PMSC Funds Shopping Spree As Incentive For Students

Policy Management Systems Corp. says it is providing a Christmas shopping spree for nearly 700 students in a Marion County, SC school district. Assuming each attains certain person and academic goals by a specified date, the students receive a gift certificate to the Marion Wal-Mart store, where students will shop from 7 until 9 am this Saturday.

This shopping spree provides a great opportunity to share the Christmas spirit, according to Levern Gerald, an assistant vice president in PMSC's Property & Casualty Products Group and a 19-year employee. "The event is a type of motivational technique for the education program. By achieving certain goals at school, the students have earned the opportunity to be a part of a very special day."

Gerald grew up in Marion County, and is volunteering much of his time to the project. Recently, PMSC President and CEO Larry Wilson announced that the company is joining Marion District Three in a long-term partnership to boost students' performance and potentially lead more students into rewarding careers such as those offered by PMSC.

The district was chosen for the pilot program as the result of the State Department of Education designating academic results in Marion Three and six other South Carolina districts "under-performing."

PMSC employees are mentoring the students, conducting book drives for school libraries, performing computer training for teachers in the district and helping the district in other ways. PMSC's Marion Three Project coordinator Bob Gresham said, "We're laying a flexible blueprint in our pilot program. We realize that all seven districts share some common problems, but there are other problems unique to each district. We're hopeful that our efforts will really make a difference and that we'll set an example for a similar effective business-public partnership throughout South Carolina."