Lauren Stanton

Lauryn, I almost called you Lauryn Benton. No.

Lauryn Stanton.

Yes. Thanks for spending some time with me today.

Yeah, I'm glad to be here.

Yeah, folks won't know, gosh, we were neighbors for a long time.

Yes.

So we've known each other since I was younger and you were little.

So we moved in there when I was 8. How about that? So I'm 35 now.

Yeah, it is, uh, time flies when you're having fun.

That's right.

So I usually like to ask just kind of to kick things off, who is Lauren Stanton?

Well, I was, uh, born in Florence County, uh, raised in Pamplico, South Carolina. I still remain there, educated at Francis Marion, did my bachelor's and my master's there, married my high school sweetheart, and we have two kids that, uh, we, uh, still stay in Pamplico and live there, and very family-oriented. So That's me overall. Work, family.

Yeah. So, well, and again, what folks might not know, pretty good softball player if I remember right.

That's right.

Still play, coach?

I am heavily involved with the rec league. So I have coached all my kids' teams to this point. And so taking on a different role in this upcoming year, and I'm helping with the Hannah Pamplin Co. Youth League. I was on the board and the vice president of the board last year, and this year I'm stepping back and just being on the board and trying to have a little more time to coach the kids and do that sort of stuff again.

Sure. What's your favorite part about coaching?

I honestly love all of the personalities that come with all the children. My children typically, like most coaches, uh, my children are the most difficult to coach, but I love working with all the different personalities and seeing what works and doesn't work for each kid. It's like anything else. If they're trying to find joy out of something, or fun, or if they're very focused, or, you know, whatever sets them off, I want to help find the best for them and, you know, just let them have fun and be kids.

Sure. Well, it's interesting. And, and so I'm going to share something that— a conversation I had today, and I'm curious if you would agree. So I was having a conversation with somebody about some feedback that they had gotten, and this person is an exceptional— this was kind of work feedback, and this person is an exceptional just person, and they had gotten some constructive criticism that was probably accurate, but their feeling was like, "I'm crushing it," but there's still kind of that last little bit that they're kind of— I think they kind of felt like it was a little bit nitpicky. But then I've got this other person that I know that's getting, you know, at least not getting negative feedback. And part of what I tried to relate to them was, you know, I just started last week coaching high school football for Trinity, and I said, I got— you got some players that they could be a 10. I mean, they could be. And I said, I think part of that feedback that you're getting is that you're an exceptional team member, an exceptional person, and they're just trying to coach the best out of you. Whereas, I mean, if we're being honest, I mean, in, in whether it's in, in ball or, or in certain jobs, especially if people are mismatched, sometimes somebody's given all they've gotten and that's, that's just all there is. Would you agree with that? I mean, sometimes you've got kids who are really good that you coach a little harder even because you think they have potentially.

I think so. I think with, you know, sports, with life, or whatever it may be, I, I think that everyone's going to respond differently, like you said. And there are some people that you see a spark and you see some, some potential or something that could, you know, move, propel them forward. And I, I think that you can, you know, as a, as a boss, as a leader, as an athletic coach, whatever, I think you can propel those people forward. But I think you can also find those people who are, you know, setting back and, you know, find something that can, you know, bring something out in them, maybe a passion that they didn't even know was there. And if you have the right combination of coach and effort, that good things will happen together.

Yeah, and it's, again, we, we call it here at work at least unique ability. You know, we want everybody to be able to work in their unique ability. And in sports, I think sometimes it's either a different position or, or a different game. I mean, you know, um, I mean, Michael Jordan wasn't the baseball player that he was the basketball player. And I think that, again, I agree with you. I think that in sports and in life, a lot of it is finding what lights us up.

And that, and that's what I want for people. Um, I mean, for my kids, for example, I'm putting them in sports, and maybe something will stick, maybe it won't, but maybe it'll be band or theater or whatever, but I want to at least expose them to everything and have them give their best effort and then see where it goes from there.

Yeah, that was tough for me because for the first, I don't know, I'll say 10 or 12 years, even maybe a little longer than that, of parenthood, I mean, I really wanted my, my— because I had all boys, I wanted them in sports and it was a thing. And they— and my oldest son took to it and, and really kind of, he liked to push himself, and it was, it was a, a passion for him. But then the older I got, the more I realized that in some cases, especially with the younger two, kind of, it kind of, it almost kind of tapered off to where it's not about me anymore, you know what I mean? And it became a, all right, look, if you want to, to play, because we were big Maple Park here in Florence, and and did all of that and ran really hard. And then eventually I got to a place where I let them choose. It's like, hey, baseball's coming up. Yeah, Trish, my wife, actually said, do you ever, did you ever ask them if they want to do this? And I said, baseball's coming up, you know, do you want me to sign you up? And, you know, they were like, no, I'm good. Yeah, I'm tired, or whatever.

Are you sure?

And I'm like, really? 'cause I got all this equipment, you know, and they're like, yeah, you know, I want to do something different. And again, it was hard for me at that point, but it was really eye-opening. That was a big part for me of them, me starting to want for them what I want for other people, which is kind of, you know, again, we call it at my office, living your signature life. But it's like, you know, you be you, you know, do your thing. And like you said, whether it's, you know, right now, Trish, my wife, is in the process of doing some acting at the Little Theater, and I'm coaching high school football. Now, we're doing that because our kids all left, like 3 out of 4 of them left the house in a 10-day period. But again, I think that's a big part of it, and you've got to find, just again, in sports, in life, you got to find what lights you up. Now, you seem to have found that. I mean, you, you've done a couple things, educated in Francis Marion, but then you You did some time in other places before finding your, your current spot. Right now you're at Francis Marion.

Yes. So I actually, upon graduating, you may not know this about me, but upon graduating from Francis Marion with my bachelor's degree, I actually went to the Medical University of South Carolina to get my degree in a Master of Physician Assistant. So to be a PA. How about that? And I did 2 semesters there. Did well and decided it wasn't for me. So I stopped in the middle of the program, honestly, kind of without a plan. And I, if anyone knows me, that is against every bone and fiber in my body. I'm a planner. I'm type A personality. And for me, I just quit the program and didn't have a plan. I came back to Francis Marion and I worked in admissions for a few years, and that was wonderful. And that kind of started my love for higher education. Did my MBA while I was working in admissions, and the School of Business got a call about an opportunity in economic development, so I did that and came back to Francis Marion. July was 3 years, and so been the Vice President for Institutional Advancement and the Executive Director of Education Foundation for about 3 years, and it's been wonderful and a culmination of, you know, life's work and fits my personality really well.

For sure. Well, and it's always awesome to get to go back to your place.

It is.

And get to do that, that kind of thing, because all the stuff that you wish you had done or wish you could have done, uh, I think one of the neat things about kind of coming home like that is the ability to figure out how to help other people have the experience that you want. So what is— tell me a little bit about what is that— I, I kind of get that at least the role of executive director of the foundation, maybe talk a little bit about what the foundation is and what it does, but also kind of that now dual role or expanded role of vice president of institutional development.

So with both roles, I've been out in the community, so doing a lot of what I have been doing despite COVID, still trying to, you know, meet with people who have relationships with Francis Marion University and want to support us in a variety of capacities. But now that the world's opening up a little bit more, you know, out at different events associated with, you know, Florence, the city, the county, and the Pee Dee area. And so I've been busy with that, so that's part of, you know, dual roles as the executive director and the vice president. But really more of the Education Foundation, it was founded in 1974, so it's been around almost as long as Francis Marion has, and it truly is to support the needs of the university. I think its most important need is scholarship support for our students, so that's always what we're striving towards and working towards is supporting our students. We still have about 86%, um, well, about actually 91% of our students are on some form of financial assistance, but we have about 96% of our students are South Carolinians, so we're educating South Carolinians, but we still have a lot who need financial support, so probably not in my lifetime or anywhere in the near future, we'll always need scholarships for our students, so that's what we're working the most for, but we're also just trying to support the university. We have professors and programs that need support. We have students who need other types of support, and that's what we try to do is figure out, you know, ways to make things happen from private donors, from partnerships. We've just been really fortunate, and so we have fabulous programs like our engineering program, but Some of the equipment we've purchased and some of the equipment has been, you know, by private donors and private partnerships that have made things successful. Same goes for a variety of programs on campus, our nursing and everything. So really, I think the Education Foundation is about partnerships and support from outside entities trying to make sure Francis Marion can continue to thrive and continue to grow.

Sure. Well, again, because I mean, these are our these are our people, right? And I was out actually, I think, you know, my brother and my sister-in-law both teach out at the university, and I had the ability last Friday to be part of the School of Business Advisory Board and was out there with some other community leaders and, you know, just talking about workforce development and the importance of that and how, again, I didn't realize until that conversation that, you know, what a high rate or percentage, I guess, ratio of folks who were receiving financial assistance. Again, whether it's from federally or through the foundation. And I think one of the cool parts for me in being in that room of business leaders is that two of the words that came up a lot were partnership and collaboration. And I think that that's in my experience from the outside looking in with the foundation, that's what it's all about. I mean, it's a great engagement tool, I feel like, to bridge between kind of the community and the university.

It is. And I, I think one of the things that you touched on about the workforce development, that's such an important component for, you know, our general PD area, but for South Carolina as a whole. And we're so fortunate to have Dr. Carter and his vision and his leadership. But one of the things that he has focused on is we want to make sure that we're answering the needs of our community. That was our mission. Our mission, our mission was to serve and educate the students of the Pee Dee area and South Carolinians. And we're still doing that, you know, decades later. But Dr. Carter is making sure as part of that collaborative effort that, you know, we're working with the, you know, Medical University of South Carolina Florence and McLeod Hospital and our industries in the area to make sure that we're not creating programs and degrees for the sake of creating programs and degrees. We are doing what is actually needed in that area. And that in turn makes it easy for those partners to help support our efforts and support our students. And so that opens the doors and opens opportunities for our kids.

Yeah, and one of the, one of the cool stats that I remember, and, and I don't remember right off which school was, was number one, but, um, it was a— there was a statistic that Dr. Hari showed, or a ranking, and it basically had to do with who helps their students grow most economically, like the value of an education. And of all the public schools in South Carolina, if I'm not mistaken, if I remember correctly, Francis Marion had, if not the highest, one of the highest rates of people who were receiving financial aid. They had, they had the, you know, the average family demographic, they were from families who on average, you know, made lower than a lot of other places. But when it came to almost like value, kind of how does the— they ranked them, and again, I don't remember how the, the, what the, the structure was, but it was who helps people move up their socioeconomic status. They refer to it as being a ladder.

Right, and that's one thing that whenever people will ask me, like, you know, how is Francis Marion different, and what, you know, what's the compare and contrast? We, like any other university, we have the best and the brightest students, students that have had very little obstacles in their life, they have great families, all of those sort of things, and we love having those students, but I think one of the things that I enjoy the most about my job is those students who have had obstacles and maybe didn't have any family or the best family or didn't have as many opportunities as other students. We're creating opportunities for them to change the trajectory of their life, change the course of their family's lives. Maybe they are a first-generation college student. We still have, you know, we still hover kind of between like 40 to 45% of our students are still first-generation college students. And so You know, you get the oldest sibling, you know, have the opportunity to overcome these obstacles and, you know, attend Francis Marion and become a nurse, an engineer, a teacher, you know, whatever it may be, that could change the trajectory of all their siblings behind them and their life. And so that's one thing that remains special to me is just the opportunities that they may not be able to go anywhere else, but they can come to us and they can afford to come to us.

Well, that's, I mean, again, that's an interesting statistic of 40 to 45% being first-time, because that has, again, I get chills a little bit. I mean, that's generational impact. It is, right? Because in every family, regardless of, there was always one who, who was the pivot, right? Whether it's the, the university pivot, or if it's breaking a cycle of of something that was a long-time kind of family deal, that's a generational impact to reach out to those kids who are those first-time college students. And even, it's not just the siblings, but if you do get the oldest sibling, it can be, but then it's also everybody in a lot of cases who, again, I think statistically speaking, kids who go to college are statistically more likely to have parents who went to college. So, I mean, it really is a ripple effect.

And that's what I get to hear. I get to hear, you know, all of those stories. That's why my job is so rewarding is I, you know, get to work with the donors and, you know, they support a variety of efforts and scholarships, funds, whatever it may be. And then I get to hear those stories and, you know, move those stories to the donors so that they can, you know, see what's happening. And the donors usually 99% of the time get to meet their students and want to meet their students and, you know, get to learn about that impact. But I mean, I remember so many so many students just in the short time period that I've been here. I mean, we sent several students through funding to Ecuador. Some of them had never even left Florence County, like born and raised, had never left their small towns, never left— most of them had never left the state of South Carolina. And for them to have such a huge leap to be able to take a study abroad in Ecuador this summer, I mean, The letters and information I received back that they would have had no other way without funding to be able to do that. And I mean, the letters, it's life-changing for them absolutely to be able to have that experience. But I mean, that's the sort of stuff that they're doing, education experiences. It's all life-changing for them and couldn't have dreamed it in their wildest dreams.

Yeah. Well, again, you, we hired a Franciscan, Gret, Zach Hearn, who went through the International Business program, went over to France. And I remember I was kind of surprised because I had, I wasn't at the time fully aware of all the different programming that the university has. But, but on top of that, I can just tell you, and I mentioned this in that meeting that I was at, like, you pay attention. I mean, when you see somebody, Zach is from Florence, born and raised here, but after 3 years went over to France for a year. When you see that, that dual degree, I think even it is, uh, it's something I think that, that for the university it really gives students a leg up because as an employer you pay attention to that. I mean, that's somebody putting in effort.

Oh, it is. And, um, that's one of the things whenever I encourage students whenever they're trying to figure out where they want to go to college I'm like, the academics are obviously important. The, you know, financial component needs to make sense. But I think having access to experiences, that was one of the reasons why I chose Francis Marion is whenever I was touring and looking at all of these colleges, I mean, Francis Marion, I was talking to students, talking to professors and talking to everybody in the community that the students, you know, while they're getting their undergraduate education. I mean, they're getting hands-on experience, they're getting to go to places. But the other component of that is Francis Marion is helping. They have donors and the university that can help pay for some of those things and supplement some of those experiences so the burden wouldn't all be on the students. And that has been impactful.

It has, for sure. Well, even if everybody has to have some skin in the game It is a— the ability to have help sometimes can dramatically increase the likelihood that certain kids can go.

Right. Mm-hmm. And I think there's that fear factor too, that, you know, based on the person's situation, they may be fearful to ask. And, you know, they've heard a lifetime of nos, or like some of the people that I had this summer, they never thought this opportunity could happen in their wildest dreams. But when they had a professor tell them that, you know, there's a donor who's willing to pay for your travel expenses and your course, I just need people to sign up and, you know, complete applications. Then he had people who were willing and most appreciative to be able to go. But you have to have people who are willing. And I think that some people just think it's not possible because they know their financial scenario.

Sure. So how do you guys, how do you raise money?

Through a variety of means, but mostly it's the relationship development and it's that component of being able to know people, know donors, and work through those relationships. And we do, like most people, and that we, you know, communicate through a variety of means and social media and mailings and, you know, contact our alumni and all of those sort of things, but We've done a variety of things in the past, anything, you know, from golf tournaments to events, and just, it dictates whatever we're fundraising for at the moment, what we do.

And it's neat, the idea that the donor then later, I think, don't you guys have like a banquet almost? Where, I don't know how the, I'm curious, but when you say that the donor gets to meet their recipient, in a lot of ways, I think that probably via your social media, I've seen some opportunities where those folks come together. That's pretty cool.

We do, and so that's really nice for, you know, everyone to learn more about the donor, the reason why they may have established this scholarship or this fund or supported a department in a certain way. But it— so that's good for the student to learn where they're coming from. But the donors absolutely love meeting with the students and seeing the impact that it's had on their life. And some of them, I mean, I've met some alumni, they're like, oh yeah, I've received this scholarship 10 years ago and I still talk to my donor and we both live in Florence and we'll get together so every so often. And so a lot of people have created friendships through that process as well. And it's just been wonderful to hear.

Well, when you put good out there, good comes back. It is. I'm a big believer in that. It may not be, you know, that particular person that received your fund ends up working at your company, or, but I'm a big believer. I was talking with Jill Lewis, you know, Jill here in our office earlier, and You just keep doing the right thing and, you know, and it works out. And I'm sure that that's the case for your donors. Now I have to circle back and ask a non-Franciscan question.

Okay.

All right, so you went down to PA school. Yes. You got halfway through and you decided to just quit.

I did.

How did that happen?

There were a variety of factors. I was the person that— I love science so much, and I was intelligent and capable, and so it made sense to push me, you know, to medicine. I still, to this day, I love medicine. And looking back, I realized what my problem was. I didn't want to be a practitioner. I wanted to be an educator. I wanted to work with students, but I didn't see that that line or that pattern in any other way doing it besides being a practitioner. And so I went to PA school and honestly it was just kind of that light bulb moment that I was there and everyone else is just so excited and so passionate and they're wanting to take on extra coursework and extra hours and I'm like, this is— like my cadaver class is one of my favorite classes that I've ever taken in my life. But that was again the science, the education, the learning. And everything else, I just, I was not happy about it and not excited. Had all A's, but yeah, just, it didn't do anything for me. And, but I did everything that I was supposed to do as far as like I went and shadowed and I went and looked and did everything. But I just realized that I wanted to be working more with people, and so just, I just changed it up.

Well, that had to be a tough decision. I mean, it may have been an easy decision in a moment because, as I think you probably know, I was a schoolteacher for a year, and halfway through it was kind of like, I have spent 4 years of my life preparing for this, and I, I don't know what I'm going to do, but I know what I'm not going to do. I'm not going to do this anymore.

I mean, that's kind of what I did, and my parents obviously were like, I think you're confused. You, you won't to do this, continue, you have good grades, and then just do something after you complete this degree. And I just didn't see the value in doing that and knew that I didn't want to do that. And so it was kind of that same thing, like, I don't know what my plan is, but I have a bachelor's degree, I know a lot of people, and we'll— sure, we'll see what happens.

So if you were talking to somebody, whether it's a Francis Marion student or somebody who's out there who's gotten halfway into something that they aren't sure, or they are sure that it's not their path forward, but they feel— again, it could be somebody who is, um, you know, partway into a major, or it could be somebody who's 3/4 of the way through a career that they hate. I'm curious, based on now your experience, what would you tell them to do.

I, I don't think it is ever too early or too late in life to, you know, change your trajectory, change your course. And as much as my mother probably wouldn't want to admit it, I mean, my mother graduated from high school, zero interest in college, and she worked as a secretary and then decided to go back to school. And so she was someone who changed, changed her trajectory with, you know, two children and everything else. And I would say that was part of my influence with all of that is that you can change it. But I think just go with your gut. And I don't think that it can steer people wrong. And that if you know that it's a situation that's not working for you, I don't care what it is in life, that you can figure it out and it'll work its way into the right area.

Well, when you were talking earlier, what struck me was, you know, folks saying, go ahead and just finish it. And in my mind, I'm going, "No, that's another year of your life, and that's a year of your life you don't get back doing something you know you don't want." And you know that this is not my path. And so I think that that's awesome because, again, particularly back then as a young 20-something-year-old—

And this was 2010, by the way, so it was a really bad time to quit a program and try to go find a job.

Yeah. Well, when again, I mean, guaranteed job on the other side. Fresh out of PA school. Yeah, I mean, you know, you're absolutely right, but it really is a testament, and I, you know, I'm glad that you brought that up because it's a testament to— listen, every day you do something you're miserable at, or again, that just isn't your calling or your direction. I think is, uh, we don't know how many of them we get. They're precious. And so the idea of, in your case, spending 365 I had to finish out the school year. Now, I had to tell them— what made it worse was I had to tell them in like March that I wasn't coming back the next year. So that was really bad. But again, it becomes one of those things where the last thing you want to do is spend the one thing that you have that's most precious, which is your time, doing anything that's not meant to be. So that's good for you.

And that's how I felt. And I think that anyone who is, you know, self-motivated and you're like, I know this isn't it, but you know, you're optimistic that there are greater things. And that's just kind of how I've always been, like, well, this didn't work out, but, and everything that will be will be. And I knew that there would still be good things. This just wasn't it.

That's right. Well, I think that's awesome. So I have to ask, last question, um, if you were going to pick a fictional character, you can be a superhero, comic books, it could be somebody from a book or a movie, if you could pick a fictional character that you feel like best represents Lauren Stanton, who would it be and why?

Well, it's funny that you brought up sports today because I would have not had, um, any other notion to do that. But, um, one of my favorite movies and favorite characters is Dottie Hanson in A League of Their Own. Um, but I think about this question and think about different phases of my life, and I probably could have picked, you know, different characters. Um, But I think Dottie Henson specifically because of, you know, her focus on family. I felt like, you know, she had some self-sacrifice for her sister whenever, you know, maybe it wasn't necessarily something that she wanted to do whenever they went and played, but she did it for her sister. So that family-oriented component. But I'm also fiercely competitive like she— sure, she is. And I still am. And There are just so many other reasons, but honestly, it's the family-oriented and her being competitive and also just, you know, focusing on her and what she needs to do and making her own decisions.

Absolutely. Is there any crying in baseball?

No, absolutely not.

That's right, rub some dirt on it.

That's right.

Lauren, thanks for spending time with me. I enjoyed it.

All right, thank you. I enjoyed it. This is wonderful.