Diversity Leaders Honored at 11th Annual Upstate Diversity Leadership Awards Dinner

GREENVILLE, SC – Upstate leaders in the arena of diversity were honored Tuesday, May 5, 2015, at the 11th Annual Upstate Diversity Leadership Awards Dinner, presented by TD Bank. The event, hosted by the Greenville Chamber and the Riley Institute at Furman, in partnership with Upstate Chambers, recognized organizations and individuals for outstanding achievement in promoting diversity and inclusion in Upstate SC.

This year’s event also celebrated the legacy of Calder D. Ehrmann, former Diversity Leaders Initiative Senior Associate at the Riley Institute at Furman and Chief Diversity Officer at Michelin North America. Calder was one of the event’s founders and namesake of the Calder D. Ehrmann Outstanding Individual Award, presented here annually.

“The Greenville Chamber is honored to join the Riley Institute at Furman and our partner chambers to celebrate organizations and individuals who are working diligently to cultivate an inclusive community in the Upstate,” said Chamber President/CEO Ben Haskew. “This annual event strives to inspire diversity efforts, and it was fitting to celebrate Calder’s legacy this year in remembrance of the lasting impression he left on our community.”

The following awards were presented (additional information about the awards and recipients below):

• K-12 School – William “Bill” T. Wylie Valued Lives Award for School Excellence in Diversity:Legacy Charter School
• Outstanding High School Student Award: Carlos Pineda
• Outstanding College Student Award: Jonathan Kubakundimana
• Outstanding Nonprofit Organization Award: United Way of Greenville County
• Outstanding Business Award: Denny’s Corporation
• Outstanding Contribution to International Diversity Award: Joy Duer
• Calder D. Ehrmann Outstanding Individual Award: Serita Acker

 

Award Recipient Information:

K-12 School:  William “Bill” T. Wylie Valued Lives Award for School Excellence in Diversity:  Legacy Charter School

Legacy Charter School is located in an area historically known for challenges such as high crime and poverty, Legacy Charter School is working to create a community of mutual respect and success built on wellness and education.

Recognizing the diverse population of its students, Legacy has sponsored Hispanic Heritage Awareness Month, a Hispanic Health Fair, and promoted community events focusing on Black History. The school offers financial literacy classes, swim classes at the KROC Center, and English as a Second Language initiatives.

Legacy partners with diverse organizations such as the Greenville Symphony, the Hispanic Alliance and the Hispanic-American Women’s Association. The school has promoted a Black History event at Long Branch Baptist Church and hosted a community mentoring event on its Parker campus.

Legacy strives to train teachers how to incorporate social skills into their curricula and they are working to stop bullying by implementing Project Class and a new “Be Kind” initiative. These efforts build social and emotional skills in the student body by teaching them the best use of kind words, how to accept criticism and the importance of being sensitive toward all individuals.

Additionally, Legacy teachers participate in the Teacher Advancement Program, whose goal is to attract, train and retain high quality teachers to eliminate achievement gaps among students of different races and economic classes. Through this program, teachers participate in weekly professional development clusters that include topics such as special education and how to educate children of poverty.

 

Outstanding High School Student Award: Carlos Pineda

A junior at Mauldin High School and a student leader in Bridges to a Brighter Future, Carlos is passionate about being inclusive of all people, regardless of race, gender or ethnicity.

He recently attended the Dr. Donald Zacharias Leadership Conference at Mississippi State University that focused on developing personal leadership skills, promoting organizational skills and raising communal and global awareness. He is involved in the International Club at Mauldin, which allows students to study different cultures and assists exchange students in adapting to school in America. He also works with the Interact Club which focuses on community service, and works in the local community by cleaning up parks and volunteering at the humane society, the Greenville library and senior facilities.

Carlos is determined to be the first in his family to attend college and aspires to be a mechanical engineer. Carlos’ incredible work ethic is evident, as he works 50 hours some weeks to help support his mother and brothers. He successfully balances his job, school work and extracurricular activities, all while maintaining a 3.5 GPA.

 

Outstanding College Student Award: Jonathan Kubakundimana

Jonathan is a junior at Furman University pursing a degree in Political Science. As a survivor of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, Jonathan learned the importance of diversity and inclusion at a young age. Although he was able to escape with his parents and siblings, most of his family that stayed behind in Rwanda were murdered. As a young adult, Jonathan has sought to find meaning for himself, his family and his nation.

Jonathan came to Furman on a Goodwill scholarship for gifted international students and has used his time in Greenville to spread awareness not only about the Rwandan genocide but about genocide and trauma in general. On Furman’s campus in April, he bravely delivered a powerful and meaningful public testimonial about his life and his family’s experience in Rwanda, enhancing his audience’s understanding of issues related to diversity. Jonathan plans to do another address in 2016.

He is an acting and dancing member of Mashirika Performing Arts and Media Company, a pioneering professional group that uses art as a tool for social transformation, particularly with regards to education and reconciliation.

He is an award-winning Mock Trial participant, serves as Treasurer for the Furman Chapter of the NAACP and is working to revitalize the chapter and increase its profile on campus and throughout the community through public lectures, panel discussions and film screenings.

Jonathan also serves as a mentor in the Men of Distinction program to young boys grades 6 to 8 from low income areas in Greenville. He has earned a 3.4 GPA at Furman and intends to become a lawyer.

 

Outstanding Nonprofit Organization Award: United Way of Greenville County

United Way strives to champion diversity and promote inclusive work throughout Greenville County. They have helped create Greenville Dreams, a coalition of 24 neighborhoods where 32% of the residents live below the poverty line and 80% are African American.

Their Faith-Based Roundtable unites representatives from a cross-section of Greenville’s religious congregations to build greater knowledge of the health and human service issues facing the community while developing new interfaith connections and partnerships.

The United Way is also committed to empowering women in the community through groups like the United Way Women’s Leadership, which helps ambitious women free themselves from the constraints of poverty to become financially self-sufficient. This group began a program called “Jobs-to-Careers – Women Helping Women” that provides mentorship, guidance and scholarships to give women in Greenville living below the poverty line the opportunity to achieve financial stability through education, a good job and a strong support network.

The United Way is also a leading funder of over 100 local partner programs that provide the tools and skills to enable people of all ages, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientation, developmental abilities, religions and socio-economic status to overcome barriers affecting school readiness, high school graduation, financial stability and other essential needs.

Outstanding Business Award: Denny’s Corporation

Headquartered in Spartanburg, Denny’s is committed to the local families and communities it serves. From education initiatives, minority business initiatives and childhood hunger programs, Denny’s works to improve conditions for diverse members of the community. By building its “Always Open” culture, this organization promotes openness to all people, ideas and perspectives and has built a diverse and inclusive workforce, embracing the unique qualities of each employee while valuing differences in thought, culture and experiences.

Denny’s has a long-standing partnership with Spartanburg School District 7 and provides funding for educational field trips, library books and reading incentives. Employees volunteer in a monthly book reading program for kindergartners at the Early Learning Center at Park Hills.

Denny’s is a strong supporter of Spartanburg Habitat for Humanity, funding nearly $500,000 in housing construction. It has dedicated an annual full work day for many of its employees to assist in building homes in the community.

In conjunction with the Carolinas Virginia Minority Supplier Development Council, Denny’s created the Minority Business Enterprise Summit in 2006. This is a series of development workshops by leading experts to assist in the growth and development of minority business. The event also connects MBEs with Denny’s buyers, suppliers and other major corporations to explore new business opportunities.

 

Outstanding Contribution to International Diversity Award: Joy Duer

Joy is a senior at Eastside High School and will attend Duke University this fall.

As the president of the Spanish National Honor Society at her school, Joy had the opportunity to partner with GE’s Hispanic Alliance to organize a service project where students at Eastside were able to make blankets for babies in Honduras. These blankets are a vital need in hospitals where resources are scarce and can provide comfort to a new family. She organized events where Honor Society members purchased Christmas presents for struggling Hispanic families and connected it with another event that gave the students the opportunity to meet the families they sponsored. She also organizes monthly events to immerse students in Hispanic culture to gain a greater understanding and appreciation of all.

As a member of the National Honor Society, Joy was part of an effort that benefited Sole Hope, an organization dedicated to putting closed toed shoes on African children, one pair at a time.

Domestically, Joy has spent four summers working in various government housing projects working camps for local children. Last summer she worked with a group in Tennessee whose goal is to bring racial reconciliation through service and community development. She has worked in low-income residence restoration, hosted camps for local underprivileged children and aided in hurricane relief work.

 

Calder D. Ehrmann Outstanding Individual Award:  Serita Acker

Serita is the Director of the Women in Science and Engineering Program at Clemson University and has been instrumental in significantly increasing the number of young women who graduate in engineering and science majors. She oversees a host of programs aimed at developing these young women into leaders in an area of study traditionally populated with men. Through initiatives like her Big Sister Mentoring Program, incoming freshmen are matched to upper class women in their same major giving these new students an immediate support and encouragement system.

Serita understands the importance of preparing young students for the future and is actively involved in creating a K-12 pipeline for girls into STEM fields. She created a program called “Math, Science and Engineering – It’s a Girl Thing” where she travels to elementary and middle schools around the state hosting workshops to show girls that engineering relates to females as well as males.

Through a grant from the Association of University Women, Serita provides a weekly series of engaging activities designed to encourage disadvantaged students to plan for college and to consider a STEM major.

Every summer, Serita runs Project WISE, an engineering and science camp for middle school girls. Women in engineering and science majors are counselors and faculty are presenters as the camp kids work together on various STEM projects.

She has served as a trainer for Clemson’s participation in the National Coalition of Building Diversity and as the chair of the committee investigating sexual harassment for the University’s Access and Equity Office. Additionally, Serita strongly advocated for the inclusion of the illiterate members of custodial staff in Clemson’s Staff Development Program, a program that provides professional development opportunities but whose application requires the employee to be able to read and write. Her powerful advocacy for this disadvantaged group showed the Steering Committee in charge of the program that they needed to find a way to give these employees a fair chance to compete.

Serita served as an Advisory Committee member for Project Lead the Way, a program bringing engineering education to upstate high schools. She is a facilitator for the Girls Circle Association and a board member of the Foothills Alliance Rape Crisis Center.

Honorable mentions were awarded to RJ Rogers of Blue Ridge High School (Outstanding High School Student) and Greenville Technical College (Outstanding Nonprofit). Bill Barnet, CEO of Barnet Development Corporation and former Spartanburg Mayor, delivered the keynote address.

 

 

About the Greenville Chamber

The Greenville Chamber, now in its 127th year of operation, is the largest business organization in Upstate South Carolina with over 2400 investors supporting the vision to continually improve the quality of life in our community by inspiring and facilitating business success. For more information, visit www.greenvillechamber.org or call 864-242-1050.