Harvard graduate who attended VCOM honed leadership, academic skills at Spartanburg High

Justin Fox told educators and community leaders what his mother told him about college before he graduated from Spartanburg High School in 2013.

“If you know me, then you know my mom is crazy. She was crazy enough to tell me that there was no plan B for me to go to college," Fox said. "If I didn’t get a scholarship, then that was it. She told me if I didn’t go to college and get a scholarship then I would be out of the house at 18. She was crazy enough to believe in me and make me believe that I had superpowers.”

But it was Fox's academic success instead of superpowers that got him into Harvard. He graduated with a Bachelor's in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard and is back in Spartanburg and is in his fourth year of medical school at Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) and doing rotations at Spartanburg Medical Center.

Before going to college, Fox worked with the Boys and Girls Club and other community groups to hone his leadership and academic skills.

That is the type of positive message educators and community leaders wanted to hear about ways they can help students to achieve work and academic success beyond high school. 

The Spartanburg Academic Movement (SAM) discussed ways to help students obtain a postsecondary education during a retreat on Thursday, June 30.

Fox was one of the speakers who attended the event.

Since its development in 2013, SAM has focused on creating partnerships with everyone from business to faith groups to help students achieve academic success. During the retreat, leaders talked about improving their goals of helping more students.

Helping more students in Spartanburg County gain academic success

Russell Booker, who is the executive director of the Spartanburg Academic Movement and former superintendent of Spartanburg School District 7, said Spartanburg County Schools have done a great job in guiding children toward enrolling in higher education. And It has allowed the Spartanburg Academic Movement to broaden its goals.

"We've moved from 19 percent to 25 percent, but we're still a long way from our goal,"  Booker said. "We just feel like now is the right moment to accelerate that work."

Booker said 24 percent of students are now taking dual credit courses for high school and college in grades 11 and 12. He said the schools have early college programs and college career centers.

"Now the goal is how can we ensure they finish,"  Booker said. "Forty-eight thousand [residents] have some college classes but didn't finish. [SAM focuses on] How can we really come together and align our strategies and our resources?"

Recently, SAM launched the Postsecondary Education Attainment Steering Committee to improve college enrollment and completion for students. 

"It's important for us because we believe that our community will move forward together," said Terry Pruitt, the chief academic officer at Spartanburg School District 7. "If we can have more of our citizens seek postsecondary educations, then it can improve the quality of life, help people out of poverty, improve health care, and changes lives and generations."

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Hailey Barnhill, the Community Resource Coordinator of United Way of the Piedmont, said she would like to see the focus on retaining students in schools.

"There can be big barriers for students who are the first student in their family to go to college or maybe doesn't have family support,"  Barnhill said. "So often I see students in their senior year have these life events that can be the difference between them graduating and not graduating with a bachelor's degree that they have worked so hard for."

Barnhill said first-generation college students don't always have strong family support systems to encourage and help them to stay in school. She hopes making adults more aware of the need can help students to achieve more.

Spartanburg schools offer options for the community

Spartanburg County takes pride in providing options for students to access higher education after high school. 

Spartanburg Community College offers free tuition for all students and Spartanburg Methodist College provides a Full Tuition Scholarship for South Carolina residents with a minimum of a 3.0 GPA.

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There are other career centers and options for students who do not want to attend college after high school but are interested in working or attending a trade school.

Susan Polson, director of guidance at Dorman High School, said the county does a good job providing paths for students seeking higher education.

"We have the options that are truly a great thing," Polson said. "Doors are open for our kids and we are continuing to get that information out there."