Damon Qualls Appointed to Clemson Senior Advisory Board
Monaview Elementary School Principal Damon Qualls has been appointed to serve on the Clemson University Senior Advisory Board for the College of Education. Qualls was selected along with Kathleen Swinney, Latoya Young, and Kristy Ellenburg to discuss strategies and future initiatives to positively affect student achievement and teacher preparedness across South Carolina.
Mr. Qualls, principal at Monaview Elementary School, discovered his passion for education through Clemson’s Call Me MISTER program, in which he participated while attending Benedict College as an elementary education major. With 11 years as a classroom educator in Greenville County Schools, Qualls was appointed principal of Monaview Elementary School in August. He previously served as an assistant principal at Berea Middle and teacher at Alexander Elementary.
Damon Qualls has a passion for people. “I can quickly recognize the strengths and talents of those around me and effectively collaborate with them to generate superior results in a variety of settings,” he said. “This quality permits me to discover the gifts of individual teachers, as well as students, in an effort to unlock their potential in ways that develop strong leadership skills that lead to academic successes.”
- Kathleen Swinney, who co-founded Dabo’s All In Team Foundation with her husband, Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney, and was a school teacher in Alabama before moving to Clemson.
- Latoya Young currently serves as assistant principal in Richland School District Two. During her 16-year career in education, Young has served as an English language arts teacher, a site-based AVID coordinator and teacher, a technology specialist and has assumed several leadership roles.
- Kristy Ellenberg is president of Ellenberg Associates Inc., an environmental training consulting firm that works with government, nonprofit and corporate clients.
“The variety of new members on our senior advisory board is indicative of the range of knowledge that our college needs and values moving forward,” said George J. Petersen, Founding Dean of the College of Education. “We are excited to take the board’s feedback and make sure it informs our next steps in preparing future teachers and improving education for children across South Carolina.”