As it turns out, learning how to weave a rose out of sweetgrass is kind of hard.
At first, Adrian Wilson made it look easy as he seamlessly “pressed and turned” fronds of sweetgrass over and over again and, eventually, they started to take the shape of a rose. His audience on Tuesday morning consisted of the students participating in Berkeley County School District’s first-ever Empowerment Camp, an ongoing four-day long program held at Carolyn Lewis School.
Wilson is the president and CEO of Palmetto Rose Company, which celebrates the well-known Lowcountry art and tradition of sweetgrass weaving – the Palmetto Rose is their signature piece. Wilson was one of several guests slated to come out and work with students at the Empowerment Camp, which is supporting BCSD students who are experiencing homelessness by helping them get ready for the upcoming school year.
The general consensus at the start of the workshop was that making these roses was hard – but fun. Anytime a someone successfully crafted a sweetgrass rose (and there were a few by the end of the workshop), Wilson would joke, “Boom! You just made $5.”
Both students and the staff volunteers struggled to nail the art of sweetgrass weaving, but that did not matter; the main lesson was pretty straightforward:
I can do hard things.
If at first I don’t succeed, I can try again.
It takes practice.
All of it ties into the deeper meaning behind why BCSD organized an Empowerment Camp this year for at-risk students.
The camp is the brainchild of BCSD’s Office of Inclusive Excellence & Student Support. Through a series of fun, hands-on activities and special guests like Wilson, the camp is helping students by getting them to connect with each other, build resiliency and feel excited about the first day of school.
Students who were invited to participate in Empowerment Camp are ones who were coded as McKinney-Vento students during the 2023-2024 school year. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is a federal program that supports students who do not have a permanent or adequate housing situation. 
BCSD receives grant money through the McKinney-Vento act, and the district is tasked with figuring out the best ways to utilize the funds. The Office of Inclusive Excellence & Student Support decided to gear funding toward a new Empowerment Camp to help its most at-risk students start off the 2024-2025 year on the right foot.
Lorna Manglona-Alexander is the McKinney-Vento system navigator for BCSD who helped in organizing the camp, and she can attest that camp volunteers have quickly witnessed results and are eager to bring back the program next summer.
“The whole purpose is really for them to not only feel good about themselves, but connect to school,” she said. “If they can feel connected with their peers and with school, it’s going to help them academically.”
Students without a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence are considered to be children experiencing homelessness, under the McKinney-Vento law. These students may be living with friends or relatives after losing their home as a result of temporary financial problems. They could be staying in hotels or motels or other places because they have nowhere else to go, or living in different types of shelters (such as a domestic violence shelter). They may also be staying in places not ordinarily used for sleeping, including cars, parks, public places, abandoned buildings, etc. McKinney-Vento helps provide resources to families facing such circumstances.
Students who are experiencing homelessness oftentimes face challenges that are very different from their classmates. Their situation can affect their sleep, their hunger and overall physical health – as well as their mental health – and subsequently have a negative effect on their academics.
“When their living situation fluctuates, or they are not even sure where they’re going to live, they’re not thinking about what’s important at school because they’re worried about their circumstance,” Manglona-Alexander said.
BCSD is working with more than 30 kindergarten through rising 12th grade students from all over the district this week at the camp. Staff volunteers include school counselors and a few teachers. A couple volunteers previously helped out with the THRIVE Academy, another program offered by the Office of Inclusive Excellence & Student Support earlier this summer geared toward personal growth and character-building to a select group of students.
By helping these students really connect with each other and their learning this week, the hope is these students will take what they have gathered at camp and apply it when they start the new school year.
“When you can feel seen and valued, it does something to you – it opens your mind up to learning,” Manglona-Alexander said.
Kristina Mathieu, BCSD’s Director of Inclusive Excellence & Student Support, said by the second day, staff volunteers were already seeing a change in the students – particularly ones who might have been a little more nervous and apprehensive on the first day.
“There are a lot of things that I might take for granted as an adult, and seeing how much this means to the students, it helps center me as well,” Mathieu said, adding, “I think here, they’ve had a lot of freedom and flexibility to be themselves.”
Manglona-Alexander said she has received messages from parents saying for the first time ever, their student is excited to go to school.
“Just knowing their stories and seeing how they’re interacting with one another is so heartwarming,” she said. “We want them to take the lessons that they’re learning…and apply it once they get to school – and feel good about themselves knowing, ‘Yes, I can connect.’”
Everything the children are doing at the camp this week is about having fun and promoting a growth mindset. The district teamed up with F & B Consulting to bring in special guest speakers; on Monday, one activity included having someone come in and speak with high school students about well-being and resiliency, and the students did an activity that corresponded with the lesson.
The festivities will wrap up on Thursday with a special expo for the students’ families. The families will be able to receive valuable resources and also get some basic school supplies to help make sure their students are prepared for the first day of school.
As the students participate in the camp, they are also invited to check out a poster on wall in the multipurpose room that reads, “Write a word that describes your experience so far.”
On Tuesday morning, some positive adjectives started coming in:
Amazing
Good
Fun
Happy
Joyful
They are heartwarming sentiments that, upon hearing them, brought a smile to Manglona-Alexander’s face – and resulted in her thinking up the word she used to describe her own experience so far: Overjoyed.
“I’m excited to see the growth – both socially and emotionally…and they’re looking at the new year with a new set of eyes,” Manglona-Alexander said.
There are ways to support BCSD families in need throughout the year, whether it is by sponsoring a child at the holidays through the annual Berkeley ONEderland program, or by helping to gather basic items (like laundry detergent, canned goods, etc.). If interested in helping to support a BCSD family in need, residents are invited to contact Manglona-Alexander for more information at manglona-alexanderl@bcsdschools.net.
