(gentle music) - [Dara] Building relationships fuel Dr. Lester McCorn at Clinton College.

(gentle music) Whether he's bonding with his staff through laughter or creating new ways to help students, the president tells us his heart is in everything he does.

- I don't think you can do this job without empathy.

You can't work at an HBCU and not have empathy.

You can't lead to the next level people who are trying to make it, trying to figure it out.

- [Dara] In November, 2018, McCorn became the 13th president of the college after serving as acting president for over a year.

- And I actually had people who said to me, "We prayed for you."

Right?

We were praying for someone to come who would love this school, who would have vision and passion and, you know, help grow the school.

- [Dara] For him, this was an answer to his own prayers, the ones he prayed as a little boy trapped in poverty.

- I grew up very poor.

I'm from the housing projects of Worcester, Mass.

And when I was 13 years old, we got evicted for the first time.

Most of my teenage years, I was homeless.

And we really went from pillar to post.

- [Dara] McCorn's single mother did the best she could to support he and his sister.

They relied on soup kitchens for food as they struggled to keep a roof over their heads.

- The last time we got evicted, I had like a quarter in my pocket and went to a payphone, and I called my pastor.

And he just asked one question, where are you?

And he came and picked me up and moved me into the parsonage of the Belmont Street, AME Zion Church in Worcester, Massachusetts.

- [Dara] He says his pastor, Dr. W. Robert Johnson III, became the father he never had and encouraged him to go to college.

- And I actually entered ministry when I was a student at Morehouse.

I started pastoring a church at 20 years old while I was a student.

And that's what took me to different places across the country.

- [Dara] He had the opportunity to lead several churches across the US while furthering his education.

After pastoring for nine years at Pennsylvania Avenue AME Zion Church in Baltimore, he wanted a change, one that led him to Rock Hill.

- [Lester] I found nothing but potential when I came here.

And so I just rolled up my sleeves and went to work and began to develop a good team around me.

- [Dara] One of those team members is senior vice president for Business Services and financial officer, Archinya Ingram.

- That's one of the things that really makes Clinton College a special place.

A lot of us are here for the mission.

Coming to work every day is not work.

It's just what we do.

- [Dara] Ingram tells me an accomplishment she's proud of under McCorn's leadership is their recent reaffirmation of accreditation by TRACS, the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools.

- We were the first HBCU to go through our reaffirmation process, our tenure reaffirmation process, with zero findings, zero recommendations or zero suggestions.

So what does that implies?

That tells us that we were able to hit every standard of our accrediting agency.

- [Dara] However, McCorn's vision for the school didn't stop there.

He's created intervention programs to help students who are academically falling behind, built a $2 million academic center for excellence, and started new majors like cybersecurity, elementary education, and nursing, which was in high demand.

- I got a chance to meet prospective students, and we would ask them, what are you interested, you know, and majoring in?

And what came up over and over again was nursing, right?

I wanna be a nurse.

Then I started looking into this thing.

I was like, this is a big deal.

- [Dara] Whether students are in a nursing class or speaking at campus events, - For progress, we got the remedy.

- [Dara] the ones we spoke to say they feel right at home.

- The environment is very welcoming for anyone.

- [Dara] Even if they're far from home.

- [Benz] I'm actually an international student coming in from Paris, France.

- [Dara] Freshman Benz Joseph tells us the transition from France to the US hasn't been easy with so many cultural and educational changes.

- It's been tough.

I'm not gonna hide that, but I know that I'm here for a reason, and the fact that I'm here proves that.

- [Dara] However, the support he receives at school has helped him adjust.

- I really appreciate the fact that we have more than just professors and faculty members here and staff here.

We have, you know, great leaders.

For example, our president, President McCorn, he teaches us.

- [Dara] As McCorn and I walk the campus together, he tells me that's what matters most, giving students the same nurturing college environment he had so they can find their voices and go change the world.

For "Carolina Impact," I'm Dara Khaalid.