Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam Clements.
Hi Sam, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story begins with an ending. Like many college students, I was pre-med with sights high on becoming a doctor but life happened, the passion for medicine dwindled a bit, and a change of plans was in order. The med school door shut and I became the college cliche of bailing on the pre-med route. With all of that, I did some soul searching and eventually followed the long-time advice of my mother and became a teacher in Nashville, TN through Teach for America. I taught eighth-grade science at an amazing middle school and as per usual, mom was right and I loved it and got pretty good with it. After Nashville and my two years with TFA, I moved to Charleston, SC and knew I wanted to be in the education field, but wanted to take a break from the classroom. Eventually, in the job search, I found Doors to Dream and that they were hiring to develop their newly-founded nonprofit and I was hooked. The mission of service-focused learning immediately stood out to me and luckily I was given the opportunity. From there, I have been working on growing our nonprofit from an outfit of six students at Burke High School raising money and donating toys to the children’s hospital to an organization now at two high schools and soon to be one middle school impacting hundreds of people in Charleston. Our work allows students to develop themselves as people and professionals while making their communities better and helping those in their neighborhoods who need it the most. It also helps guide students through the tricky time of high school and helps put them in positions to succeed, pursue their dreams, and live inspired and purposeful lives. It has truly been some of the most rewarding work and I was given the amazing opportunity to serve as Doors to Dream’s Executive Director. From here, we are looking to continue to grow and expand our impact to not only more students but to become more deeply embedded in helping our neighbors and communities.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Oh absolutely not. Once moving to Charleston in August 2019, I had to adjust to a new city, a different age group of students than I was used to, and get the buy in of students who did not know me from Adam at a school I did not have any experience with – but adjustment went well and according to plan. Once we hit our groove around January, we had a massive project planned for March 2020 where we were going to feed a good number of people and connect them to other resources they could utilize in Charleston, etc., and then we all know what happened next. With three days before our event, the world came to a screeching halt and we had to make some on-the-fly adjustments to a virtual world for two years. Since then and like many other organizations and businesses, we had to deal with the lack of face-to-face contact with our students. As a younger organization, it took significant time and effort to ensure that our newfound relationships with students did not fade away and that we followed our mission to plan social impact projects, which through grit, sweat, and tears, and every other cliche, we were able to accomplish. For this, I give all the credit in the world to our students who, even in their own struggle of virtual school, were able to see past that and ensure that those in Charleston who need help received it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Our work revolves around the inspiring of underserved youth in the Charleston area to pursue their dreams through the planning of social impact projects, connecting them to support networks, and the offering of educational programs to help close the opportunity gap that exists here in Charleston. We guide students through the research and planning of service to teach them the 21st-century skills that they will need to know and use once they graduate from high school from budgeting a project to professional communication to problem-solving issues before they arise and everything in between. It’s truly amazing when you see the sparkle in a high schooler’s eye when they pull off a really amazing project and can actually see the impact that they are making. It’s incredibly real. That confidence does not stay in that moment but really seeps into all other aspects of their life.
In addition to our service-learning lens, we aim to wholly support the students and their families and be their first call when something celebratory happens or when the family is need of help, support, or guidance. By establishing this open line of communication, we build strong relationships with students and their families, allowing for us to be able to support them in the most impactful way. With that trust, we are able to connect them with a professional network to learn from and pursue the career of their choice with a better opportunity for success. Many of our students do not have a lawyer, engineer, fill in the blank with whatever career that they know, and can call to ask questions or pursue an internship. We work to help fix that and give them access to people who have a vested interest in their success and help them to pursue that career with the tools and knowledge necessary to pull it off.
We are in the relationship-building business. We are able to accomplish so much more with our students and their families with us. Then we can take our work to the next level and put students in incredible opportunities with the proper supports in place for them to really achieve their dreams.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
Charleston is such an amazing place that is full of history, culture, and good people working on making the world a better place. The amount of love we have felt from our students and their families, other like-minded organizations, and folks in the community has been outstanding and we would not be where we are today without everyone involved. It’s truly good people doing great things. My least favorite thing about Charleston is not necessarily a Charleston issue but one that definitely is pervasive in our city and that’s the segregation of schools and communities. Whether we like it or not, there are white schools and there are African-American schools and the difference between the two categories is significant – hence where my work comes in!
Contact Info:
- Email: samclements@doorstodream.org
- Website: www.doorstodream.org
- Instagram: instagram.com/doorstodream
- Facebook: facebook.com/doorstodream
Image Credits
Annie Dhabs
Sayre Briele
