ENGAGE
A COMMITMENT TO EDUCATION
ENGAGE
If anyone understands the value of education, it has to be Dean Page. As a student at Coker College and the owner of a nonprofit after-school program for disadvantaged kids, he’s devoted his life to it. A native of Dillon, S.C., Page grew up in a neighborhood he describes as "rough." While he never let it affect his own ambitions, the culture of violence and addiction he saw—which started young, and led to a nearly 50% high school dropout rate in his community—always troubled him. Even when he graduated high school in 1986 and left Dillon to serve in the U.S. Navy, Page says he always knew he would be back to help his community. It took 10 years and a woman named Tanya, but in 1997 he did return to Dillon to settle down. The dropout rates, poverty and violence hadn’t changed. So with Tanya’s background in early childhood development, the pair soon realized they had a calling in the community—and in 2004, Successful Afterschool Sites was born. The program had a modest start, advertising with a few brochures and a lot of word-of-mouth. "We had no business plan," Page says with a smile. "We didn’t know what we were getting into." Nevertheless, it didn’t take them long to gain a foothold in the community. Page found that they were filling a need in Dillon, and the community responded. "They invited us in," he says. Successful Afterschool Sites quickly formed ties with local schools, churches, and other organizations, and the program grew. Ten years later, the program has grown from serving 85 kids to 410 every day. Open to children ages 3-18, it runs from 2:30 to 6 p.m. every school day. A
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mix of paid and volunteer staff members, all screened and background-checked, leads the children in a number of educational activities that range from computer labs to reading games. A wide variety ensures that every student will find something both educational and engaging. In 2008, the program was named Site of the Year by the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice. But despite the program’s success, Page wasn’t content to sit back and rest. Inspired partly by the children he helps educate every day, Page decided to go back to school himself. Now a junior in the Marion branch of Coker College’s ALPHA (Adult Learners Program for Higher Achievement) program, Page spends his evenings studying Business Administration with a minor in graphic design. Page says the ALPHA program, which offers courses two nights a week, allows him to take classes while running his business full-time. He hopes his new business knowledge will help him better communicate and market his business’s message, so he can reach as many children as possible. But one of the biggest benefits of going back to school, he says, is the self-esteem he’s gained. From the support network of fellow students to the numerous educational resources, the experience he found at Coker empowered him to keep achieving his dreams. "I feel like I can climb a mountain," he says. Page has big plans for the future. He wants to change the pervasive mindset in disadvantaged communities that keeps
children in a cycle of poverty by doing whatever he can to advocate for the importance of after-school programs. As for Successful Afterschool Sites, Page hopes to expand soon to neighboring counties and, eventually, to other states. "I’d like to see us develop a model that we can duplicate throughout the world," he says. "And I feel like when I get done here at Coker, I will be able to do that." But when it comes down to it, Page’s grand aspirations have a simple motivation: to bring a little hope into the world, one child at a time. "When you’re accustomed to disappointment, it’s hard to believe that someone could care enough about you to want to change your life," he says. "I don’t want to see our kids lose faith in what one or two people can do." Between his business, the church where he serves as a pastor, his classes, and his wife and three children, Page admits that he has to make some sacrifices to keep up with it all. But when he feels overwhelmed, he just thinks of those moments that make it all worthwhile. "When those kids realize that after a few weeks, Mr. Dean is still here… they begin to share everything," he says. "They know they have someone who’s going to be there; someone who’s not going to leave.
"THAT’S WHY I GET UP EVERY DAY."
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