A Night to Remember

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.

Belinda was sexually abused as a child by family members and told it was her fault. She fought depression for many years and acted out, getting into trouble just to get attention. After years of therapy, she finally turned a corner. 

"I read this quote once and it stuck with me: ‘Unforgiveness is choosing to stay trapped in a jail cell of bitterness, serving time for someone else’s crime (Anonymous).’ It helped me realize that I would never get over what happened unless I could forgive,” says Belinda.

Belinda knew she still had more work to do. She was living in government housing and receiving assistance to make ends meet. She always put her children’s needs in front of her own, so after they graduated high school and started college, she decided that she, too, would further her education.

“I want my children to know that government assistance is there to help when you need it, but it should be used as a stepping stone, not a way of life,” she says.

When she decided to go back to school, there was no question what she wanted to do. She always loved to cook, so she enrolled at The Culinary Institute of Charleston.

“I started cooking full meals for my family at the age of eight to help my mom out,” she says. “As I got older, I made certain to expose myself and my children to different foods from other cultures.”

Although she was working full-time while taking classes, it was still tough to make ends meet. This year, she received the Kiawah Island Golf Resort Culinary Scholarship through the TTC Foundation, which helped tremendously, in more ways than one.

“Receiving the scholarship has helped us financially, but it also has given me a huge boost of confidence. Nobody ever believed in me before. I want to make my children and myself proud, but also the folks whose compassion made this possible,” she says.

That is one of the reasons why A Night in the Valley had such a profound affect on her. 

“We were all working so hard as a team and I wanted the event to be an amazing experience for the people who give so much to the college,” she says.

The event hosted 600 friends of the college and raised more than $540,000 for scholarships and other programs. Belinda says that gaining real-world knowledge and skills alongside her chef instructors was the pinnacle of the event for her.

“They care so much and it comes across in everything they do, every step of the way. Nobody has ever wanted to see me succeed as much as my instructors do,“ she beams.  

“This experience will stay with me forever.”

Belinda is one of the students featured in the highlight video from the event. Click here to watch.

Check out photos from the event at A Night in the Valley's Facebook photo album.