Heisman Trophy Winner George Rogers Encourages Students to Work Hard to Achieve Goals

Students of Nursery Road Elementary School's GOLD team learned valuable lessons from Heisman trophy winner and former USC Gamecock George Rogers on achieving their dreams.

Rogers, who played for the Washington Redskins and the New Orleans Saints, told students on Tuesday that they have to have a long-term goal and work hard to achieve it.

“I try to let them know that not everyone can play football,” Rogers said. “There are other things that they can do. I try to let them know what NFL really means, Not For Long.”

 “There are other things that they need to be interested in,” he said. “There are different things that they can do.”

Rogers spent about an hour talking to five students of the school's GOLD team, a program developed to help students set and achieve their goals through mentoring, academic support and service.

Nursery Road principal Dr. Christina Melton said the students that had the opportunity to meet Rogers and hear his success story were success stories themselves.

“These boys and girls have improved with their behavior, they’ve improved with their grades, they’ve improved with their effort and most importantly their attitudes,” Melton said.

Melton said she hoped they would inspire others to work hard just like them.

The GOLD team is made up of 20 students from the fourth and fifth grades.

The GOLD team, which stands for “Goal Oriented Leadership Development”, prepares students to become leaders inside and outside of the school. 

To do this, sponsors of the team focus on mentoring, academic support and service to others among other aspects of the program.

Every nine weeks, students set a goal whether it’s academic, behavioral or personal and attendance goals. At the end of the nine weeks, every student that meets his or her goal is taken on a field trip at no expense to the student.

If you're interested in supporting the GOLD program, call Nursery Road Elementary School principal Dr. Christina Melton at 803-476-4300 or email csmelton@lexrich5.org.