‘Bird dog’: Davenport continues to fulfill promises amid COVID-19 pandemic | COVID-19

Greenwood Promise’s board of directors nicknamed Executive Director Katie Davenport “bird dog” because of her propensity to hound students into continuing their education beyond high school.

“I’m bird-dogging these students, I’m going after them,” she said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has ramped up Davenport’s efforts because she is seeing so many people who are confused, in need of help and don’t know what steps to take.

She noticed recent high school graduates are choosing to attend two-year colleges over four-year institutions. She attributes the decision to students not wanting to pay for the four-year college experience, which includes meal plans, on-campus housing and parking fees. The students would be stuck in a dorm and maybe at a school that won’t even have a football season, which might be important to a lot of college-goers, she said.

Davenport also thinks in the back of students’ and parents’ minds is the possibility of school being face-to-face initially, but then switching to virtual learning after a COVID-19 outbreak. This has already happened at North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Michigan State, and Norte Dame.

Davenport found a lot of students in Greenwood are favoring Piedmont Technical College. She works with Piedmont Tech, especially with the college’s financial aid and business offices.

“I can pick up the phone anytime and call them,” she said. “We have a great partnership and I cannot do my job without their support.”

Davenport recalled Missy Perry, the college’s financial aid director, recently emailing her a list of kids who were not receiving funds from Greenwood Promise but were eligible to. Piedmont Tech helps her with accommodating students who sign up for the Greenwood Promise late, and students who make last-minute changes to their educational plan.

“I appreciate their work on that side as well,” Davenport said.

Piedmont Tech helped the Greenwood Promise find a student who the organization initially thought was ineligible for funding because they lived at Connie Maxwell Children’s Home. The Greenwood Promise is residency based so a student would have to have lived in Greenwood at least by their ninth-grade year to receive funding. Davenport said the organization has worked out an agreement with the group home so that if a student graduates from a Greenwood County school, or lives at Connie Maxwell Children’s Home when they graduate, then the residency requirement will be waived.

“That helps me see how far the Greenwood Promise reach has, but also how many other people, programs, nonprofits and organizations are being affected by what we do,” Davenport said. “Here’s a student who’s been in a children’s home and is still receiving support from the people who are in Greenwood. We’ve made her one of our own now and we’re going to take care of her.”

Davenport is also in the process of developing a relationship with Greenwood County school districts 50, 51 and 52. She intends to set up office hours in schools for a specific time each month so students can come and meet with her one-on-one. She knows a lot of teachers and counselors are overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic, so she wants to be an extra support piece for schools. She also created a planning guide for seniors.

Davenport is starting virtual hours as well so she can host Zoom meetings with students. The in-person and virtual meetings are ways to increase her visibility to students.

“By me being in the schools and having these face-to-face and virtual office meetings they can finally see who the promise lady is and know that I’m a real person,” Davenport said. “If they need me, I’m there.”

The Greenwood Promise board of directors met this week and is considering options for board and committee engagement and involvement, which includes an adopt a student program and volunteers helping out with other local programs. Davenport said transportation is a problem in Greenwood, so sometimes it’s best to go to the students. Churches, the Boys and Girls club and GLEAMNS are all places she wants Greenwood Promise to have a presence.

“It seems like the promise is finally getting ahead and we’re being used now more than ever,” she said. “If there’s a rainbow at the end of all this, it took COVID-19 for people to see that we have a community of people who believe in education and our students enough to support them. We have people who are going to step up and help these students so they can continue their education.”

Davenport also said students are grateful and getting 17- and 18-year-olds to say “thank you” shows they are aware that it’s a tough time for everyone.

“Our funds come from businesses, private citizens, industry and everything else in Greenwood,” she said. “This is a community that fully supports our students, and they’re starting to see it, so I couldn’t be more grateful and happier doing what I’m doing.”

Contact reporter Jonathan Limehouse at 864-943-5644 or follow him on Twitter @jon_limehouse.