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Walking down the halls of Southeastern Community College (SCC) is familiar to Denise Young. She has worked at the college for almost 30 years, starting first as a student and staying as a staff member. If you ask her, Young will tell you that back when she was a student at the school, she wouldn’t have guessed that the fulfilling career she would build would be at SCC. Today, she is the director of apprenticeships for SCC and has built a meaningful career helping students find their own path to success.
This year, Young is being celebrated for her accomplishments as the recipient of the 2025 North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) staff person of the year award, which is an award for non-teaching community college staff members who exemplify exceptional performance and dedication to the community college mission.
Dr. Chris English, president of Southeastern Community College, said Young knows how to bring people together and takes time to learn and understand people. Under her leadership, the college has seen a 53% increase in work-based learning enrollments.
“I was so overwhelmed when I found out that I won. I closed my door and I cried because all of these years working for Southeastern, I don’t feel like I’ve been doing anything different. I have always helped people, which I love, but [this award] just means that I am making a difference… making a difference for our students, and not only for our students, but for our community and this world,” said Young.
From student to staff
“I think higher ed chose me,” Young said.
After graduating high school, Young never thought she would end up working in higher education. In fact, at the time, she didn’t want to pursue higher education herself.
“I graduated high school, and I wanted nothing else to do with school,” she said.
Young went straight to work. She started out working in a sewing plant, which ended up closing, so she pivoted to working for another sewing plant in the area. That plant ended up closing as well. A new mother, Young decided she needed to go back to school to find a new career path.
“I made up my mind that I needed to go to school, that I needed to make sure that I had a stable work environment for my son,” said Young.
She enrolled at SCC to learn about human resource development and began working at the college part-time in 1998. Young continued to work at SCC, taking on more hours as a full-time staffer, while she earned her bachelor’s at Fayetteville State University, graduating in 2004. She’s been working at SCC ever since.
A path for everyone
When Young was a student at SCC, working while being in school helped guide her career path. In her role today, she is able to expose students to a variety of work-based learning opportunities in hopes that those experiences will shape their futures like they did hers.
“My goal is, our goal is, to take the high school students that are ready for the workforce and build a pipeline for them and build a pipeline for employers to put these students on the right path,” said Young.
Columbus County Schools and Whiteville City Schools are active partners for the work-based learning programming that Young leads. Superintendents Eddie Beck and Jonathan Williams have helped Young make the work-based learning programs successful with their attention, guidance, and connections in the community. Many local employers are also in partnership with SCC.
“We have great employers, where you can gain skills, great skills, and have a career as well. I think work-based learning is important because you’re getting that feel of real life, real work… Education is good and you need it, but there are things that you cannot learn from a book. They have to be learned hands-on in the workplace,” said Young.
Young was born and raised in Columbus County. She loves where she lives, and she hopes the work-based learning opportunities SCC provides will help more people want to stay in the area.
“You don’t have to move far away. You can find it here in your community. We have absolutely wonderful employers that you can work for. Look at me. I stayed here, and I have a great career,” she said.
Young is one of many who are grateful for the career she has chosen. This excellence award is an honor that, according to her colleagues, has been years in the making and incredibly well deserved.
“Denise definitely sells herself short,” said Kaylie Simmons, the marketing and communications director at SCC. “It’s hard for her to brag on herself, but she is the most deserving of this award, and she is really the epitome of our college’s mission to help students in our community, and that’s exactly what she’s doing. She’s finding those students who need help and may have not, you know, pursued anything after high school and she’s reaching them in high school… Denise is finding those students and changing their lives, and you know, that’s just only going to continue from generation to generation.”
You can read about the other North Carolina Community College System 2025 excellence award winners here.
