Seventeen rising seniors from high schools across the state recently came to Riley Institute\u2019s Emerging Public Leaders program at Furman University to learn more about service-oriented\u00a0 leadership and begin local projects to improve their communities.<\/p>\n
EPL is a nine-month program that begins with an intensive week-long program at Furman and ends with a presentation of the projects in the spring, said Melanie Armstrong, program coordinator. The program, initiated in 2003, accepts students based on grades, extracurricular activities, and teacher recommendations. It also places emphasis on applications from poverty-stricken communities, particularly in the Interstate 95 corridor.<\/p>\n
Participants include Alexis Adams, Scott\u2019s Branch High, Summerton, who wants to create a grant program focusing on small businesses and offering resources for citizens hoping to start their own businesses; Jo Baslot, Wilson High, Florence, create a youth program focused on outdoor activities, nature and the environment; Nikhalia Cheepurapalli, Spring Valley High, Columbia, establish a \u201cFitness Day\u201d to promote healthy lifestyles; and Natrone Davis, Scott\u2019s Branch High, Summerton; create a \u00a0mentoring program for males in the first and second grade.<\/p>\n
Other participants are Luke DeMott, Mauldin High, Greenville, create a mentorship\/tutoring program for poor elementary-school children in Greenville; Lydia Fink, East Forsyth High, Kernersville, N.C., create a children\u2019s book about pollution in reaction to the Dan River coal ash spill; and Mary Beth Grant, Greenwood High, Greenwood, help Meg\u2019s House by forming a support group for young women to help them find resources available in their community.<\/p>\n
More participants are Westin Hardesty, Travelers Rest, High, Travelers Rest, create an outreach program that enables community theater in her town to grow and prosper; Brittany Joyce, Hartsville High, Hartsville, establish a program to improve relationships between police and young people; Mani King, St. Joseph\u2019s High, Greenville; raise awareness of teen pregnancy with social media pages and volunteering at a non-profit that works with teens and young parents; Juejie Liu, Aiken High, Aiken; organize students to help respond to environmental disasters when state and local governments are not effective; and Kenny Nguyen, Greenwood Christian, Greenwood, promote education with an interactive tutoring program and create videos touting Greenwood.<\/p>\n
Other participants are Lucas Paquette, Johnsonville High, Johnsonville, create a permanent senior center; Susannah Pazdan, Christ Church Episcopal, Greenville; create a student-led program to address the root causes of homelessness and work with the homeless to help them find available resources; Tre\u2019 Dessa Smalls, Hartsville High, Myrtle Beach; create a program to help African-American girls gain self\u2014acceptance and self-esteem; and James Wiley, Riverside High, Greer; produce a documentary including \u00a0interviews with educators and others to help developmentally\/intellectually disabled people find employment.<\/p>\n
Dick Riley, former South Carolina governor and U.S. secretary of education in President Bill Clinton\u2019s administration, said the program is \u201cgood for the state. Most of the students will end up right here\u201d in South Carolina. \u201cLeadership is the word to describe somebody who can have an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the week, the students\u00a0 participated in team-building activities; had discussions with Furman professors about state and local government issues; sustainability, social media, ethics and other challenges, \u00a0discussed issues in their own communities, talked with Greenville City Council members and toured downtown Greenville, eating at Barleys Taproom and Grill and Spill the Beans.<\/p>\n
The group also visited agencies including Triune Mercy Center, discussed poverty and its challenges, met the Furman president; and attended a luncheon with Riley. Students also visited state agencies in Columbia and honed the projects they are planning for their home communities. Throughout the week, fun activities such as cookouts, swimming, and pizza parties are included.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou listen to others and you\u2019re interested in others,\u201d Riley told the group at a luncheon. \u201cI think that\u2019s real important in leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n
King said of her project that she wants \u201cto help those teen parents who are raising the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pacquette said he became interested in EPL when he heard about it at school: \u201cIt seemed right up my alley. This program has taught me a great amount.\u201d<\/p>\n
His project came about because \u201cI\u2019ve always had a bond with senior citizens. My greatest hero is my grandmother.\u201d Johnsonville has many senior citizens but few resources. He said he has been working with local churches to visit the home-bound elderly and would like to establish a permanent senior center, with the aid of Johnsonville City Council and his school.<\/p>\n
Alumni of the EPL program also attended the luncheon with Riley and the participants.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, I grew up in a small town. I traveled a lot. My dream was to leave this small town and small state,\u201d said Niti Parthasarathy, EPL 2005. The program \u201cshowed me how to do good where you are,\u201d and she learned about what was going on in Greenville. \u201cI had always thought service was being in a leadership position. It taught me to get in the mud a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her project, Rock Stars, was a mentoring program exposing young children to the arts, said the graduate of the Governor\u2019s School of the Performing Arts and Duke University.<\/p>\n
After living in New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Rio de Janiero, Brazil; she returned to Greenville a month ago. \u201cI want to make this city as great a place as possible,\u201d she said, adding she has just become involved in Habitat for Humanity.<\/p>\n
Lathrum Johnson, a 2007 EPL graduate from Bennettsville and a Furman graduate, currently works at Furman and is planning to attend medical school in Greenville.<\/p>\n
EPL \u201cwas a strong foundation for leadership,\u201d he said. \u201cThe skills I gained enabled me to get more out there in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the program creates a network of young leaders who can help South Carolina grow and prosper.<\/p>\n
Monica Dongre, who was in the initial EPL class, is from Greer but now lives in Charlotte where she is an attorney. Her project was creating a mentoring program for elementary school children, encouraging them to use the library.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think EPL taught me self-confidence and the power of community service and networking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seventeen rising seniors from high schools across the state recently came to Riley Institute\u2019s Emerging Public Leaders program at Furman University to learn more about service-oriented\u00a0 leadership and begin local […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":13403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,35,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-centers-and-institutes","category-parent-news","category-riley-institute"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}