'People can do great things if we give them the opportunity'

Opportunity can open up a world of possibilities.

Just ask Dr. Mary Thornley, who has experienced that concept firsthand. The president of Trident Technical College (TTC) shared her personal success story with hundreds of audience members on April 3 at the Daniel Island Club, as the keynote speaker for the latest edition of the Daniel Island Speaker Series.

Thornley began her career at TTC some 46 years ago and has held the top executive post since 1991, after working her way up the ranks. She served as a part-time teacher, a department head, the dean of arts and sciences, and vice president of academic affairs before taking on the presidency role. Today, the college provides a plethora of educational programs at multiple locations – offering everything from aeronautics to nursing, automotive to welding, and information technology to culinary programs. The school also has a large dual credit program with both public and private high schools in Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester Counties. Trident Tech is the third largest provider of higher education in South Carolina, behind the University of South Carolina and Clemson.

But Thornley’s success at the helm of TTC takes on even greater significance when you consider her humble beginnings. Her grandparents were sharecroppers. Both her mother and her father dropped out of school in the seventh grade. Her great grandmother and her grandmother were illiterate. But Thornley graduated from high school as valedictorian of her class.

“I can read,” she exclaimed. “I can read rather well! It’s all about opportunity.”

A TALE OF TWO GIRLS

She began her presentation with a story about two young girls, Diane Forest and Elizabeth Horton, growing up in a rural North Carolina mill town.

“They met in the first grade,” explained Thornley. “They became best friends, and they were virtually inseparable at school.”

Both had parents who worked at the local textile factory. Both attended the mill village school, grades one through 12. Both were always the top two students in the class, alternating between No. 1 and No. 2 in every subject.

“But when that school bell rang, Diane went home to her family to care for her siblings, and Elizabeth went home to do the same,” continued Thornley. “Two little girls walking home, their separate ways, because their mothers are at work on the swing shift at a textile mill. Two little girls walking home to assume some chores and duties. Pretty heavy for girls that age.”

Neither home had a toilet or a bathtub or a telephone, added Thornley. What they did have, she explained, were their books, their dreams and their friendship.

But when the girls reached the end of their eighth grade year, Diane told Elizabeth she was pregnant. Their paths would soon diverge.

“Ninth grade was not the same for me,” explained Thornley. “I am Elizabeth Horton. I consciously switched from being Elizabeth to being Mary. And in 1961 I graduated from that mill school and went off to the mountains on a scholarship to college.”

Diane never returned to school. After Thornley graduated from college, she ran into Diane, who was working as a cashier at a Food Lion in their hometown.

“We recognized each other instantly,” recalled Thornley. “But all that sparkle was gone from once beautiful green eyes. We talked briefly…but I could see that Diane’s head was low and she was embarrassed.”

“I don’t think in my business there is a single day that goes by that I don’t think of Diane Forest and all the Diane Forests out there,” she continued. “I am so grateful that I’ve had the opportunity for an education.”

PUTTING STUDENTS TO WORK

And Thornley pours that appreciation into her work at TTC, constantly seeking to provide new opportunities to the students she and her team serve. Fortunately, South Carolina’s robust job market has been favorable to graduates. In the tri-county region alone, there have been some 35,000 new jobs in some of Trident Tech’s key focus areas: production, mechanical, hospitality, medical, business operation, and software.

“All of these things overlap neatly with what we do at Trident Tech,” she said.

The college is also in the process of building a brand new South Carolina Aeronautical Training Center, Thornley told the audience, sparked by Boeing’s investment in the state. The $80 million, 218,000 square foot facility will help prepare workers for “incredible, well-paying jobs” in the industry, she noted, but also will create an aeronautical culture in South Carolina that will inspire the next generation.

Another area Thornley is proud of is TTC’s Charleston Regional Youth Apprenticeship Program (CRYAP), an initiative that has received financial support from a number of entities, including the Rotary Club of Daniel Island. Thornley described the program as a way to “home grow talent.” The CRYAP is a partnership between TTC, local businesses and school districts that gives high school students an opportunity to get real, paid work experience in areas that interest them.

“What do we do?” asked Thornley. “We’re the convener. We bring all the partners together, we teach the courses as well. And then smack in the middle you see the employer. The employer is key. The employer is the one that selects those juniors or seniors, brings them onboard, and those selected students go to high school, go to Trident Tech, and go to work, simultaneously.”

Thornley rounded out her presentation with the stories of four CRYAP students who went on to achieve great success. All beat the odds and difficult circumstances to come out on top in their fields. One will spend this summer in Hawaii working in the hospitality field, one finished a successful megatronics apprenticeship at Bosch and will soon begin work on an engineering degree at the Citadel, one is at Clemson on a full scholarship in mechanical engineering, and another is also studying engineering at the Citadel and just bought her first house at age 21.

“We’re all blessed to live in a beautiful area,” said Thornley, in closing. “Particularly you who live here on Daniel Island…It’s rich in natural resources. But we also live in an area that’s rich in human resources. People can do great things if we give them the opportunity.”

The Daniel Island Speaker Series, which just finished up its seventh season, is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Daniel Island, the Daniel Island Business Association, the Daniel Island Community Fund, and the Daniel Island Club.