Starts Here

Trident Technical College stands in support of the African American members of the community we serve. We reject all forms of discrimination. We affirm the guiding principles of our mission: equality, advocacy, individual worth, and mutual respect.

We seek to model the change we want to see in the world. We work to prepare our students to see from various angles.

We strive to demonstrate to them, and to each other, that we are able to see perspectives different from our own, and, in so doing, become more empathetic and responsive.

We work to ensure that all of our campus community’s voices are heard, that all know we value them as individuals, and that we respect each other not just for our strengths but also for our struggles.

Trident Technical College commits to mutually respectful, humanizing dialogue as we work to change our campuses and our community.

Trident Tech Nursing alum Jennifer Kelly arrived in New York City in April - ready, willing and determined to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

But she quickly realized that no amount of education or experience (including her eight years as a nurse) could have fully prepared her for what she was about to face.

“It was surreal at first. I landed at JFK, one of the biggest airports in the country, and it was practically empty. My biggest worry was driving in the city, but there were very few people on the road,” she said.

Kelly’s decision to go to New York for the four-week assignment was not taken lightly. She was eager to help on the front lines of the pandemic and her husband and three children were very supportive of her going. But she was hesitant to leave her colleagues.

She works at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and had been a supervisor at the drive-thru testing site from day one. She was reluctant to leave the team she had grown very close to as they faced suc…

Trident Tech alum Robin Workman may not be on the front lines, but she is doing her very best to support those who are.

As the Heart and Vascular Surgery Coordinator at Trident Medical Center, Workman's patient volume is down. So in between checking on her patients, she is also checking in on her colleagues: lending a listening ear, letting them know how valuable they are and checking in on their personal situations and needs.

"They are on the front lines, showing up day after day for whatever task is necessary and needed," she says. "They are my heroes."

Workman could be considered a hero herself. She was a part of the very first class of the Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) program at Trident Technical College in 1983, and the pressure was on to do well.

“It started as a partnership with the University of South Carolina, and if we didn’t pass there was a chance the program at Trident Tech would not receive accreditation,” she says. "No accreditation me…

The coronavirus has had a devastating impact on our community and the hospitality and culinary industries are some that have been hit the hardest.
But necessity breeds innovation, especially in the case of Culinary Institute of Charleston alum Jamie Simpson.
Simpson is the Executive Chef Liaison at The Culinary Vegetable Institute at The Chef’s Garden, where he and his staff have had to completely change their business model in order to create revenue and minimize losses.
“Just three weeks ago we were shipping produce to more than 1,000 restaurants in 14 countries and educating world-class chefs about unusual vegetables and cooking applications,” says Simpson. “We transitioned, almost overnight, to home delivery.”
The Chef’s Garden is the leading grower of artisanal produce in the nation and a place where innovative farming, the development of new products and the fostering of important relationships with chefs throughout the world were built on traditional farming methods. The Culi…

In September 2018, Christina Hampton was working two part-time jobs as a food server, raising her young daughter and taking classes at Trident Technical College when she heard that Hurricane Florence was headed to Charleston. 
A mandatory evacuation was ordered and both restaurants for which she worked were shutting down. Christina was worried about her daughter’s safety, so she went to stay with a friend inland.
But what scared her the most was what might happen immediately afterward.

“As a single mother who is almost always struggling to make ends meet, missing a few days of work can be detrimental,” she says. “But I am working hard to finish school and that is what keeps me going.” 

Christina never thought she would go to college. Nobody in her family had ever gone and her grades were mostly average. She ran track, but never thought she was good enough to get scholarships.

She remembers all of her friends talking about going away to college and says, “I never even considered colle…

Jack Mills wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do with his life when he graduated from high school. But he knew what he didn’t want to do.

“I grew up in a military household, but had no desire to enlist,” he says. “Nor did I want to attend college or work in the tourism trade.”

Mills was interested in electronics, and after investigating options, he enrolled at Trident Technical College.

“Classes were interesting, the hands-on labs were fun and the instructors were excellent,” says Mills.

During his first year at TTC, he was encouraged by one of his instructors to apply for a scholarship and received $500 for tuition and books. This helped him progress more quickly toward a degree and he received an Associate in Engineering Technology in 1982, becoming the first in his family to graduate from college.

During his final semester, he was offered a job installing and servicing X-ray equipment and jumped at the chance. It was enough money to be able to get a place of his own and get …