Change Starts Here

When life throws you one challenge after another, you start to appreciate the small wins.  For Trident Tech student Kristi Salvo, receiving a new laptop through the Student Urgent Needs (SUN) fund was a game-changer.  Like students across the country, Salvo’s in-person classes were abruptly switched to an online format this spring due to COVID-19. But she knew her older computer couldn’t keep up with the online demands and she couldn't afford to buy a new one. “I was already dealing with a lot and it felt like this was going to be the thing that would break me,” she said. Salvo, a veteran of the US Air Force, struggles with health issues, including a back injury and a severe autoimmune disorder. In March, she and her husband separated, leaving her to juggle the responsibility of being a student, while also being a teacher to their two young children. All this, while trying to stay healthy and safe during a global pandemic. After Salvo and her children moved into a smaller, mor...

In addition to generous gifts from many individual donors, the Trident Technical College Foundation recently received awards from the following organizations to support TTC students: Bank of America awarded $30,000 to support students during the COVID-19 pandemic through the Student Urgent Needs fund. Through this fund, the college provides one-time financial support to students who, as a result of unforeseen and urgent financial circumstances, are at risk of withdrawing from classes. The Coastal Community Foundation ’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund provided $8,000 to purchase laptops for students who need them to complete their coursework online.  The Exchange Club of Charleston awarded $2,000 for the Student Mission to Increase Lifelong Excellent Oral Health (SMILE Oral Health) program. The funding will support Dental Hygiene students’ outreach and education programs for Title I elementary school children, enabling them to purchase dental models for instruction and to provide oral ...

Robert Anderson hadn’t yet graduated from Trident Technical College when he was offered an IT job with the local bank in his Pennsylvania hometown. The year was 1966, and the job was a systems analyst on an IBM mainframe computer located at another company. The other company was 23 miles away. “In those days, a computer was a major investment, and it was common for businesses to share computing time,” said Anderson.  If something went wrong with the program - which could happen at any time, in any weather -  he would drive to the computer center, debug the program and stay to make sure the bank application finished and the bank's customer accounts were up to date the following morning.  “Roads could be very slippery; there was this one hill that my car would sometimes slide back down,” he laughed. Anderson wasn’t sure what he wanted to do when he graduated from high school, so he decided to join the Air Force. He was stationed around the country and in England, from wher...