May 9, 2007
It’s Not How You Start, It’s How you Finish:  Technical College Grad will tell her Success Story at NETC Graduation on May 19

Northeastern Technical College will hold its 2007 Commencement Exercises at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 19, on the college’s campus in Cheraw.  The public is invited to attend.

Dr. Valerie Ramsey, chief business officer of the College of Health, Education and Human Development (HEHD) at Clemson University, will be the guest speaker. 

“I am a product of our technical college system and I am very proud of it!,” she said during a recent presentation in Columbia.  “Growing up, we never talked about college in my house.  All of the girls in my extended family had babies out of wedlock at 16 and society had prepared a well-written script for me to follow.” 

And she followed that script perfectly.   Ramsey explained that she dropped out of high school in tenth grade and had a baby at age 16. 

“My older brothers had graduated from high school, but I always felt like I was a big disappointment to my family for keeping the curse going,” she said.  “But I think that actually motivated me to go back to school.”

Ramsey re-enrolled the following term and went on to earn her high school diploma.  But even after graduation, she felt as if she was going nowhere and was struggling to support her young daughter.  But things started to change for her when she enrolled in a secretarial certification program at her local technical college, Tri-County Technical College (TCTC) in Pendleton, S.C. 

As part of this program she received on-the-job training as an accounting clerk at Clemson University and was offered a full time job after she graduated from the certificate program.  She continued to work at Clemson for the next 10 years while taking associate degree classes during her lunch hours and evenings.  Eventually, she graduated from TCTC just seven days before her daughter’s graduation from high school. 

“Thank God for the educational opportunity that I received,” she said.  “It didn’t just change my life, it changed generations!”

After graduating from Tri-County Technical College, Ramsey went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource management from South Wesleyan University (SWU) and a masters degree in Human Resource Development from Clemson University, where she also earned a doctorate in Educational Leadership in Higher Education.  She is currently pursing a master of ministry degree at SWU. 

“When I started out, I can’t say that education changed my circumstances, but it did change the way I perceive my circumstances,” said Ramsey.  “Rather than my circumstances being on top of me, they gave me strength to persevere and eventually stand on top of them.  It taught me that it’s not how one starts out, but how well they finish.”

Ramsey is the first black female executive officer at Clemson University and the first woman to serve on Tri-County Technical College’s board of commissioners.  She also received the Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award for Tri-County Technical College in 2006.

“Dr. Ramsey’s story is inspirational.  It’s real and it’s close to home,” said Dr. Jimmie Williamson, president of Northeastern Technical College.  “Many of our graduates, current students, and potential students face the same types of challenges and circumstances as Dr. Ramsey started out battling.  But hopefully, they will see and hear first hand how someone with a similar background can overcome these challenges and chart their own pathway to a future.”

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