SC CHEER YES graduate headed to four-year college

As MUSC Hollings Cancer Center prepares to welcome this summer’s slate of SC CHEER YES students, mentors in the program are cheering on a recent Burke High School graduate.

Jalayia McDowell, who graduated in May, is headed to Winthrop University this fall with her eyes set on dental school after that. It’s a different trajectory than when she first started the SC CHEER YES program the summer after her sophomore year, when she thought she might get a two-year college degree to become a dental hygienist.

“I thought I might as well just shoot beyond that so it can open more doors and more opportunities for me,” she said. “So that's the plan right now. And I wanted to try and mix up research with it as well, because I really like what I did here, researching.”

SC CHEER YES is a two-year program that brings high school students from four Charleston County schools to Hollings to get hands-on experience in research, mentorship from faculty members and graduate students, and college and career guidance.

The goal is to attract more students to biomedical research – specifically cancer research – and to nurture a pipeline of South Carolinians who will go into health sciences fields.

Marvella Ford, Ph.D., associate director, Community Outreach and Engagement at Hollings, started the program more than seven years ago, when it was called SC CURE and included only Burke students. In the beginning, she and Dennis Watson, Ph.D., taught the high school students themselves. The program has since grown, adding three more high schools. During the on-campus experience, the students are spread across labs investigating prostate cancer, HPV, tobacco usage and more.

Jalayia applied to the program at the urging of her biology teacher, although initially she wasn’t sure if she wanted to do it.

“At first I was like, ‘Mmmmm, cancer.’ You know, it wasn't my favorite topic because all I hear is that people die from it. But then I was like, ‘OK, so you get experience and it's an opportunity,’” Jalayia said.

She learned a lot.

“It opened my eyes, because not everybody dies from it. There are people who beat it. And it was very interesting to know all the types of cancers there are out there, the treatments they do, how they encourage people. It was a nice opportunity, gaining all that knowledge.”

Benjamin Toll, Ph.D., associate director, Education and Training at Hollings, also served as Jalayia’s mentor.

Toll is a tobacco researcher, and Jalayia got experience working on projects comparing e-cigarettes to traditional combustible cigarettes.

Toll said the Education and Training program, which encompasses high schoolers through early career faculty, serves to support and encourage trainees. He's proud of all the Hollings trainees, but he’s especially excited that Jalayia grew from the SC CHEER YES program, ultimately deciding to enhance her career goals and further her education by majoring in biology at a four-year institution.

Jalayia also cited the support of dedicated teachers at Burke who pushed her and other students.

“There are great teachers. My health science teacher, Ms. (Pleshette) Grant. Oh my gosh, she's amazing. She really pushed for us to be the best and do the best. My chemistry teacher, John Poretto, who was always there for us, even if it wasn't school related. And Mr. Jay White. He passed, so he couldn't watch us graduate. But he loved us. He loved all of us. He was always there for us. He was really a big motivator,” she said.

Jalayia chose Winthrop, located in Rock Hill, in part because a cousin attended, although he died before graduating. The other part? Like many young adults, she’s ready to forge her own path.

“I'm just ready to go and start a new journey. I want that independence,” she said.

Related Links

More MUSC Hollings Cancer Center news

Subscribe to our newsletter

Hollings Horizons magazine