Stories

Dr. Matteel Knowles, a former Piedmont Technical College (PTC) admissions director, current vice president for student services at Greenville Technical College, and celebrated motivational speaker, gave a presentation on the enduring legacy of Harriett Tubman at the college’s recent Black History Month Unity Feast in Greenwood. If Tubman were alive today, and perhaps even a student at PTC, there...

When Fujifilm in Greenwood began downsizing in 2021, Wayne Shirley faced the loss of a workplace everyone dreams about. He had spent more than three decades with the company, was promoted through the ranks, earned two degrees, and even met his wife working there. What were the chances he could find such career happiness and satisfaction again? “Once I started at Fuji, it was like a family...

Officials from Countybank and Greenwood Capital Associates visited Piedmont Technical College’s Lex Walters Campus-Greenwood on Jan. 18, 2024, to present a donation of $1,500 to the college’s special initiative, MODELS Academy. MODELS is a holistic mentoring and personal development program for African American males in grades 4-12. MODELS Director Steve Coleman said the donation will help support...

You might say it was a wake-up call of sorts when Lenette Thompson received a phone message recording from a student reading her a children’s bedtime story and instructing her to go to sleep. The Surgical Technology Clinical Coordinator at Piedmont Technical College (PTC) has an enviable work ethic but did not realize it might be disturbing her students’ coveted eight hours until then. The popular...

In more than two decades of teaching at Piedmont Technical College (PTC), Christina Knight only missed three graduation ceremonies (with good reason) — for her wedding and for the birth of each of her children. Otherwise, nothing could keep her from witnessing the milestones in her students’ lives, semester after semester. “They are all like my kids,” she said. “Every student has a different story...

Representatives from Eaton Corporation’s Eaton Charitable Fund were on the Greenwood campus of Piedmont Technical College on Dec. 13, 2023, to present a check for $35,000 to support the ABB Collaborative Robots Project in the college’s Engineering Technology Department. Pictured from left: front/bottom row: PTC President Dr. Hope E. Rivers and Eaton HR Manager Jessica James; middle row: PTC Vice...

Approximately 200 students received degrees during two fall commencement ceremonies in December 2023 at Piedmont Technical College (PTC). PTC Alumna Mamie Nicholson, president of the Self Family Foundation, delivered the public leader keynote address at both ceremonies. She took inspiration from the PTC abbreviation letters, encouraging graduates to be Patient, Tenacious, and Compassionate in...

Graduates of Piedmont Technical College's nursing programs were recognized recently at our Fall 2023 term pinning ceremony. Here they appear by county: Abbeville County Ashton Ashley, ADN Zion Dowis, ADN Bethany Stoll, ADN Sierra Stoll, ADN Jocelyn Hozey, LPN Krystal Raines, LPN Anderson County Nicholas Wiles, ADN Porsha Calloway, LPN Whitney Dennis, LPN Angela Richey, LPN Greenville County Iesha...

Theo Lane, District Manager, Govt & Community Relations at Duke Energy Carolinas, stopped by Piedmont Technical College during the recent holiday season to present a check for $1,500 to The Hope Pantry food bank on the college’s Lex Walters Campus-Greenwood. From Left: Theo Lane, PTC President Dr. Hope E. Rivers, PTC Student Life Coordinator Kendra LaGreca, and PTC Foundation Associate Vice...

At Piedmont Technical College’s recent fall commencement exercises, outstanding students were honored for academic achievement as County Award Winners.