Finding Her Calling
When Sharon Holden was young, she dreamed of becoming an airline stewardess and traveling the world. Her best friend, Tina, wanted to be a nurse.
Interestingly, life had other plans.
“Tina actually became the flight attendant, and yes, I became the nurse,” Sharon said with a smile.
After graduating from high school in Beacon, New York, Sharon made what she called a “sensible decision” and enrolled in a four-year college to major in accounting. But it didn’t take long for her to realize it wasn’t the right fit.
“I realized I didn’t even like accounting,” she said.
Despite earning A’s in all her classes, Sharon dropped everything except English and history and eventually left college altogether.
“As the first in my family to attend college, my parents worked hard to be able to send me,” she said. “I really didn’t want to waste their money.”
She decided to take time off, work, and figure out her path. During that time, she met her husband, Jim. They got married and moved to South Carolina.
After having her son, Sharon had a moment of clarity. If anything happened to Jim, she realized she wouldn’t have the resources to support herself or afford their apartment. She knew she needed to make a change.
That’s when she heard about the Practical Nursing program at Trident Technical College—a one-year program that advertised starting wages of $14.50 an hour.
“I’m kind of interested in medical stuff,” she remembers thinking. “I can give that a shot.”
From day one in biology class, Sharon knew she was exactly where she was meant to be. Nursing quickly became her passion, and she found her community.
“You know you’ve found your people when you can sit and talk about the most disgusting things while eating lunch,” she joked.
As a student, Sharon was deeply inspired by her instructors and admired their work. Still, she didn’t yet have the confidence to imagine herself as an educator.
She continued her education, earning her associate degree in nursing through an online college, and worked as a school nurse for seven years.
During that time, TTC nursing faculty and students would visit her school, and Sharon loved working with the students and teaching them about her role. One instructor, Kelly Spilbor, noticed Sharon’s enthusiasm and encouraged her to return to school to become an instructor.
“I loved those two days a week with the students,” Sharon said. “And of course, Kelly later became my colleague at TTC, so it was serendipitous.”
Not long after joining TTC in 2013, Sharon established the Donald and Emily Winckles Memorial Scholarship Fund in honor of her parents, as a thank-you for their sacrifices and support, which involved relocating their family from England to the US.
“I was very young when we moved,” she said. “My mother attended school until she was just 14 and my father was trained as a machinist. Yet, with limited education and resources, they made the decision to go in search of the American dream.”
In 2018, she created another scholarship in memory of her brother, who passed away from cancer. The Donald Winckles Jr. Scholarship Fund supports students in commercial graphics—Don’s field—as he was a graphic designer and also a Trident Tech alumnus.
“I remember being surprised that you could start a scholarship for as little as $500 a year and still make such a tangible difference in somebody’s life,” she said.
Sharon was also inspired by the students themselves.
“What many of our students go through and still manage to graduate is mind-boggling to me,” she said.
She recalled one student who struggled in her course. When Sharon asked why, the student explained that a tree had fallen on her house, destroying the second floor. She showed Sharon a photo—blue tarp covering the damage—and said they were still living there.
“I told her, ‘This is information we need to know,’” Sharon said. With that, they were able to find her some assistance.
Since their inception, 15 students have received a Winckles scholarship.
Jamie Bowman-Carroll, Class of ’20, was one of them. She received the Donald and Emily Winckles Memorial Scholarship in 2019 and graduated in 2020.
Today, Jamie is a clinical specialist with the orthopedic and post-surgical floor at Roper St. Francis Healthcare. In 2022, she was named Nurse of the Year for Structural Empowerment at the Mount Pleasant Hospital.
She credits the TTC nursing program and its instructors for preparing her to excel. She still remembers how meaningful it was to receive a scholarship funded by one of her own instructors.
“Mrs. Holden took the extra time to help me with test study review and lessen my testing anxiety,” Jamie said. “That someone who already gave so much of herself to help and mentor students would also give financially was truly inspiring.”
Now in her 13th year as an instructor, Sharon is proud of students like Jamie, who have earned a stellar reputation in the industry.
“I’ve had several family members who were very ill and spent time in medical care,” she said. “But I could go home and sleep soundly, knowing they were being cared for by my former students—and that they were in good hands.”
