Sen. Tim Scott wants to lift SC high school students out of poverty with internship

As a young Black kid growing up in a single-parent household in North Charleston, Tim Scott often wondered how he would ever get out of poverty. At the time, he only saw only two paths: Becoming a professional athlete or becoming a professional entertainer.

Now a U.S. Senator representing South Carolina, Scott on Monday announced a new internship program that he hopes will offer high school students in his home state another path.

Called the Opportunity Internship, the goal is to connect South Carolina employers with rising juniors and seniors attending Title I high schools. These schools often have the most need because at least 40% of the student population belongs to low-income households.

The hope is that these connections can lead to a successful career that will ultimately lift these students out of poverty.

To start, four South Carolina school districts have agreed to participate in the internship program. Those school districts are Charleston County School District, Clover School District, Richland One and Richland Two.

In a statement shared first with The State newspaper, Scott called the initiative “a game-changer” for high school students who share a path with Scott. As a graduate of R.B. Stall High School, Scott is a product of a Title I school himself.

“Too often, our brightest students are shut out of access to career opportunities because of their zip code or their socioeconomic status,” Scott, a Republican, said. “Opportunity Internships will help bridge this gap to both help these students realize their full potential and companies invest in the next generation of South Carolina leaders.”

Scott said he also hopes the program will become a model for other states to replicate.

An internship fair will be held in Charleston in May. Details for the event are still being finalized, but Scott’s office confirmed the in-person event will also have a virtual component. Discussions are underway about providing additional internship fairs, too.

The first internship fair is being hosted by the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, United Way Association of South Carolina and Scott’s office.

So far, five companies — Atrium Health, Bank of America, Homegrown Hospitality Group, Lowcountry Hotels and Nephron Pharmaceuticals — have agreed to participate. The businesses have pledged to collectively employ about 50 students this summer.

The internships will be paid.

Daniel Blumenstock, the director of hotels for Lowcountry Hotels, said his immediate response when approached about the idea was “count us in.”

Nephron CEO Lou Kennedy said the effort goes beyond gaining hands-on job experience.

“These internships will provide students with the chance to dream big,” Kennedy said in a statement. “All of our students should be able to achieve their dreams, and, working together with Senator Scott, we can help them do just that.”

For Scott, the effort is also personal.

“Oftentimes kids growing up in these areas are classified as ‘at-risk,’ but I prefer to call them ‘high potential’ because there should be no limits on their future. I view it as my responsibility to find solutions that build up our communities,” Scott wrote in his 2020 book, “Opportunity Knocks.”

“I want to show those kids, the ones who may believe the door to opportunity is locked, that they must muster up the intelligence, will, and drive to kick that door open,” Scott wrote.

Scott, who entered politics in 1995 when he was elected to Charleston County Council, has spoken at length about the lasting impact of his mentor, John Moinz.

The two met when Scott was a teenager working at a North Charleston movie theater. Moinz owned a Chick-fil-A franchise in the Northwoods Mall.

When Scott went to the restaurant, his order was always the same: Water and fries. When Moinz asked him why he didn’t order more food, Scott replied that he couldn’t afford it.

After that, Moinz started giving Scott free chicken sandwiches with a side of life lessons.

When Moinz died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism in 1985, Scott wrote a poem to the mentor who changed his life and updated his life’s mission statement to positively impact a million people.

He changed it to a billion.

Additional employers who may be interested in participating in the Opportunity Internship fair are asked to contact opportunity_internships@scott.senate.gov.