Search

Class Notes

1979

Steven “Skip” Frye, the longtime cross country and track and field coach at Broome High School, was honored by the school and Spartanburg School District 3 by having the track named after him.

1992

Darlene Oulla Lovette and her husband celebrated the marriage of their son Noah on January 10, 2022.

1993

Robert Woodson Byers has two granddaughters, ages 2 and almost 1.

1999

Clayton Moton is principal at Dutchman Creek Middle School in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and was recently inducted into 100 Black Men of the Upstate.

2000

Farrell Thomas is principal of Gray Court-Owings Elementary & Middle School in Gray Court, South Carolina.

2003

Karen Laverne Meadows-Rogers was a middle school counselor at E.P. Todd School in Spartanburg in the previous academic year.  This year she is at Cleveland Academy of Leadership.  She has been in Spartanburg School District 7 for 16 years and has worked for Spartanburg School District 3 for two years. Karen has six grandchildren.

2004

Sharon King Austin, B.S. ’19, began her fourth year of teaching at Thomas E. Kerns Elementary School in Greenville this year.  She says she loves working with elementary students again after teaching middle school for three years. 

Erin Ank Mehaffey married J. Paul Mehaffey in 2012, and they have a daughter, Alana, who was born in 2016.

Jolitha Wright Richardson is married to Jason Richardson and has two teenagers.  She works from home for Verizon in learning and development.

Chiquila Suber Valentine is married with two children, Amos and Averi.

2006

Ashley Young is a major in the South Carolina Army National Guard, where she has served for 21 years. She is a proud veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, and received the Meritorious Service Medal for her service and dedication to the mission. She served as an administrative specialist for eight years prior to commissioning through the Palmetto Military Academy in 2010. She was assigned to the University Readiness Center at USC Upstate from 2018-2021.

2007

Trey Furman Arrington recently was hired as the associate vice president for information technology at Wofford College. He was previously the vice president for operations at Spartanburg Methodist College. He completed his MBA at Louisiana State University at the end of August.

Melissa Cooper is a certified North Carolina K-12 administrator and won the 2021 Metro Atlanta Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative’s December (Tech) Tip Off pitch competition. She also completed the 2020 Metro Atlanta Teach for America Social Innovation Fellowship. Currently she is co-developing and co-launching a professional design summit to support trainers and designers in the area of synchronous and asynchrous adult learning.

Lontisha Blanding Smith opened her own business, First Responders Healthcare Services, in September 2021. Located in Spartanburg, the business provides in-home care services and health care staffing for facilities. First Responders just celebrated its first anniversary and the grand opening of its new location. Lontisha is a member of the Spartanburg Lions Club and OneSpartanburg, Inc. She has two daughters, 19 and 13.

2008

Todd Earles Long began a new job as dean of student life at Olivet College in Olivet, Michigan, on July 18, 2022.

2010

Candace Lamb earned her doctorate in 2021 from the University of Texas – Austin.

2013

Detria Graham, along with USC Upstate adjunct instructor Jed Dearybury, was chosen as a creativity ambassador for Crayola and the National Art Education Association. Detria is currently pursuing a master’s in art administration at Goucher College in Baltimore. She is also a visual arts teacher at West View Elementary School in Spartanburg School District 6.

Daniel Alexander Jones married his wife, Karis, in February 2022.

Chloe Thomas Pellot recently married her husband, Aaron Pellot, and now works in Singapore as the dean of student life at the Singapore American School.

2014

Lanie Whitaker Carter married Mehgan Carter on November 11, 2021. Lanie is the president and founder of Arrowhead Design in Spartanburg, and recently celebrated the grand opening of Burg Apparel right off the Mary Black Rail Trail in Spartanburg.

2015

Krista Louise McMullen lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, and teaches special education at a Title I school.

Paige Snyder Warner recently was hired as a neuro ICU nurse manager at Greenville Memorial Hospital.

2017

Will Angelich is the terminal manager at the South Carolina State Ports Authority’s inland port in Greer.

2018

Hannah Chumley Burress returned to her alma mater in September 2021 as an advising specialist and administrative support for the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies. Prior to that, she received a master’s from Clemson University and worked for a tech company. She says she jumped at the chance to work at Upstate, and “absolutely loves” her job. The month after starting, she married her husband, David, who is a 2017 alum.

Samuel Reid Johnson recently opened WaveRoom Yoga in Spartanburg, SC.

Daboyous Bernard Mosley graduated from Washburn School of Law in May 2022.

Destini Anderson Pratt married her husband, James Cameron Pratt, who she met at USC Upstate, on New Year's Eve 2021. She had a judicial clerkship with a 13th Circuit judge in the Upstate prior to accepting a position as an associate attorney with her current firm, Gallivan, White & Boyd.

2019

Meredith Shirlese Jack teaches social studies at Spartanburg High School.  She was selected to participate in the NEH Landmarks workshop, “The Legacy of Early African-Americans and the Gullah-Geechee People.”  She also participated in the Landmarks workshop at USC Upstate this past summer, “Fabric of the Past.”

2020

Scott Tyler Dunn is teaching English in South Korea.

Katelyn Payne Eberly married her high school sweetheart a month before graduation. She taught full time as a substitute teacher in Spartanburg for a semester, and now has a full-time position as a professional recruiter.

2021

Jarred Bradley is the social media manager and graphic designer at Arrowhead Design Group in Spartanburg, and was the creator of the Morgan Square Madness mark for USC Upstate.

Allison Dunlap is an English teacher at Spartanburg High School and received a Crystal Apple Award in August in recognition of being standout first-year teacher at the school. 

Jackie Lee-Von Harkey is currently attending graduate school at Charleston Southern University, where she is pursing an M.S. in human resource management.  She has an HR internship with the Charleston County Aviation Authority.

Ramonte Smith is a seventh-grade social studies teacher at McCracken Middle School in Spartanburg and in August received Spartanburg District 7’s Crystal Apple Award honoring the district’s most oustanding first-year teacher.

2022

Mckenna Haley Wood graduated with honors in May and has been accepted into the doctoral program for occupational therapy at Concordia University in Ann Arbor.

SEND US YOUR NEWS!

New baby? New business? New degree? Share the news with your fellow alums! Fill out the form here and we’ll include your updates in the next issue of the magazine.