Pendergrass: making sure students reach full potentials

When it comes to the staff members of a school, there are often two types of people: those who are there to do just what’s in the job description, and those who are invested in the future of the students with whom they come in contact. School counselor Lawanda Pendergrass is easily the latter of the two.

Pendergrass grew up in Manning, SC and graduated from Manning High School in 1997. She left for Columbia to attend Benedict College that same year, where she received her undergraduate degree. She later attended Webster University, where she earned her master’s in professional counseling, and went to South Carolina State University after that, majoring in counseling and education. To her, college was a great experience, which “gave her the opportunity to expand in her career options.”

Right after graduating from high school, Pendergrass became a mental health counselor and worked with those who had disabilities and special needs. As a mental health counselor, she would often visit schools to speak with students; however, there was a problem.

“I wouldn’t get the full story of everything the student was going through during school,” she said. “I would only capture what was going on with them on an outpatient basis.”

Noticing this problem, Pendergrass decided to apply a solution. She decided to work in the school system as a school counselor, her first job being at Lee Central Middle School, located in Lee County. Taking such an action shows just how much she truly cares about wanting the best for students, though it shouldn’t come as a shock considering the people she looks up to.

Three role models who have impacted Pendergrass in one way or another are her mother, another school counselor by the name of Catherine Robinson, and Maya Angelou.

“I’ve always been the type of person that just loved to help other people” she said.

Now at West Florence, Pendergrass’s willingness to aid students nor her job description have changed much.

“My goal as a school counselor is to simply be the best counselor that I can be, making sure students are using their full potential, and making sure that I'm helping students, not just talking to them, but actually seeing some type of change or some type of difference during their school year, “ she said.