The widow of Sen. Clementa Pinckney challenged a group of South Carolina 4-H students on campus to return home and strive to improve their communities as her late husband did.
“This right here is what he was all about, you the young people,” Jennifer Pinckney said at the conclusion of the inaugural 4-H Clementa Pinckney Leadership Conference at Clemson University. “Go back home and encourage others. Go back home and be the leader we know you can be. Go back home and be the mentor, be the role model, and be the next Clementa C. Pinckney.”
The weeklong 4-H Pinckney Leadership Conference brought 25 high school sophomores and juniors from across South Carolina to Clemson’s campus to participate in numerous activities designed to promote teamwork, leadership and citizenship. They spent a morning whitewater rafting and an evening playing “Capture the Flag.” They made shoe soles from milk jugs and old blue jeans to donate to children in Africa.
Some activities taught them teamwork and perseverance through failure. Participants had to run through a swinging jump rope in groups of four without hitting the rope. If one person hit the rope, the entire class had to start over. They failed many times but continued to encourage each other.
They had candid discussions about race and stereotypes. The words “respect” and “dignity” became the themes for the discussion.
Conference attendee Landon Bradshaw of Lake City said he was thankful to be “part of something big, part of a family.“This conference taught us all about ourselves and how to work as a team,” said participant Morgan McManus of Florence. “We have all become family. This has been life-changing. Let us never forget to stay positive and always have respect and dignity.”
“Some of us have made lifetime friends, and I believe all of us have become equipped to impact our community,” he said.
A pastor, community leader and mentor, Sen. Pinckney was a strong advocate for 4-H, the youth development arm of the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service. He’s one of the organization’s most notable South Carolina alumni. In April he received the 4-H Distinguished Alumni Medallion from the National 4-H Council.
Jennifer Pinckney said her husband, a native of rural Jasper County, was molded as a youth by the four leafs of the 4-H emblem – a green clover with a white letter H on each leaf to pay homage to the organization’s pledge: “I pledge my Head to clearer thinking, my Heart to greater loyalty, my Hands to larger service, and my Health to better living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world.”
Sen. Pinckney was among nine churchgoers killed in June 2015 during a bible study group meeting at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston.
“Yes, a year has come and gone. Our family is still grieving,” Pinckney said. “This is huge. Our family just wants to say ‘thank you.’ This is a proud moment for all of us.”
South Carolina 4-H plans to continue the Pinckney Leadership Conference annually, said Pam Ardern, South Carolina 4-H team leader.
“We just want to honor him and keep alive his spirit and what he stood for,” she said.
(Written by Scott Miller, Public Service and Agriculture.)
(Portrait of the Honorable Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, by Catherine Prescott, Oil.)