Stories

During her first week of her field practice teaching experience at Hodges Elementary School, Piedmont Technical College (PTC) Early Care and Education Major Caroline Falls found great wisdom in the subtle things, like how to respond correctly and empathetically to a student posing an awkward question. In her first week in Kimber Burrell’s first grade classroom, Falls constantly looked to the senior teacher to see how she handled various, sometimes uncomfortable situations.

A family tragedy set Piedmont Technical College (PTC) summer graduate Victoria Robbins on a course toward her degree in human services. The Laurens woman is now an AmeriCorps phenomenon working at the South Carolina Empowerment Center (SCEC). She fills her calendar to the max with personal, professional and volunteer responsibilities executed with love and compassion.

It’s important to listen carefully for the sound of opportunity. Sometimes it’s just a slight murmur. A heart murmur. Piedmont Technical College (PTC) student Kevin Jones pays meticulous attention to heart sounds, monitors and the imaging equipment he is using while completing his clinical experience in invasive cardiovascular technology (CVT-I) at Self Regional Healthcare. And he doesn’t hesitate to speak up when he hears something of interest.

The Piedmont Technical College (PTC) Human Services Program recently established a new student internship opportunity with Clear Skye Treatment Centers in Clinton. The internship is designed to afford students a broader experience in the Human Services field. The first three PTC interns began their field experience at Clear Skye in mid-September.

Piedmont Technical College (PTC) has been awarded a federal grant totaling $1.5 million over the next five years. The grant comes from a federal program known as TRiO, which provides funding so that colleges can offer extra assistance to students who may face any number of financial, social or physical challenges to their college success. PTC recently was awarded more than $314,000 in TRiO grant money to be renewed every year for five years to assist these very students. The grant is administered through the PTC Student Support Services division.

Good luck trying to coax a busy college student to complete a long paper form and (ugh!) find stamps to (gasp!) mail it to the state’s voter registration office. It’s just not likely to happen. Paper is so last millennium, to say nothing of germ-harboring writing implements. Piedmont Technical College staffers Beth Jaeger, Lisa Toland and Sara Perry had a challenge on their hands — how to encourage students to participate in our democracy.

It was the first day of first grade for Caroline Falls. She quickly reviewed her checklist: Hand sanitizer, check. Crayons, check. The eager 20-year-old Piedmont Technical College (PTC) Early Care and Education (ECE) major was truly stoked to begin her formal field experience at Hodges Elementary School on August 24. Any first-day nerves she may have harbored evaporated the moment she met her supervising teacher.

Several fall-semester industrial technology students at Piedmont Technical College got a whiff of that unmistakable “new-building smell” at the William H. “Billy” O’Dell Upstate Center for Manufacturing Excellence in Greenwood the first week of classes last month. The building is nearly complete (some large-scale equipment is still being installed and a few punch-list items), but its shiny new facilities are open already for welding and machine tool classes.

Because so much of America gets its legal education from television, the Piedmont Technical College (PTC) Continuing Education Division is partnering with the South Carolina Bar to offer an online course this fall titled Law School for Non-Lawyers.

Piedmont Technical College (PTC) recently honored the achievements of more than 30 conscientious student leaders via a virtual 46th Annual Student Awards and Recognition Program broadcast live over Facebook last month.