It's a mentor's job to help a young person answer questions like these. Such guidance is invaluable as adolescents strive to find their individual niches in an ever more complicated world. Warren Evans, VCOM–Carolinas Class of 2020, has a vision of helping them find answers.
Mentoring has become something of a personal mission for Evans, who currently serves as Student Body President for the Class of 2020. His own mentors guided him on his path to medical school, an extraordinary journey outside the bounds of convention.
Evans, 32, certainly has a past that qualifies as 'non-traditional.' One of seven children in a family from the small town of Pine Hills, Florida, his educational and work background does not fit the mold for a typical med student.
Things took a turn for the worse for the family when Evans' mother turned ill and his father lost his job. Education, for Warren Evans, had to take a back seat for a while.
With his family in such dire straits, Evans sought employment in lieu of education. He knew he loved helping people, which led him to pursue a career as a fire fighter. Working for the Apopka, Florida Fire Department presented new opportunities.
In keeping with VCOM's mission to serve the underserved, Evans hopes to inspire the same self-knowledge and confidence in Spartanburg District 7's high school students, especially those with greater obstacles to success.
With Dr. Sonia Leverette of the Spartanburg County School Administration, Evans has started just such a program, to an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response. While he imagined only half a dozen of his fellow VCOM students signing up as mentors for the program, the number so far is over ten times that.
Among those volunteer mentors are Carrie Downing-Larick, VCOM–Carolinas Class of 2020, and Aubrey Jones and Johnny Efstathiades, both Class of 2021, who will take over when Evans and Downing-Larick leave for rotations.
The Mentor Program's mission to lead young people to realize their full potential is the result of two things: the needs of this community and the vision of Warren Evans, reflecting VCOM's dedication to focusing on the underserved. With his commitment as well as that of other VCOM students in collaboration with Spartanburg High School District 7, the city's future looks a little brighter.
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