An inspiring Lowcountry story gets even more inspiring | Opinion
Sharonda Jenkins continues to inspire this poor pocket of the South Carolina Lowcountry, where she had a baby at age 12. This time it comes through her daughter, Sha’mya Jenkins.
Sha’mya has had much greater opportunity than her mother did growing up in Allendale County. And, like her mother, she has seized that opportunity.
Sha’mya graduated this month from Pope John Paul II Catholic School in Okatie and plans to attend the University of South Carolina in Columbia this fall. Beginning in the seventh grade Sha’mya was given a scholarship to attend the private school by two women who were inspired by Sharonda’s life story. They wanted to help Sharonda’s family break the cycle of poverty that grips Allendale County, and they thought education for Sha’mya was the best way to do that.
Sha’mya is not the baby Sharonda delivered as a child. That daughter is grown with two high-spirited daughters of her own now.
Sha’mya is the child of John and Sharonda Jenkins, who met while working their way up the economic ladder at a Publix in Bluffton.
Sharonda was shamed and told as a 12-year-old sixth grader that she could throw all her hopes on a pile of statistics that haunt the rural county about an hour inland from Hilton Head Island.
By having a baby at 12, she’d drag down a county with a poverty level of 27% and where only 42% have a high school degree. But Sharonda said she “wanted to prove some people wrong,” and she “refused to be a statistic.”
As soon as she was old enough, she began the long commute from Allendale to Hilton Head for work. She was a housekeeper in timeshares, a cashier, a deli clerk and an in-home aide for the elderly.
She met a good man and got married, and when little Sha’mya was in the first grade in public school in Ridgeland Sharonda was the only parent to show up for a parent conference arranged by a volunteer tutor who was helping children in the class — and Sharonda did it after working a 12-hour shift on Hilton Head.
Nona Valiunas of Spring Island was that tutor, and later she and a friend became Sha’mya’s benefactors. She followed Sharonda’s life as Sharonda earned a Licensed Practical Nurse degree and started a career at the Beaufort-Jasper-Hampton Comprehensive Health Services clinic in Ridgeland. Sharonda later earned an associate degree in nursing to become a registered nurse.
Nona Valiunas said, “She’s not only an inspiration to women who start out in difficult situations, but to all of us.”
They stood at Sha’mya’s graduation ceremony beaming and crying and declaring it all worthwhile. Sha’mya’s last report card was all A’s, including advanced classes. She did public speaking for the school, sang a solo in the role of Mother Abbess in “The Sound of Music,” was this year’s prom queen, a cheerleader — and a trailblazer as the only Black girl in her class.
“She’s the embodiment of everything our school stands for,” said school president John McCarthy.
That’s a long way from her mother’s situation as a 12-year-old.
“It’s a very, very long way,” Sharonda said. “It’s actually a blessing. I’m sure she’s always been capable of doing it, but I feel like JPII opened a lot of doors for her as well. They learn a lot.”
Sharonda said her message is simply to never give up. “And it depends on the type of person you are and how you present yourself,” she said. “Always be respectful. Manners will take you further than money will.”
Special art adorned Sha’mya’s cap on graduation night. It read, “The Princess and the Diploma.”
“I chose ‘The Princess and the Diploma’ because I always admired ‘The Princess and the Frog’ when I was younger,” Sharonda said.
“I looked up to (Disney princess) Tiana as a role model. She always wanted to succeed, and knew that it takes hard work and dedication to make your dreams come true. Even as a frog she had her goals and morals set throughout the film. ‘It all depends on you’ has always resonated with me.”
David Lauderdale may be reached at LauderdaleColumn@gmail.com.
