Tonya Jones receives 2015 F.M. Rogers Student Leadership Award at Greenville Technical College

GREENVILLE, SC – Tonya Jones, a student in the Marketing program at Greenville Technical College, has been named the winner of the 2015 F.M. Rogers Student Leadership Award. The award is named after a longtime dean of the college and recognizes both academic success and leadership in community service.

In 1988, Jones arrived in Greenville with two children and little more than the clothes on their backs. As a victim of domestic violence, she was driven to become the best she could, in spite of the bad cards some of her life choices had dealt her. She went on to attend Greenville Technical College twice. In 1995, she received a diploma in business, which helped her land a job with the Greenville County Probate Court and later, a job with the office of the Secretary of State for the Department of Health and Human Services in North Carolina.

In 2013, Jones returned to GTC, this time to earn an associate degree in Marketing in order to understand how to market her non-profit organization, Poetic Word Ministries. Tonya is now in her final semester, where she has excelled, earning a GPA of 3.68.

Poetic Word Ministries is geared toward helping women find their way into their own destiny and not become the fatal results of bad life choices. Jones hopes to partner with the Department of Social Services and Greenville Area Interfaith Hospitality Network (GAIHN) through the non-profit that works to train and empower women and young girls.  The mission statement reflects her life goal to “inspire others to empower their dreams.”