Being connected helps. Sometimes you see that immediately. Sometimes it’s months down the road when the benefits become apparent. Four years ago Bill Barnet, the mayor of Spartanburg, launched the College Town initiative. He brought all the colleges together under one city umbrella to promote social and service activities for Spartanburg’s 10,000+ college students and to promote Spartanburg as a great place to be a college student.
When this began our college president could have said that Sherman’s a professional degree college and doesn’t have much in common with our undergraduate counterparts. Let’s not give this much attention. He could have said we need to focus on Sherman. We don’t have time. Let’s not participate.
But instead our college leaders said, yes, let’s be a part of College Town and become more active in the community. Let’s not only be involved but lead some of the committees and find ways to connect with the other colleges and college students in town. Let’s use this opportunity to teach more people about chiropractic health care.
There is no telling just how much exposure Sherman College gets from being an active part of the College Town initiative. But I bet it’s extensive. I bet the benefits far outweigh the time and effort we’ve put into it.
I say all this because not too long ago we received a copy of an article that mentions Sherman College that appeared in the Missoulian, a daily newspaper in Missoula, MT. Here’s how the story goes…
Spartanburg is home to not one, not two, not three, four or five, but six institutions of higher learning. Wofford, established 35 years before Montana was admitted to the Union, is the oldest. There's also Converse College, an all-women's institution; the University of South Carolina Upstate; Spartanburg Methodist College; Spartanburg Community College; and the Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic (“straight” has nothing to do with sexual preference; your local chiropractor can explain it to you).
The article was about a Wofford College alumnus living in Montana who supported Wofford over Montana College in the first-round NCAA Division I FCS football playoffs about a month ago. (By the way, they won that game 23 to 22, but lost their next game.)
I would bet that not more than a dozen folks in Montana had ever heard of Sherman College prior to reading that article. I’d say a dozen was a safe bet because that’s how many Wofford graduates live in Montana, and surely they heard of us when they lived in Spartanburg.
I don’t know the circulation of the Missoulian and could not guess how many people read that article in print or online, but however many people that was, that many more people know about Sherman College simply because we participated in College Town. Wow!
Lessons learned? Get involved. Get connected. Have a voice. Be heard. Be seen. Make a difference!
For the full article in the Missoulian, which is very interesting even if you don’t follow college football, visit http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/11/24/news/local/news02.txt
College Town is a consortium of Spartanburg County’s six colleges – Converse College, Sherman College, Spartanburg Methodist College, Spartanburg Technical College, the University of South Carolina Upstate and Wofford College – and the City of Spartanburg. The consortium produce academic, social and service events designed to strengthen the relationships of the campuses and the community. For more about College Town or to see profiles of Sherman students featured on its wesite, visit http://www.collegetownsc.org/
