Archive for month: July, 2025

This immersive certificate program is designed to help professionals navigate complex negotiations and resolve workplace conflict with confidence and clarity. Through hands-on learning and expert-led sessions, you’ll gain the tools to:

• Revisit foundational negotiation concepts • Strengthen strategic thinking and decision-making • Build effective bargaining skills • Navigate cross-cultural negotiations • Improve workplace communication and conflict resolution • Sharpen listening skills for deeper understanding • Practice group negotiation and facilitation

Who should attend? Leaders, managers, HR professionals, team leads, and anyone looking to enhance their communication and negotiation capabilities.

For more information, click here.

South Carolina improved its ranking in the 2025 version of CNBC’s annual America’s Top States for Business Rankings by one spot to 18th overall, which were released this week. Since being ranked 39th overall in 2021, South Carolina has improved its ranking by 21 spots with a 36th overall ranking in 2022, a 27th overall ranking in 2023, a 19th overall ranking in 2024, and this year’s 18th overall ranking. The rankings measure each state on 135 metrics in 10 key categories of competitiveness like infrastructure, workforce, economy, cost of doing business, quality of life, etc.

Pee Dee Land Trust (PDLT) is proud to partner with Francis Marion University’s (FMU) Environmental Science summer internship program. We welcomed Savannah Watts and Dawson Francis to our team June 2, 2025 for the 6-week intern period. This paid internship is funded by FMU’s PEAK Grant program (Professional Experience and Knowledge) that focuses on opportunities to develop student’s professional knowledge and career-readiness skills.

Savannah Watts is originally from Georgetown, South Carolina, and graduated from Carvers Bay High School. Savannah is currently a rising junior at Francis Marion University, where she is majoring in Biology. She hopes to pursue a career as a wildlife biologist, with a focus on conservation and animal behavior. In her free time, Savannah enjoys photography and reading, and she’s always eager to learn more about the natural world!

Dawson Francis is a rising senior at Francis Marion and grew up in Darlington. Dawson attended the Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics before enrolling at Wofford College. After a couple of years at Wofford, he decided to come back home and transferred to Francis Marion for his junior and senior years. Dawson is an environmental science major and cites his years in Scouts as a major influence on this decision. When not busy with school he enjoys being outdoors, fishing, playing the guitar, and spending time with his family.

To read the full story, click here.

A Packathon is a high-energy food packing event that gets everyone involved and working toward the same goal: equipping hungry children with nutritious meals so they can thrive! Please come join them July 26^th at Leatherman Senior Center from 10:00am – 12:00 pm, to pack nutritious meals for hungry people both in our own community and around the world.

For more information, click here.

HopeHealth welcomes Kierra Carter, LPC/S, LCMHC, NCC, CLC, a behavioral health consultant at the HopeHealth Medical Plaza.

Carter earned a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina. She completed her doctoral fellowship with Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma. She earned a Master of Science in Rehabilitation Counseling from South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Summa Cum Laude, with a double minor in mass communications and theatre from Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Her clinical interests are anxiety, depression, trauma, adjustment disorder, and self-esteem.