In The News
Urban League summer program develops leadership skills
BISHOPVILLE – The Columbia Urban League's Summer Work Experience Leadership Program is making its presence known in Lee County.
The work experience program is designed to help students 14 to 19 years old develop leadership skills and build character, said Columbia Urban League President James T. McLawhorn.
"For more than 15 years, the Columbia Urban League's summer work program has been one of the best in its class as far as providing employment opportunities to teens," he said. The summer work program is a very influential instrument in teaching adolescents job survival skills such as setting goals, conflict management, and effective verbal and non-verbal communication, McLawhorn said.
"The program also helps young people stay out of the streets -- away from gangs and violence," he said.
"We've got to be more engaged as a community. It's going to take all of us. No one can solve this problem. The Urban League cannot solve this problem. Law enforcement cannot solve this problem. The church cannot solve this problem. Parents cannot solve this problem. But we can solve it working together."
The Columbia Urban League has been placing Lee County students in summer jobs for more than 10 years, officials said.
Natalie Brown, director of public affairs at the Columbia Urban League, said research has shown that teenagers who find part-time employment in the summer have a better chance of being successful upon graduation.
Lee County Parks and Recreation Program Director George Warren said the two students are helping with filing and getting everything organized in the department's new office headquarters at the old Bishopville High School gym complex.
"They are always on time and they do everything we ask them to do," he said.
Whitney Dixon, 16, a rising junior at Lee Central High School, said she has a job for the first time in her life.
"I'm learning a lot," she said. "I'm working hard to get the job done right."
Interim Superintendent Dr. Walter Tobin said he was impressed with the punctuality and attitude of the 11 students working in the Lee County Schools this summer.
The students are carrying out various tasks in the district office and the individual schools in the district, Tobin said. Other job sites in Lee County include the Bishopville Head Start, Sistas Restaurant and the South Carolina Cotton Museum.
By RANDY BURNS
Staff Writer
The Item
rburns@theitem.com
