Pictured with Earlene Walker from Sumter, WTC early childhood development instructor (left) are students enrolled in the South Carolina State University courses offered at Williamsburg Technical College (from left) Carolyn B. Cooper from Lake City; Judy Coker from Sandy Bay; Deborah Gaston from Lake City; Joyce Cooper from Kingstree;  Cheryl Singletary from Lake City; Vanessa Goss from Johnsonville; Joann McKnight from Lake City; Darlene Graham from Lake City; Veronica Burgess from Johnsonville; Judy Moore from Florence; Eulane Hall from Darlington; Virlee Bradley from Salters; Diane Burgess of Lake City; and Shirley Allison from Johnsonville.  Not pictured are Renee Muldrow from Florence; Rosa Wilson of Andrews; Latonia McDuffie from Lake View.

Williamsburg Technical College recently finalized an articulation agreement with South Carolina State University (SCSU) in Orangeburg. The transfer agreement assures that students who successfully complete academic credit courses of study on a specified course list from the early care and education program at Williamsburg Technical College may transfer those courses with full credit to SCSU. Students at SCSU who complete academic courses of study on the list may also transfer to Williamsburg Tech.

Earlene Walker, instructor for Williamsburg Tech’s early care and education program and a 1980 SCSU graduate, is very excited about the program.  “I always wanted to work on a collaboration like this. By 2010, all head start and early care teachers will need a four-year degree, and this program means our Williamsburg County residents won’t have to drive far to achieve that reality,” Walker says.  She also points out that students from surrounding counties can transfer to Williamsburg Tech from other technical colleges once they have completed their associate degree and start into the four-year partnership program immediately.

Walker praised WTC and SCSU administrators for their assistance in getting the program off the ground.  “Our president Dr. [Cleve] Cox and dean of instruction [Clifton “Rusty] Elliott have been 100 percent supportive,” Walker says. She also credits SCSU’s Dr. Evelyn Fields, assistant professor and director of head state education, family, and consumer sciences, and Barbara Cooper, education coordinator with Pee Dee CAP Head Start, with seeing the vision and working on a smooth transition from the WTC portion of the degree to the SCSU portion.  “She will process applications personally so students from Williamsburg Tech don’t even have to go to State to complete any paperwork,” Walker says.