Greenville Technical College’s PTK Students Win First Place for Project that Benefited South Carolina Heart Gallery
February 29, 2016
GREENVILLE, SC – Greenville Technical College’s Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Honor Society received a first place award from the South Carolina Technical Education Association (SCTEA) in the 2016 Student Community Involvement Project Competition. Winners were announced at the SCTEA annual conference held at Myrtle Beach February 18-20, 2016.
The “Art, Heart, & Hope: A Matter of Time” project partnered PTK with PsyPhotology, a company that helps individuals explore their personal history, tell their unique story, and redefine their relationship with themselves by utilizing the experience of having a portrait taken.
PTK honors students reached out to individuals on campus who have experienced foster care to help their peers express their stories through art and to discover their true potential and authentic identity through the PsyPhotology experience. This personalized interview and photographic service had thus far only been available to entrepreneurs and business leaders around the nation. The goal is that through this process, these students become empowered to help themselves, raise awareness about the struggles related to foster care, and create a broader positive impact by helping other young people in need.
An art exhibit displayed at Greenville Technical College’s Riverworks Gallery in downtown Greenville included these portraits along with artwork by accomplished local and nationally-recognized artists, providing a visual interpretation of the GTC students’ poems and stories. This artwork was auctioned, raising $8,000 to create scholarships at GTC for students who have experienced foster care. Half of the proceeds were also donated to the South Carolina Heart Gallery to help children currently in foster care find permanent, loving, adoptive homes. Artists who donated their time and talent to this project were Claire Bateman, Kara Bender, Helena Bogosian, Mark Kirby, Bruce Plourde, Shannon Plourde, John Rainey, Teresa Roche, Cindy Smith, and Heather Hogan-Spencer.
All pieces of art up for auction were functional timepieces, with clocks as the focal point or embedded in the artwork; these reflect heartfelt stories of individuals who have overcome numerous traumatic experiences and somehow held on to hope.
