SC students were traumatized by gun violence. Here’s how The State’s readers helped

Editor’s note: We caught up with the most interesting people we wrote about in 2018. Learn what’s new with each this week.

A surprising thing happened after Diana Pearson shared in The State how her students were losing their friends and family to gun violence, and how some lived without guarantee of a safe place to sleep or regular meals.

“I ended up getting over $4,000 donated” to help the students, she said, noting that a woman in Chapin sends her $25 every month, and a man affiliated with a golfing association sent her $3,000 in donations for her to use in her class. “It’s been really neat.”

The State wrote about Pearson and how her job as a teacher extends far beyond the classroom as part of a series, called Classrooms in Crisis, detailing the reasons S.C. teachers are fleeing public-school classrooms in record numbers. A veteran teacher, Pearson has leaned into the challenges she faces in educating children she says are traumatized by poverty and, more recently, gun violence.

Pearson routinely visits her students at their homes to check on them and to get to know their families. She also raises money at church and with family and friends to buy students school supplies when they need them.

Now, the generosity of strangers has allowed her to do even more for her students. With the money that came in from readers who saw her story, she bought clothes and haircuts for three fifth-graders so they would look great for their graduation. She took a group of boys to summer Bible school, buying them breakfast and lunch and taking them to the park and other places to get them out of the neighborhood.

She took a 19-year-old who dropped out of high school after his younger brother was murdered in April under her wing, helping him study for the GED and spending time with him. Once completely withdrawn in fear and grief after his brother’s death, the young man now is doing better.

He made Pearson proud when, at a community forum on gun violence, he spoke out publicly, saying the community offers nothing for youth like him. Pearson has taken in another young man, a high-school senior athlete, inviting him to live with her after she found out he was bouncing between homes.

Pearson said she wasn’t looking for praise for the work she does outside the classroom to help her students, but she certainly appreciates it. The students’ needs continue, she said, noting recent episodes of gun violence she suspects is tied to gang activity.

This story was originally published December 24, 2018 at 5:00 AM.