Helen Rosemond-Saunders Receives Order of the Silver Crescent

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During her time as Commission Chair, the College opened three community campuses, two QuickJobs Centers, and a state-of-theart Industrial Technology Center. As an advocate for those from low socioeconomic backgrounds with limited opportunity to pursue higher education, Rosemond-Saunders championed the Connect to College program for high school drop-outs. Her leadership has greatly contributed to the success of Tri-County, which currently has the highest student success rate in the S. C. Technical College System and ranks in the top 1% nationally for successful student transfers.

At the state and national levels, Rosemond-Saunders is a charter member, former chair and vice chair for the S.C. Association of Technical College Commissioners (SCATCC). She also served on its Executive Board.

She currently serves on the Trustee Advisory Committee for the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) and is past chair of the ACCT Diversity Committee and a past member of its Governance and Bylaws Committee. She spearheaded the development of the first Commissioner Academy to educate new Commissioners about their role in community college governance and advocacy.

She was named the Outstanding Trustee for the Southern Region by the national ACCT in 2017. She also received the Southern Region ACCT Trustee Leadership Award in 2017.

“I have dedicated my life to being a servant for God, the public, education and my community,” said Rosemond-Saunders. “As a Commissioner, I am here to serve our students and our community. I share the community college story—beginning with students in elementary schools—telling them that a community college education is an option for everyone.”

She said she is proud of the College’s successes over the last 60 years, especially the establishment of community campuses which offer students in TCTC’s service area access to a quality education.

USC 20th Annual Women’s Leadership Institute

Dr. Jackie Blakley, dean of the Business and Public Services Division, and Dr. Carolyn Walker, department head of Business Technology, participated in the 20th Annual Women’s Leadership Institute on April 26. Around 400 women across 34 South Carolina higher education institutions attended. The theme was Celebrate Empowering Women: A Moment of Firsts, and featured two keynote speakers and 18 workshops in three concurrent sessions.

“TCTC provides opportunities that are life changing. TCTC is the first choice for so many.”

Her tireless dedication to improving education at the local, state and national levels is clearly shown in the countless hours she devotes to advocacy and special projects.

She played a key role in spearheading the construction of a full-scale reproduction of a one-teacher Rosenwald School on the Anderson Campus of Tri-County Technical College. The campus is the site of the nation’s only full-scale reproduction of a one-teacher Rosenwald School. These schools were built in the early 20th century for the education of African Americans in the rural South.

In addition to her work with the Rosenwald School replica, Rosemond-Saunders chairs the Retreat Rosenwald School Renovation Project Committee to raise funds to renovate and preserve an original Rosenwald structure from the early 1900s. She led the committee’s effort to attain status on the National Registry of Historical Places.

In recent months she has been working with local leaders in Seneca and her fellow Blue Ridge High School alumni to transform the building to become a hub for the community.

A retired educator, Rosemond-Saunders began her career in 1967 with the School District of Oconee County and worked as a guidance counselor and home economics and biology teacher. Since retiring, she has served on two School Improvement Councils and the District Diversity Committee.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Home Economics from South Carolina State University, a master’s degree in Nutritional Science from Clemson University, and 30-plus certifications in Secondary School Guidance from Clemson University.

She was selected as one of 12 distinguished alumni to receive the 2017-2018 Stellar Alumnus for S.C. State University.

She is an active member of Pleasant Hill Baptist in Westminster.

She has two adult sons, Delane and Jim Rosemond, two daughters-in-law, four grandchildren, and two great-granddaughters.

Day of Action

TCTC employees participated in the United Way of Anderson County’s Day of Action on June 3. The TCTC team was partnered with The Lot Project, a non-profit that serves community meals and meets other basic needs of homeless, transient and housinginsecure individuals in the Anderson area. The team spent the morning brightening The Lot Project’s West Market Makers space with blue, yellow and green paint under the direction of local artist Shea Abramo.

Pamela Altstatt

(continued from page 4) continued working PRN on weekends for the cardiac rehabilitation programs at leading hospitals within the Los Angeles area designing and implementing individual and group programs for heart and lung transplantation patients, coronary valve repair/replacement, angioplasty, and coronary artery bypass graft patients to measurably increase their quality of life, their fitness abilities, and their independence.

In her job as a CEP with the Los Angeles Lakers, she was responsible for administering four-hour flexibility, strength and stress tests for professional athletes prior to signing contracts with their agents. The L.A. Lakers were her first clients and remain so to this day. Twice a year she travels to Los Angeles and administers tests that determine whether these pro athletes go to training camp and sign multimillion-dollar contracts.

Her second client was the L.A. Sparks. Then came the L.A. Ice Dogs, followed by working on the sets of Survivor and Fear Factor and Beverly Hills 90210.

Her reputation moved her forward and she expanded her clientele as she worked with owners of the L.A. Dodgers, the Chicago Bulls and world-class athletes like Kobe Bryant, Rick Fox, Derek Fisher and Lisa Leslie.

Over the last 23 years, Altstatt has remained devoted to the theme of her master’s thesis—disease reversal— whether as a CEP for athletes or as an instructor at TCTC.

HVAC Hosts Duct Fair

The Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) program hosted the South Carolina Association of Licensed Trades (SCALT) Duct Fair on March 31 on the Pendleton Campus.

Forty-five participants from across the state attended. Justin Herndon, Industrial Technology department head and HVAC program director, was the speaker. His topic was “Rigid Duct Work Installation and Codes.”

While working as a physical therapist at hospitals, Altstatt noticed that 85% of the patients in the hospital, ranging in ages from 30 to 80, would never be there if they were taught how to eat healthy and exercise. She continues to change lives, now helping TCTC students who are struggling with the same kinds of health and wellness issues that professional athletes do.

“My husband says I have a gift for being honest and finding ways to communicate. I let people be who they are and accept them for who they are and meet them wherever they are in their journeys. I want to inspire my students to want more for themselves, to take time for themselves. I want them to reach their potential, I tell them, ‘This is a marathon, not a sprint.’”