This week’s spotlight features Becky Roy.
Becky is a native of Colleton County, but moved to Charleston where she graduated from Stall High School in 1997. Moving back to Colleton County she married her current husband “Skipper”, and she’s been here ever since. She likes living here (again) and definitely does not miss the traffic in Charleston.
Mrs. Roy worked for State Farm Insurance at Les Jordan’s office for 10 years before he retired. It was then she found her way to the Colleton County School District. There was an opening for a bookkeeper, and she applied and got the job starting out in technology as a bookkeeper. After a year in technology she moved to the finance department. She also had two children that came through CCSD, her daughter graduating in 2018 from CCHS and her son graduating in 2021. However, Becky’s involvement in the school district did not start with her employment at the district offices. Her children went through CCSD from elementary school to high school and Roy was very much an involved parent. She started out volunteering and working with the PTO at Northside. She also used to put the yearbook together for them. She did that until her son was in the seventh grade. Her daughter started band in middle school and that is when Roy discovered a passion in her life; photography. She picked up the camera to capture the memories her children were making. She went from band over to football when her son started playing. Coincidentally, football is Becky’s favorite sport and she is very proud of the Colleton County Cougars and follows them 100%. Her son also joined NJROTC while in high school so Roy was part of the booster club of band and NJROTC. She was the secretary of the band booster club and started as a booster club officer in NJROTC. At one point she served as Vice President of the NJROTC booster club, but when the President had to step down, Roy stepped up into the President’s role. Becky has been with the NJROTC program for about six years now and greatly enjoys helping those kids with anything she can and encouraging them to succeed.
Mrs. Roy encourages parents to get involved in their child’s school. She follows the CCSD website and posts as much factual information from the official website as she can. She advocates following the official CCSD site for pertinent information instead of relying on information from social media. Factual information is critical and Roy urges parents to contact their child’s school and the school district offices directly for the most accurate information. Roy feels, factual, straight from the source information is the key for proper communication.
Being behind the camera is definitely a metaphor for how Becky prefers to help. She is there, but behind the scenes, giving a little push here and there to help students and promote opportunities within the school district. Sports are wonderful and Roy doesn’t diminish their importance and the opportunities they provide students, but she also acknowledges that playing sports is not on everyone’s radar. Programs such as the NJROTC can provide students with mentorship. Many people have the misconception that NJROTC is simply a straight shot to the military after graduation. However, Roy informs, that is not the only aspect to the program. While NJROTC can help to facilitate progression to the military for those who choose that path, the program also focuses on mentorship. They provide students with a structured program and impart discipline and promote leadership skills that will serve the program participants wherever they choose to go after high school be it the military or into the workforce. When she hears at graduation about the students who do not enlist in the program who didn’t come through the NJROTC program she wishes they had because they could have gotten a little extra money if they had come through the program. She is also excited for the opportunities that may be coming in the NJROTC program by hopefully teaming up with Boeing and the Tuskegee Airmen to help further the program.
The dual enrollment program at CCHS and the vocational opportunities at TCTC are other programs Roy tries to promote when she can. Her son went through the welding program at TCTC when he was at CCHS and came out of high school with a marketable skill and could readily enter the workforce with that certification.
Having attended the very recent Colleton Adult Learning Center graduation she also is an advocate of their help with those in the community who are getting their GED. Regardless of why they did not get their high school diplomas Becky is glad the school district offers a way they can get their GED which opens opportunities they may not have had before. She comments the staff at CALC is fantastic and she enjoys working with them and helping them get the word out about the opportunity for people to go back and get their GED.
Roy is also looking to the future commenting that she would like to eventually get into the guidance program. One of her passions is working with the kids and helping steer them in the way they want to go and to see them do well and succeed, and she feels being in guidance is an excellent way to achieve that goal.
Even though her full time job keeps her at the district offices and her photography keeps her busy, Becky still finds some time to go back to the schools and help them. This past school year she went back to Forest Hills Elementary during Read Across America and read to the students dressed as Raggedy Ann. She won an award for that, but she didn’t do it for that. She did it because she wanted to do something with the kids. Roy also proudly relates her daughter, Miss Taylor Fussel, won Rookie Teacher of the Year for the 2023-2024 school year so apparently involvement in school district runs in the family.
Inspired to create memories when her children were in school, her photography has ballooned from there. She enjoys taking the pictures and has told the district she doesn’t mind sharing the pictures with them. The kids look for her pictures after the events they participate in because they know Mrs. Roy was there photographing them. As she puts it, “it swells my heart so much.”
Her photography has turned into a small side business. She runs it mostly based on word of mouth, but it seems to working out well for her. Not only does she enjoy taking the pictures, but she enjoys editing them. So, her schedule is work full time for the school district, taking pictures at a school district event or a booking, and then editing them in the evening. Roy says she doesn’t sleep a lot so she’s up at night working on her photos. She does have a guilty pleasure though. Becky is a fan of horror movies and she laughs when she says she can be found sometimes editing pretty photos while there is a horror film on the tv.
When asked what she would like to do if time and money were no object, Becky says she would be doing photography. It’s her passion and she absolutely loves doing it. Her obvious talent can be seen on her Facebook page and of course on the Colleton County School District Facebook page and website where she provides memories for all those students she gets to photograph.
