Tanya Chance spent 10 years teaching history to high school students in Anson County. This past year she felt compelled to start making history. That’s why she joined South Piedmont Community College as a student recruiter for Anson County.
“The needs are great in our community,” said Tanya. “Some people don’t have hope and we have to reshape their thinking.”
Tanya said she believes that education is one of the best ways to change someone’s life. When she was in high school the message was “graduate and get a job.”
“No one ever told me that the job I’d get after high school wouldn’t pay enough for me to live,” she explained.
Tanya grew up in Georgia in a family with very limited means. With her big smile that she says she’s had all of her life, she joked that they were so “po” — they couldn’t afford the “or” in poor.
But Tanya was able to graduate high school and get a job to make ends meet while getting married and having a family. It was a family friend who asked her one day what kind of role models she wanted to be for her kids. Because of that conversation, Tanya formed her answer and her commitment to become their role model by going to college and setting the best example and becoming her best self.
Today, Tanya holds a masters degree in education and has become that role model for her 4 children and 3 grandchildren. Her oldest daughter is a Sergeant in the Wadesboro Police Department and her 18 year old son is enrolled at South Piedmont in the Industrial Technology program.
Not only did she graduate college, she now works for one. In her new role as a recruiter at South Piedmont, Tanya will be out in the community at events, businesses, churches, and civic organizations to share her message on the importance of a college education and to spread encouragement and assistance to help everyone be able to earn one.
In the years to come when the events of today are being taught in history classes, she wants the residents of Anson County to be remembered for what they accomplished – not what they didn’t.
If you’d like to talk with Tanya Chance, you can reach her at tchance@spcc.edu or 704-272-5462.
Written by Misty McMillan