Shane Bell ’23 receives award, credits his grandmother

An engaging video on the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department website spotlights Erskine College graduate Shane Bell, who has been named the organization’s 2024 Consumer Achievement Award Winner.

Shane, who played on the Flying Fleet Football Team, graduated in 2023 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education and Coaching. He is now a member of the Rapid Response Team (RRT) at the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice, where he was named RRT Officer of the Quarter in August.

In connection with the 2024 Consumer Achievement Award, the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department (VR) sent a team to the Erskine campus to interview Head Football Coach Shap Boyd and his wife, Senior Gifts Officer Beth Boyd. Two members of the VR staff are also featured in the video. Most importantly, Shane tells his own story.

“My commitment to just buying into school was my grandma,” he says. “I made a promise to her before she passed that I’m going to successful, no matter what it takes.”

When he was in the ninth grade, Shane recalls, Erskine representatives came to his school—before Erskine had a football team. He visited the table and got an Erskine lanyard. He really wanted to play college football, but instead of discarding the swag he had received from Erskine, a school that did not offer his sport, “Something told me, let’s keep it,” he says.

Shane came to VR as a young high schooler, having been diagnosed with ADHD, which made him eligible for assistance. Becoming diligent about communicating with his VR counselor—calling and asking questions—he continued with VR all through high school and during his college career, honing skills that enabled him to keep up with his studies.

“Vocational Rehabilitation was the reason I was able to keep going to college,” Shane says. His VR counselor made sure he received any available assistance with tuition or textbooks, and sometimes, when he spoke to her about difficulties in a class, she was able to send him a link he could access for help.

In addition to his support from VR, Shane talked frequently with Coach Boyd, who came to know Shane as “an uplifting person.” The coach discerned early on that “if [Shane’s] having a bad day, you’d better find out why,” since being down was unusual for him.

Seeking to improve his academic performance, Shane asked questions of his Erskine professors, and as Boyd puts it, “wore them out, in a positive way.”

After college, he wanted a career that would enable him to help others who faced obstacles as he had. His work with the Department of Juvenile Justice is not easy. In the VR video, he admits he wanted to quit many times when he first started the job. But as he got to know the young people he was assisting, he found himself making a promise that he would not give up on them, just as he had promised his grandmother he would do whatever it took to be successful.

The VR website text introducing the Consumer Achievement Award video summarizes Shane’s story in its very first sentence: “Shane Bell, VR’s 2024 Consumer of the Year, could not be a better example of what can happen when a young person with obstacles is given the support they need to succeed.”

Beth Boyd agrees. “Shane is an amazing young man.”

Congratulations, Shane Bell!

Pictured at top are Head Football Coach Shap Boyd, left, and Shane Bell.