2 weeks Ago
Victoria Cuevas, a single mother of two who intends to be an elementary school teacher, received Aiken Technical College’s highest student honor April 17 at the college’s annual awards ceremony. The George H. “Buck” Grant Award was created in 1973 in honor of an Aiken County legislator who had “a significant role in the development of the college,” said Aiken Technical College president Forest Mahan.
The award is “presented annually to a student who has made significant academic accomplishments and has the potential to enhance the image of the college upon entrance into their career and continuing their education” Mahan said. The award was presented to Cuevas by Chad Crumbaker, the college’s vice president for academic affairs and workforce innovation. Cuevas “demonstrated exceptional dedication and passion in the field of early childhood education.
In her second year at Aiken Technical College she has maintained an outstanding GPA while actively contributing to the community and the college,” Crumbaker said. Cuevas has “consistently been on the dean’s list, has received multiple scholarships and was honored recently as the Aiken Sunrise Rotary student of the month for February 2025 because of her outstanding character and community involvement,” he said. “Her commitment to education is evident through her work as a tutor supporting her fellow students in early childhood development and in biology, and her roles as a paraprofessional educator and substitute teacher in local schools,” Crumbaker said.
“Beyond her academic and professional achievements, she volunteers weekly at the Knights Corner Food Pantry, and is deeply motivated by her own children, whose laughter and curiosity inspire her daily, and their belief in her dreams drive her forward,” he said. Crumbaker quoted Cuevas as saying leadership is “about taking initiative, standing up for what’s right, and helping other grow alongside you.” Cuevas will graduate next month with an associate in arts degree in early childhood education and plans to enroll at USC Aiken to pursue a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and become an elementary school teacher.
She said she spent most of the awards ceremony wondering if she was supposed to be there. “I’m really excited and I’m proud and I’m happy, but at first I was scared because you don’t get told what award you’ll receive when you get the notice that you’re getting an award,” she said. “You’re just told to show up.
So I came, and I was hearing all the awards go by and I thought, ‘Am I here by mistake?’ And then the last one came and they started talking about what I’m doing and I thought, ‘That’s me!’ and I was so shocked! This is great! I’m so happy! It’s unbelievable,” Cuevas said. “My mom started crying when they called my name," she said. “She has worked so hard, raising two kids pretty much on her own.
They’re proud of her. Mom and Dad are proud of her,” said her mother, Jennifer Jarrett. “I couldn’t have done it without my parents.
They’re my rock. My everything. They support me through it all,” Cuevas said.
The college’s Outstanding Student Leadership Award was presented to Jaleea Jones. The college’s Outstanding Student Service Award was presented to Caleb Harris. Guest speaker Tim Behling, founder and executive director of Successteam, a nonprofit founded locally to develop youth leaders and now operating in three states, is a 2015 graduate of Aiken Technical College.
He said he remembered being in night class group project at Aiken Tech with “a construction worker, a happily married mom, a young man fresh out of high school, a cosmetologist and a single father with three daughters, being taught by some of the greatest educators of all time.” “I was a student just like many of you with ambitions, dreams, goals, aspirations, thoughts, and, of course, questions about what’s next..
. about how I happened to become a graduate. Because before me, nobody in my family had done that,” he said.
“Aiken Technical College happened to change my life, but it changed the trajectory of my entire family moving forward, as we could now, after I walked across that stage, say we had a college graduate in the family.”.
