A Place of Gratitude
Trident Technical College employees Cris and Darren Felty met as students at St. Leo College (now St. Leo University), where they were both enrolled in the English program and involved in theater.
Their first theater production together was the play, Harvey. Darren played the part of Elwood P. Dowd (played by Jimmy Stewart in the movie), whose best friend is a huge, invisible white rabbit. Cris played the part of his sister, Veta, who tries to have Elwood committed to a local sanatorium.
Cris and Darren became close friends, and their friendship eventually blossomed into romance.
They went on to the University of Georgia, took teaching assistantships and got married. Cris completed her master’s degree and Darren his Ph.D.
Thirty years and three kids later, Darren is the Dean of TTC’s Mount Pleasant campus, and Cris is the Director of Grants Development & Administration at the college.
They still have the original painting from the play, which depicts Darren as Elwood, together with Harvey, the rabbit.
“We always told the kids it was proof that daddy knew the Easter Bunny,” laughed Cris.
Last year, the Feltys started a scholarship, the Katrina Felty Scholarship, in their daughter’s name.
With an emphasis on students with disabilities, the fund assists with tuition, books, equipment, living expenses and “whatever is needed to ease a student’s financial burden,” said Darren.
They wanted to honor their daughter, who graduated from TTC with an Associate of Arts in 2019 and is currently finishing her Bachelor of Arts at the College of Charleston (CofC).
“Starting a scholarship came from a place of gratitude,” says Darren. “Katrina’s experience at TTC was so positive and supportive.”
Katrina is on the autism spectrum and has encountered her share of challenges in the classroom. But when she saw the obstacles some of her classmates were up against, it gave her a better understanding of her parents’ life-long passion for education and dedication to students.
“I am exceedingly grateful for the opportunities that I have been given,” she said, adding, “but not all of my classmates have that level of support at home.”
Darren said that starting a scholarship is exactly the kind of thing Katrina would do.
“My daughter is the kindest person I know,” he said. “If she could help every one of her classmates, she would,” added Cris.
Financial challenges are a common reason why students drop classes and fail to reach their goals.
But the Feltys know that receiving a scholarship is meaningful for so many reasons.
“It’s not just the monetary value of the scholarship,” said Darren. “To students who may not have had a lot of validation in the past, it’s a tangible gesture of support that tells them we are rooting for them.”
Katrina decided to major in Communications at CofC to better understand how neurotypical and neurodivergent people experience and interact with the world differently. She recently completed her capstone project on nonverbal communication and empathy.
“I had to switch my focus to neurodivergent communicators for the project, because, as it turns out, I don’t know that many people who are neurotypical,” she laughed.
Katrina's college experience has only added to her confidence. She’d like to pursue a career that involves writing and communication, and her next move is to get her own apartment at an independent living community in Conway.
“I’m so excited about my future,” she said. “And I’m happy that the scholarship will help provide that excitement for other students as well.”