Change Starts Here

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