By Herb Frazier
With two master’s degrees on his resume, Summerville resident Magellan T. Mambou is pursuing dual associate degrees at Trident Technical College because he wants a challenge beyond just teaching high school and college students.
For 25 years, Mambou has taught math in South Carolina and in his native Cameroon. A message from a TED Talks presenter, however, led him to imagine a different path. The opportunity to do just that came when he learned about a scholarship named for 19th century attorney, journalist and diplomat Archibald Grimké and funded annually by the Magnolia Plantation Foundation.
Mambou is in the first year of a two-and-a-half year plan to earn associate degrees in network systems management and cybersecurity.
Born into slavery in 1849 on a Lowcountry rice plantation, Grimké was one of the first black students enrolled in the Harvard Law School. He was a first cousin of the Rev. John Grimké Drayton, who in 1870 opened Magnolia’s gardens as Charleston’s first tourist attraction.
The Grimké scholarship supports students enrolled in one of 20 associate degree programs of study that either relate to Magnolia’s operation or are considered “high demand” occupations for the tri-county region, Keith Rumrill, the college’s director of development, said. The scholarship will provide funding to four students in the current academic year, he said.
“The college manages the scholarship application and selection processes,” Rumrill said. “Students apply for scholarships through an online application. Scholarship selection committees made up of faculty, alumni and TTC Foundation board members review eligible applicants and select recipients.”
Fernanda Moore, a member of Magnolia’s board of directors, said, “I really wish my grandparents, who established the Magnolia Plantation Foundation, had lived long enough to meet the amazing students we’ve had the privilege of sponsoring. They’d have been so impressed by Magellan, who is exactly the kind of person they both admired.”
After immigrating to the United States in early 2000, Mambou became disillusioned with teaching. American students, he said, are not as disciplined as students in Cameroon. He thought then about leaving education, but one of his assistant principals convinced him to remain in the classroom.
In Yaoundé, Cameroon, Mambou lived with his uncle, Phillippe Tahche, who also paid for his schooling from high school through college. Later in life, Mambou realized his uncle, who he calls “Dad,” supported him to emphasize the importance of an education. Mambou, whose middle name is Tahche, later earned a master’s in mathematics from the University of Yaoundé, and a master’s in education from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
So far, Mambou has a 4.0 grade-point average at Trident Tech and will graduate with two associate degrees, in addition to other academic training, in May 2022.
For 25 years, Mambou has taught math in South Carolina and in his native Cameroon. A message from a TED Talks presenter, however, led him to imagine a different path. The opportunity to do just that came when he learned about a scholarship named for 19th century attorney, journalist and diplomat Archibald Grimké and funded annually by the Magnolia Plantation Foundation.
Mambou is in the first year of a two-and-a-half year plan to earn associate degrees in network systems management and cybersecurity.
“I am trying to work extra so I can finish on time,” he said recently, sitting in the shade of towering oaks at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. “I decided to go back to school to do something that is fun and do something that could help secure a company’s computer infrastructure and secure personal data online.”
Magnolia established the Grimké scholarship in 2016, more than three decades after the Trident Technical College Foundation began to solicit and manage scholarship funds to benefit TTC students. So far, Magnolia has contributed $45,000 to the scholarship fund, which is one of 135 scholarship funds at the college.
Magnolia established the Grimké scholarship in 2016, more than three decades after the Trident Technical College Foundation began to solicit and manage scholarship funds to benefit TTC students. So far, Magnolia has contributed $45,000 to the scholarship fund, which is one of 135 scholarship funds at the college.
The Grimké scholarship supports students enrolled in one of 20 associate degree programs of study that either relate to Magnolia’s operation or are considered “high demand” occupations for the tri-county region, Keith Rumrill, the college’s director of development, said. The scholarship will provide funding to four students in the current academic year, he said.
“The college manages the scholarship application and selection processes,” Rumrill said. “Students apply for scholarships through an online application. Scholarship selection committees made up of faculty, alumni and TTC Foundation board members review eligible applicants and select recipients.”
Fernanda Moore, a member of Magnolia’s board of directors, said, “I really wish my grandparents, who established the Magnolia Plantation Foundation, had lived long enough to meet the amazing students we’ve had the privilege of sponsoring. They’d have been so impressed by Magellan, who is exactly the kind of person they both admired.”
After immigrating to the United States in early 2000, Mambou became disillusioned with teaching. American students, he said, are not as disciplined as students in Cameroon. He thought then about leaving education, but one of his assistant principals convinced him to remain in the classroom.
In Yaoundé, Cameroon, Mambou lived with his uncle, Phillippe Tahche, who also paid for his schooling from high school through college. Later in life, Mambou realized his uncle, who he calls “Dad,” supported him to emphasize the importance of an education. Mambou, whose middle name is Tahche, later earned a master’s in mathematics from the University of Yaoundé, and a master’s in education from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
So far, Mambou has a 4.0 grade-point average at Trident Tech and will graduate with two associate degrees, in addition to other academic training, in May 2022.
Herb Frazier, a Charleston-based writer, is the former public relations director at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens.
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