Chris Sullivan and LaQuan Kennerly, Mentors and Individual Success Stories
1,076 views · Published 18 January 2012 · 12:46 · Indexed 8 November 2026
Channel: South Carolina ETV · 2012 · Education
Chris Sullivan, Mentor and Individual Success Story Chris Sullivan was born August 08, 1990 on Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina. He was three years old when his family moved to Columbia, South Carolina. At the age of six, his parents enrolled him into elementary school. The school administrators and teacher made an attempt to place him on medication stating he had an Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder also known as A.D.H.D and was incapable of learning. His mother, Senorita Sullivan fought the school administrators and won. This was also a difficult time for Sullivan. His parents were going through the divorce process. He decided to use his frustration to find answers to fulfill his curiosity for being an African American and to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement. Shortly after beginning the process of learning about Civil Rights from his Godfather, Dr. Lonnie Randolph, Jr. (who is currently the President of the South Carolina Conference of the N.A.A.C.P), Sullivan was introduced to the Famous Civil Rights Activist Rev. Al Sharpton, which motivated Sullivan to learn even more about the Civil Rights Movement. Consequently, this was around the same time the South Carolina NAACP launched sanctions against the State of South Carolina calling for the removal of the Confederate Battle flag from the state house grounds. Without hesitation the young Sullivan joined the fight, catching the attention of the national magazine, JET which featured Sullivan. Chris Sullivan went on to work in the Office of the President at the University of South Carolina under the Columbia Urban League program at the young age of 13. He continued to do so until the age of 15. Sadly, Sullivan was blinded with the perception of the "easy way out" also known as "Wrong Way Blvd." and started falling for "the trap" like many African Americans males in today's society seem to fall for. Sullivan continued on this journey but not for long. Being the leader and intelligent young man, he begins to recognize "the trap". He noticed that there were greater opportunities and that there is a need for Social Justice & advocates for the promotion of the moral authority. Chris Sullivan decided to join DECA an association for marketing students, to limit his idle time. In his first year, he ranked first at the state and regional competition. He went on to the DECA International Conference, a competition with over 16, 000 students. Sullivan received the Golden Award of Excellence for his performance. Also while attending high school, he served on the Principal's Council, Chair for the DECA's Social/Community Service Committee which orchestrated the largest Christmas campaign to collect toys for the children who were less fortunate in the school's history. His senior year in high school, he joined several political campaigns where he chaired the student's committee. Sullivan also worked in the Office of the Governor for South Carolina. At the age of only 17, Sullivan was presented with the Mayor's Key to the City by Columbia's former Mayor Bob Coble becoming the youngest recipient in the City's history. That same year he was elected to the St. Martin de Porres Catholic Parish Council, making him the youngest Catholic in the State of South Carolina to do so and the youngest African American Parish councilman in the country. Sullivan is the past Vice President for the African American Male Leadership Institute, representative for the Student Advisory Board at Midlands Technical College where he represented over 15, 000 students. Sullivan was selected to represent the state of South Carolina in Washington, DC at the First Youth Clean Energy Forum with President Obama Administration discussing ways to create new jobs, improving low income areas through a clean energy initiative, making energy more affordable during tough economic times. Chris Sullivan has been the campaign manager and advised many political campaigns on a professional level. He has given speeches from prisons to school to churches, appeared on talk shows, TV commercials, and radio stations throughout the country. One of Sullivan's main goals in life is to make the state of South Carolina a success story and to one day become President of the United States of America. From the ETV American Graduate Summit, held October 18th, 2011 To see more videos from the ETV American Graduate initiative, visit the ETV American Graduate Playlist on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30550CDFAB758ECE or go to the ETV American Graduate website: http://scetv.org/americangraduate/ Also, visit us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/etvamericangraduate
