Seven Upstate afterschool and summer program leaders were selected as part of a 22-person cohort of South Carolina Afterschool Leaders Empowered fellows, a 10-month fellowship offered by The Riley Institute at Furman University.
The class was selected by a national committee of field experts and has participants from across the state.
The 2025 SCALE Upstate fellows
- Angela “Nicke” Haney of Brown Girls Read in Spartanburg
- Tonya Mayes of PreDestined Outreach in Easley
- Sabrina Miller of Boys & Girls Clubs of the Lakelands in Greenwood
- Julie Hollister of YMCA of Greenville
- Aileen Mahoney of Christ Church Episcopal School
- Toya Moore of Upstate Circle of Friends
- Sonya Pearson of Pleasant Valley Connection in Greenville
The other participants include Virginia “Ginni” Aban of Owls’ Nest Extended Day (Berkeley County School District) in Moncks Corner, Stacie Coleman of School District of Newberry County, Shanda “Shon” Crawford of Dreams Imagination & Gift in Williston, Christopher Emanuel of Second Baptist Church – Teen After School Center in Aiken, Patsy Gardner of A Second Chance Resource Center Network United Inc. in North Charleston, Tracy Goodwin of Lexington School District One in Lexington, Cissy Graham of Dutch Fork Elementary School in Irmo, Sonja Rush-Harvin of Williamsburg School District in Greeleyville, Vanessa Stevenson of South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice in Florence, Verta Thompson of Avery C Thompson SR Community Center in Varnville, Sattin Young of Charleston County School District- Office of Expanded Learning, Cheyenne Helfrich of Boys & Girls Clubs of York County, Liz Keitt of Project Life: Positeen Inc. in Orangeburg, and Beth Lechner of SC Career Kids and Valente’ Gibson of Richland School District Two in Columbia.
All fellows participated in a week of programming at Furman University. They will begin monthly webinars about program design and assessment, equitable and trauma-informed relationship-building skills, arts integration, and leadership skills. They will also work on a job-embedded capstone project related to afterschool or summer learning.
For more information, visit furman.edu/riley/.
