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Upstate Class XXI Spring 2016

View the participants from this class.

(l-r) Andrew Meurer and Jim Bryan, World Changers Dream Team
(l-r) Xanthene Norris and Nathalie Belk, Building Bridges
Ron Malone speaking to his team members, WICnic
Chi Blair, WICnic
Juana Slade, Upstate Class II, Fall 2004
Rick Grooms and Lisa Hallo, World Changers Dream Team
Gabrielle Komorowski, Building Bridges
(Center) Cindy Davies, Building Bridges
Rick Grooms and Charlotte McDavid, World Changers Dream Team
Team WICnic
Chris Schoen, WICnic
(l-r) Gerald Washington, Xanthene Norris and Nathalie Belk, Building Bridges
(l-r) Andrew Meurer, Joanie Martin, Jim Bryan, Tom Wilson, Maria Swearingen, Lillie Lewis, Rick Grooms, Charlotte McDavid and Lisa Hallo, World Changers Dream Team
(l-r) Joanie Martin, Maria Swearingen, Jim Bryan, Rick Grooms, Charlotte McDavid and Tom Wilson, World Changers Dream Team
Juan Johnson speaking to team members of World Changers Dream Team
(l-r) Leo Fackler, Saria Saccocio and Ann Wright, Opportunity Bridge
Lillie Lewis speaking, World Changers Dream Team
(l-r) Kay Biscopink and Meliah Bowers Jefferson, Opportunity Bridge
DJ Harris speaking, WICnic
Sheryl Wilkerson speaking, WICnic
Chi Blair speaking, WICnic
(l-r) Cal Hurst, Ron Malone, Chris Schoen, Catherine Heigel, DJ Harris and Sheryl Wilkerson, WICnic
Chris Schoen, WICnic
Catherine Heigel, WICnic
Question for team WICnic; (l-r) Catherine Heigel, Cal Hurst, DJ Harris, Sheryl Wilkerson, Chi Blair, Ron Malone, Chris Schoen and Juan Johnson
Berry Kelly from DHEC and is a guest of WICnic
Cal Hurst responding to a question from the audience
Kay Biscopink, Opportunity Bridge
Leo Fackler, Opportunity Bridge
Meliah Bowers Jefferson speaking, Opportunity Bridge
Saria Saccocio, Opportunity Bridge
Cedric Adderley, Opportunity Bridge
(l-r) Ann Wright, Cedric Adderley, Saria Saccocio, and Kay Biscopink, Opportunity Bridge
Juan Johnson
Ann Wright speaking, Opportunity Bridge
Xanthene Norris speaking, Building Bridges
Gabrielle Komorowski, Building Bridges
Keith Kiser speaking, Building Bridges
(l-r) Gerald Washington, Keith Kiser, Gabrielle Komorowski, Gene Langan, Nathalie Belk, Kevin McCraw, Xanthene Norris and their guest speakers
Xanthene Norris and Keith Kiser, Building Bridges
Upstate Class XXI Spring 2016
Keith Keiser responding to a question
Cindy Davies and Keith Keiser with their guest speakers
Gabrielle Komorowksi and Cindy Davies with their guest speakers
Hoyt Bynum, Blue Tie Club Connectors
Carlos Quintero, Blue Tie Club Connectors
Jill Van Pelt, Blue Tie Club Connectors
(l-r) Tim Metz, Carlos Quintero and Jill Van Pelt, Blue Tie Club Connectors
Keith McDaniel, Blue Tie Club Connectors
Tim Metz, Blue Tie Club Connectors
(l-r) Tim Metz, Keith McDaniel, Hoyt Bynum, Carlos Quintero and Jill Van Pelt, Blue Tie Connectors
Don Gordon, Executive Director of the Riley Institute
Camaraderie between Lisa Hallo and Gabrielle Komorowski
The excitement of a job well done! Keith Kiser and Charlotte McDavid
Maria Swearingen, Rick Grooms and Kay Biscopink
Juan is very proud of this group of Riley Fellows!
Cindy Davies, Building Bridges, receiving her Riley Fellow certificate from Juan Johnson
DJ Harris, WICnic, receiving his Riley Fellow certificate from Juan Johnson
Gabrielle Komorowski, Building Bridges, receiving her Riley Fellow certificate from Juan Johnson
Andrew Meurer, World Changers Dream Team, receiving his Riley Fellow certificate from Juan Johnson
Jill Van Pelt, Blue Tie Club Connectors, receiving her Riley Fellow certificate from Juan Johnson
Saria Saccocio, Opportunity Bridge, receiving her Riley Fellow certificate
World Changers Dream Team: Row 1 (l-r) Charlotte McDavid and Lillie Lewis; Row 2 (l-r) Jim Bryan, Lisa Hallo, Maria Swearingen, Joanie Martin; Row 3 (l-r) Tom Wilson, Andrew Meuer and Rick Grooms
WICnic: Row 1 (l-r) Ron Malone, Chi Blair, Catherine Heigel, Sheryl Wilkerson; Row 2 (l-r) Cal Hurst, DJ Harris, Chris Schoen; not pictured: Carol Moody
Opportunity Bridge: Row 1 (l-r) Ann Wright, Saria Saccocio, Meliah Bowers Jefferson; Row 2 (l-r) Cedric Adderley, Kay Boscopink, Leo Fackler; not pictured: Bill Schafer
Building Bridges: Row 1 (l-r) Nathalie Belk, Keith Kiser; Row 2 (l-r) Xanthene Norris, Kevin McCraw, Gerald Washington; Row 3 (l-r) Gene Langan, Gabrielle Komorowski, Cindy Davies; not pictured: Michael Delaney
Blue Tie Club Connectors: Row 1 (l-r) Carlos Quintero, Jill Van Pelt; Row 2 (l-r) Keith McDaniel, Hoyt Bynum, Tim Metz; not pictured: Joy Grayson, Cathy Jones, Laura Ringo, Sigfried Waigand
Congratulations Upstate Class XXI Riley Fellows!

World Changers Dream Team

The World Changers Dream Team partnered with approximately 50 students participating in the 21st Century after-school program at Pendleton Elementary School on a month-long project that explored both personal and social responsibility. The team facilitated opportunities for the 3rd through 6th grade students to learn about personal responsibility through a financial literacy curriculum and practice social responsibility by completing service projects together in small project teams.

WICnic

The WICnic Group seeks to improve health and life success prospects for economically disadvantaged children in South Carolina by providing families with greater access to nutrition counseling and healthy food options. We opted to leverage an existing USDA program – Women, Infants & Children (WIC) – that is administered in South Carolina by the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) (www.scdhec.gov/wic). Research has shown that WIC plays an important role in improving birth outcomes, containing health care costs and improving children’s diets, among a long list of benefits. But barriers, such as transportation, prevent many who need the service from receiving it.

Opportunity Bridge

Opportunity Bridge identified a partnership with Bridges to a Brighter Future to engage rising seniors during their summer break with job and volunteer experiences that align with their individual interests. Bridges to a Brighter Future is a nationally recognized program investing in high school students demonstrating high potential and challenging circumstances, beginning in ninth grade and expanding throughout their college experience.

Building Bridges

The team objective was to bring together and, in turn, build bridges between groups of students from two different worlds. With this passion and vision in hand, the Building Bridges team, which included Carolina High School’s principal Mr. Michael Delaney and St. Joseph Catholic School’s headmaster Mr. Keith Kiser, developed and launched this new cultural bridge program.

Blue Tie Club Connections

The Blue Tie Club Connectors unanimously decided to reach out to young people early in their lives to make community connections and provide engaged learning opportunities to make a positive impact on the children’s lives. The group met with Thomas Webster, the principal of Jesse Bobo Elementary, a Title I school in Spartanburg, and we discovered the “Blue Tie Club.” The Blue Tie Club is a group of 20 fifth graders - all young men previously identified by the school’s faculty as being in need of extra attention and opportunity for success - who meet after school for various character-building exercises. This team found the group lacked resources and community support, so the goal became to expose these kids to unique opportunities they might otherwise never experience through the group’s passion and efforts as Blue Tie Club Connectors.