Change Starts Here

Brittany Person Future Alumni Essay Contest 2018 Winner In the year 2018, one is told he/she can achieve anything. Inspirational conferences with high-profile guest speakers pose the questions, “Do you want to change your situation?” “Do you desire to change your career?” “Do you want to better your life?” They follow up with a resounding, “You have the ability to change it!” “The sky is the limit!” “The only one stopping you, is you!” Going back to school can be daunting. While the above optimistic outlook may ring true for those with unlimited time and resources, some are in need of additional support. For individuals like me, the vision is there but the details are often blurry due to one circumstance or another. My particular challenge is balancing school with a full-time job with unconventional 14-hour work days. However, after attending Trident Technical College, I have learned first-hand what it means to be a part of an academic community that is determined to h...

Darren Gilbert Future Alumni Essay Contest 2018 Runner-up Years of hard work, education, dedication and savings landed me in Mount Pleasant with my own restaurant about 16 years ago. My son was four years old at the time and my wife worked with me. Life was grand and all was well.  Then, after four years in operation, road construction blocked off the entrance to my restaurant and I was forced into bankruptcy. Devastated and depressed, I trudged forward trying to recover my losses. After six more years of working at various capacities I finally landed a great job on Hilton Head and was next in line to be promoted to Executive Chef with a fully paid transfer to another property in another state. I was on my way to redemption when misfortune struck again.  I injured my spine and spent the next three years getting surgeries, going through rehab and wondering if this was all life had left to offer. The loss of ability to work combined with severe depression cost...

Anna Adamian Future Alumni Essay Contest 2018 Runner-up It started out as a pipe dream, a longing that I never thought I would ever be able to accomplish, let alone attempt. I had very little money, I did not own my own vehicle, and I had an overwhelming fear of failure and the unknown. Since I was a child, I had dreamed of going to college, yet I always pictured myself strolling down the halls of an ivy league school touting a prominent degree. After graduation from high school, this dream unfortunately, faded into the oblivion as a series of extremely personal tragedies encompassed my life and I wrestled with the thought of graduating from college with a magnanimous debt…something I had vowed not to do.  After five long years of inactivity, a former graduate suggested that I attend Trident Technical College. At first, I declined the suggestion because it directly conflicted with the scope of my lifelong dream but after several months of contemplation, I decided to gi...

Ebony Scott Future Alumni Essay Contest 2018 Runner-up Life has a way of changing the course of your life without consulting you first. My dreams were always to grow up, go to college, get a job, and live a happy life. My life took a slightly different course forcing me to appreciate the things that were not a part of the "grand idea." Attending Trident Technical College means so much more than getting a degree for me because for me Trident Technical College is God's plan. When I say God's plan, I mean that I applied and was accepted into the Nursing program twice, but God had other plans for me. My life has never been easy and at times, I sometimes find myself questioning God and his plan for me. I speak to him and ask God, "how is this my life?" At the age of 20, I gave birth to a son who was later diagnosed with Autism. I buried my older Brother at the age of 26 due to a massive heart attack and buried my Mom at 27 due to multiple illnesses. At 3...

Erin Brown Future Alumni Essay Contest 2018 Runner-up In her book, Epilogue: A Memoir , Anne Roiphe writes, “Grief is in two parts. The first is loss. The second is the remaking of life.” I’ve experienced great loss several times throughout my life. But the second part of grief, the remaking of life, has always alluded me. That is, until last year. This Fall I enrolled at Trident Technical College. And with that step, I began my journey into renewed life and a newfound hope. Five years ago, my world fell apart. I had just given birth to my second child when my 3-year-old son, Miles, was rushed to the emergency room. He’d been sick for a few days. We weren’t too concerned though because a bug was going around his pre-school, and his symptoms were similar to those of his classmates. But when he began acting disoriented, we decided to take him to an urgent care center. From there he was sent to the ER for observation. While we were waiting for the doctor to come in, Miles ...

Getting through the Trident Technical College nursing program was tough, but nothing could have prepared Sarah Smitley for what she saw when she and her classmates arrived at a makeshift medical clinic in Misindi, Uganda. There were hundreds of people waiting in line for medical treatment and some of them, she learned later, had been waiting for several days. "As we got out of the van, they cheered and clapped, as if we were celebrities," she said. But Sarah didn't feel like a celebrity. She was nervous and not sure if she had the skills needed to help so many people. But a few days later, as she stood on a dirt floor comforting a little boy whose entire family was suffering from malaria, all her doubts and insecurities vanished. Just knowing how much she was needed allowed her to put everything she had learned to good use with skill and compassion. "I didn't have time to feel scared or insecure. Those people needed us. We were all they had," said ...

Stephan Valentine, Belinda Sherman, Mary Thornley, Christian Mahon, Grant Delgado The 2018 Scholarship Luncheon was held in the spring to celebrate and connect scholarship donors and recipients. The student panelists, Grant Delgado, Christian Mahon, Belinda Sherman, and Stephen Valentine answered questions posed to them by Dr. Mary Thornley, TTC President, and they shared their personal stories of humble beginnings and challenges along the way. The four students came from different backgrounds and are on different career paths but what they had in common was much greater than any differences: the desire to achieve success. All four of them spoke about the importance of having a cheerleader on their side and how receiving a scholarship gave them a reason to believe in themselves.  Belinda Sherman Belinda Sherman was abused as a child and told she would never amount to anything. She said, “After having to endure all that, I had to find my own way in life. Gett...

Bob Seidler had the opportunity to get to know TTC students long before he became chair of the TTC Foundation Board of Trustees this year. As a hotel executive with over four decades of experience in a wide variety of hospitality organizations, he has recruited and hired many TTC and Culinary Institute of Charleston graduates through the years. “They have always come to us well-prepared and excited about working in the field,” says Bob. “We just always knew it would work out when we hired TTC grads.” When he and his wife Margaret came to the College several years ago to provide developmental workshops to TTC employees, they were both further convinced of the valuable asset TTC represents in developing workforce talent for the region’s employers. “We saw an entire organization that is lean, efficient and strategic and realized just how critical their role in the community is to the continued success of our growing area,” he says. It wasn’t long before Bob and Margaret...

"You have no idea how unreal it feels to wake up knowing that just one more person believes in you."  -Olivia, TTC Scholarship Recipient TTC faculty and staff are committed to helping students achieve their goals and improve their lives, and through their participation in the 2018-19 CampusCampaign , So Much More , they demonstrated that commitment. Eighty-three percent of full-time employees contributed more than $72,000 for TTC Foundation programs like Scholarships, Minigrants and the Student Emergency Fund. This is no surprise, as faculty and staff have a long history of giving back to students, raising $1.4 Million since 1980. They give back because working at TTC is more than just a job to them. Through their donations, they are sending the message that they believe in students and are rooting for them to succeed. They understand that, to students, it’s about so much more than the financial support. Just knowing that they are surrounded by a communit...

Roper St. Francis Mount Pleasant Hospital CEO and TTC Alum Anthony Jackson had always known that he could find success in the medical field. But as a first-generation college student from Aiken, SC, he wasn’t sure how he would get there.  He started looking around the state and found the Radiologic Technology program at Trident Technical College. “Actually,” he says, “I always say, ‘Trident found me.’” Coming from a small town, he was surprised and relieved to find so much comfort at TTC. The college provided him with an environment where he could thrive. “The faculty advisors were so nurturing and encouraging. They got to know me as an individual and helped me develop my strengths, which gave me the confidence to be successful,” he says. He says that Roper St. Francis works very hard to attract the best and brightest students from TTC and has made a number of hires directly from the college. “What I find most impressive about the students from TTC is their...

As the 11th of 14 children, Kathy Simmons knows what it’s like to be a part of a close-knit family. Which is exactly why she has made her way back to Trident Technical College 33 years after graduating in 1985. Kathy’s path back to TTC began with her desire to fulfill two goals – advance her education and travel – and she figured the best way to accomplish both was through the military. So Kathy joined the Air Force in 1987, and did indeed accomplish both goals. She received her Bachelor of Arts while stationed in Minot, North Dakota, her Master of Arts from Erskine Theological Seminary and she has completed 60 hours toward a Doctor of Education from Walden University. She saw much of the country and spent time overseas in Korea. After the military, Kathy found herself back at TTC in the Admissions and Registrar’s office, and it was there she realized she really wanted to stay in education and help students find success. But a wise mentor once told her that in order to advance...

Andrea K. Davis Future Alumni Essay Contest - Runner-up Have you ever had to change the world’s smelliest diaper right in the middle of an exam for an online class? Well that honor has been bestowed upon me a few times during my time at TTC, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. While motherhood has its own unique challenges, attaining my degree has been a milestone I’ve been actively pursuing since relocating to Charleston. TTC has not only been a financially SMART investment, but has also given me the ability to connect with others in my community. The quest to my success has not been one of comfort. Being a college student requires your undivided attention. When you’re taking multiple classes, it is not uncommon for deadlines to sneak up on you. Although working ahead in classes where I am able has been somewhat of a lifesaver, unfortunately that option isn’t available for all of my classes, so I have to do my best to stay on top of each assignment. The real challenge of t...

Meagan Hayes made the decision to go back to school after a string of bad days at her waitressing job. It was the off-season, business was slow, tips were bad and she was picking up evening and overnight shifts just to make ends meet. This meant she could not be home with her 4-year old son to make him dinner, bathe him, read to him and tuck him in. “I just decided I had had enough. I didn’t want to raise my son the way I was raised: with a mom who was working two jobs to keep a roof over our heads and barely home,” she says. Going back to college was always a dream for Meagan, but the thought of it was overwhelming. As an addict four years into recovery and a single, working mom, her days were challenging enough. Trying to find a way to pay for school, jumping through hoops to get enrolled, changing her work schedule to attend classes was daunting and scary. But she was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was and a few days later, after buying her books, wearing her diner uni...

You could say that Trident Technical College alum Tom Pinckney started attending college when he was about 10 years old. He would often go to work with his dad, who taught accounting at TTC, so that he could get access to the computers. “I really liked playing around with computers, mostly games, but it was the beginning for me,” says Tom. As he got older, he started sitting in on some of the computer programming classes and completing assignments from the classes, like writing programs to do payroll and other business tasks. He eventually decided he would just take all of his classes at Trident Tech, as opposed to traditional high school. He went on to take classes at the College of Charleston and then graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for undergrad and grad school. “I like to tell people that Trident Tech taught me all of the practical things about programming and MIT taught me all the theoretical things, so between the two I was covered,” he laughs. ...

Skip Godow  Skip Godow spent much of his career in higher education encouraging others to never be satisfied with the current state of affairs, no matter how good it is. "Good is the enemy of great and we should always be striving for great," says Skip. "That takes creativity, imagination and innovation." This is why he started the SKIPs (Strategy + Knowledge = Innovation Prize) at Trident Technical College in 2013. He wanted to help create a culture of innovation by rewarding those that make exceptional contributions in order to transform the student experience or improve on the administrative process. When Skip was the VP of Continuing Education at TTC, there was an "Innovator of the Month" award, which empowered employees to look at innovation as part of their jobs. "It was amazing to see how many people in the division came up with (and implemented) new ideas," he says. "Instead of thinking that we had to do things the w...

Marie Arnaud, right, of the Charleston chapter of the French Alliance, congratulates Eleis Lester on her selection for the horticultural internship in Paris. Eleis Lester, a horticulture student at Trident Technical College , has been selected for a gardening internship this summer in Paris at the Garden of Bagatelle, an 18th-century landscaped park and chateau. Eleis is the fourth TTC student to participate in the internship sponsored by Magnolia Plantation and Gardens and the F rench Heritage Society in Paris. The local program, established in 2011, also receives support from the Alliance Française de Charleston . She said Magnolia and the Alliance Française “together have created one of the most unique learning experience in our region, and I am delighted to represent Charleston in France this summer. The best learning happens in new places with new people. I can’t wait!” Eleis earned a double degree in the history of mathematics and science and ancient Greek and Fre...

As Belinda Sherman stood alongside her Culinary Institute of Charleston classmates and took her bows at Trident Technical College’s annual fundraising gala  A Night in the Valley , it hit her that she was finally doing something she felt good about.  " I think it was the culmination of so many changes in my life and so many new emotions,” says Belinda. “I almost had to pinch myself to believe that I was living in this beautiful, amazing moment." Belinda is a mother of three, two of which are in college as well – one at USC, Aiken Campus and the other right here with her at TridentTechnical College in the pre-nursing program. As a first-generation college student, this makes her extremely proud. "I was determined to raise my kids to believe they can accomplish anything and they were most definitely going to be something. Unfortunately, I was not encouraged and was told that I would never amount to anything. " But it's even worse than that. Bel...

Veronica Rohtert Future Alumni Essay Contest Trident Technical College best educates individuals by offering a warm atmosphere to develop their skills by a caring and knowledgeable staff of professionals.  The college offers every possible option to serve all individual needs in obtaining their educational dreams. Trident Technical College's concern is to help you receive your education, improve yourself, educate yourself to be part of the community and help you to become the best you can be. The faculty will hold you accountable and guide you to success. TTC has a staff that is available to guide you across every hurdle and get you to the finish line. The advantages of choosing Trident Technical College are affordability, a multitude of career programs, personal attention, evening and online classes.  TTC has it all from degrees to diplomas to certificates to continuing education.  It does not stop there. Trident Technical College will prepare you for transferri...