PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE: A NEW WAY FORWARD with photos.
Presbyterian College has forged a new direction toward its goal of becoming “America’s Innovative Service College.”
Announced Friday morning, the 7 new initiatives commit the college to allowing Laurens County Promise students to attend college tuition-free, to providing affordable college to children of foster care, to a way to get students to new Clinton and Laurens venues from campus and back again, to a partnership with South Korea, and to a branch facility in the fast-growing City of Greenville.
Also, PC has positioned itself as “the Presbyterian Church’s college,” nationwide.
“PC is good for Laurens County. PC is good for South Carolina. PC is good for the Nation. ... The world is quite simply a better place because of Presbyterian College,” said President Dr. Matt vandenBerg in making the 7 initiatives announcement, and introducing college staff and partners in charge of making these initiatives happen.
Notably, Presbyterian College is closing its Confucius Center and shifting its focus away from China to a new Center for South Korean and East Asian Studies. The presentation noted that South Korea is a historic U.S. ally with a significant population of Presbyterians. “This innovation is timely in that it capitalizes on the surging popularity that South Korea is undergoing in the U.S.,” a booklet about the initiatives says.
With assistance of Laurens Mayor Nathan Senn and a donation from Chip Cooper and Cooper Motors of Clinton, PC has purchased and rebranded the Laurens Trolley.
It debuted during this past weekend’s Homecoming and, vandenBerg said, will be useful in transporting students to and from 112 Musgrove, a students center in Uptown Clinton, and The Capitol Theater, an eSports venue in Downtown Laurens. Both should open early in 2023, with restaurants available to the public.
PC is stressing its ties to Thornwell, formerly an orphanage and now a center for young people in need and their families - both facilities were founded by The Rev. Dr. William Plumer Jacobs when he arrived in Clinton soon after the Civil War.
On Friday, PC announced the Jacobs Scholars Program, which will “provide full tuition, fees, room and board to students impacted by foster care and include wrap-around services, such as supplemental academic and mental health support, an alumni mentor, a faculty advocate, host families, and special cohort-based programming.”
Last year, PC announced its first competition for South Carolina students to receive scholarships for presenting entreprenuership projects - basically, students were charged with identifying a problem and proposing a solution. Now, the college is taking that program nationwide, so any eligible student anywhere in the U.S. can compete for full scholarships. It’s the National Service Entrepreneurship case competition. PC also commits itself to establishing a signature center for Innovation, Service and Faith.
The 3 basic pillars of this strategic plan and new identify for PC are: Interdisciplinary Innovation, Outrageous Service and America’s Presbyterian College.
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