J.V. Martin student attends Capitol Hill speech at invitation of President Obama
February 25, 2009
COLUMBIA, SC – February 25, 2009 – It’s a long way from the halls of J.V. Martin Junior High School in Dillon to the hallowed halls of Congress, but eighth-grader Ty’Sheoma Bethea made that trip Tuesday at the invitation of President Barack Obama.
Ty’Sheoma sat with Obama’s family last night when the Chief Executive delivered his first address to the House and Senate. The 14-year-old was invited to join the First Family for the historic occasion after sending a letter to Washington earlier this month, seeking help for her school located in South Carolina’s rural “Corridor of Shame.”
During his speech, Obama recognized the teenager while she received a hug from the First Lady. The President noted that one phrase in her letter – “we are not quitters” – reflects the American people’s spirit of determination to overcome the nation’s current difficulties.
Ty’Sheoma’s letter – written on a computer at the Dillon public library – came after the President mentioned J.V. Martin Junior High in his first press conference earlier this month as a symbol of inadequate schools that would be helped by the federal economic stimulus plan.
“People are starting to see my school as an hopeless, uneducated school, which we are not,” the eighth-grader wrote with awkward passion. “We finally want to prove to the world that we have an chance in life just like other schools, and we can feel good about what we are doing because of the conditions we are in now we can not succeed in anything.”
J.V. Martin Principal Amanda Burnette said White House staffers told her that the president was moved by Ty’Sheoma’s words and was “adamant” about bringing the student to Washington. The teen and her mother, Dina Leach, left the Columbia airport Tuesday morning with a send-off from Burnette and State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex.
“This is an extraordinary experience for Ty’Sheoma, one that she’ll treasure for the rest of her life,” Rex said.
Rex said that the teen’s letter to President Obama was a passionate reminder of the funding inequities that afflict high-poverty areas, particularly in rural communities. The state superintendent recently unveiled a package of recommendations to begin reforming South Carolina’s taxation and school funding systems now so that the state can take advantage of an improved financial infrastructure when the economy rebounds.
Dubbed “Begin in ‘10” because 2010 would mark a transitional step toward a new foundation program to replace the state’s 30-year-old Education Finance Act, the recommendations were distilled from the work of two task forces appointed by Rex – one that focused on improving the school funding system and one that focused on changing how the state raises resources to meet its priorities, including education.
“Everyone agrees that our current system is broken,” Rex said. “The only question is when we get to work and start fixing it. If we listen to Ty’Sheoma and her classmates, the answer should be obvious.”
President Obama visited the Dillon school during a tour of South Carolina in August 2007. At that time he called conditions there “unacceptable,” adding that he would like to see “the federal government initiate the kind of capital program that would allow us to reconstruct old schools across the country.”
Ty’Sheoma and her mother were escorted by White House staffers Tuesday and lodged in a hotel near the White House following Obama’s nationally televised speech. They are returning to South Carolina today.
Burnette said she took Ty’Sheoma and her mother shopping on Monday to get new clothes and new shoes for the occasion, thanks to donations from the local community. “We even went to the beauty parlor to get their hair done,” the principal said.
“Ty’Sheoma is absolutely thrilled by this whole experience,” Burnette said. “We recorded the President’s speech and will show it to the rest of our students so they can share in the excitement. Nothing like this ever happened to us before.”
