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Girl Scouts of Eastern South Carolina, in conjunction with Girl Scout councils across the nation, annually recognize women of courage, confidence and character who serve their communities and act as positive role models for girls.
Myrtle David McDaniel of Orangeburg never imagined she would be one of those honored by the organization.
The community was invited to submit nominations in one of nine separate categories. Dr. Clemmie Webber of Orangeburg nominated McDaniel for her work in education, and a volunteer committee, after reviewing the nominations, made selections for this year’s awards.
The 2008 Women of Distinction Awards dinner was held May 9 at the Charleston Marriott. The Women of Distinction Awards are presented in recognition of women who have demonstrated significant achievement in their chosen career fields, made contributions affecting their communities and acted as positive role models for today’s young women.
“It really is one of the highest points in my life,” McDaniel said. “It makes me feel very humble and gratified. I never dreamed that I could even get to that level of recognition.”
McDaniel’s family has a background in education. Her father, Joseph Prestin David, and her mother, Gertrude Bowen, both graduated from Claflin College, now Claflin University, with degrees in education. Her father was a trustee at the school.
After graduating from Sumter’s Lincoln High School in 1951, McDaniel came to Orangeburg to pursue a degree in education. McDaniel said a different educational path was not even discussed because it was set in stone early on that she would attend Claflin.
“Back in the day, when black people could not get an education elsewhere, Claflin opened its doors to everybody,” she said.
In 1955, McDaniel graduated summa cum laude from Claflin College with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. She married her college sweetheart, the late James A. McDaniel, and they have two children, the late James Jr. and Yvette.
“She’s a great mom in that she has always tried to make sure her children and family were very secure in being a family,” Yvette McDaniel said.
While the family may not have been extremely wealthy, she said there was an abundance of love and family that was always present.
Myrtle McDaniel was a very encouraging mother and would not settle for mediocre when it came to her children, her daughter said.
“She made sure we would aim for the highest,” Yvette McDaniel said. “She always said, ‘Give the best that you have to the highest that you know.’”
She lead by example and made honest attempts to do the right thing, the younger McDaniel said, adding that she has respect for her as person, mentor, friend and mother.
“She’s just been a phenomenal woman,” her daughter said. “She really just is exceptional in her philosophy and how she tries to live her life spiritually as well.”
As an educator, Myrtle McDaniel always reached out to needy students, and Yvette McDaniel said she recalls growing up with students in the house all the time. As a result, the younger McDaniel is now a mentor to students.
“As an educator, she is probably one of the most under-recognized figures in South Carolina,” Yvette McDaniel said. “Her work in the arts has been exceptional.”
Myrtle McDaniel’s true passion in education was always with the arts, her daughter said. Many school districts don’t do nearly as much as they should, she said.
“When they cut back on the arts, they’re cutting back on what teaches kids how to think,” Myrtle McDaniel said. “The very thing that will make kids do better.”
Upon graduating from Claflin, McDaniel became a classroom teacher for Orangeburg City Schools, now Orangeburg Consolidated School District Five. She then went to Columbia University, where she earned a master’s degree in student personnel administration. After teaching in Orangeburg for nearly 10 years, McDaniel moved to Georgia, where she worked as a counselor for nine years.
After a decade in Georgia, she and her husband wanted to be closer to their parents, so they returned to South Carolina in the 1960s.
McDaniel served as assistant director for the Statewide Facilitator Project and returned to working for the Orangeburg school district as curriculum coordinator before becoming director of curriculum and assistant superintendent for curriculum, the position she held until her retirement in 1996.
Throughout her career, McDaniel has taught all ages, from elementary to adult education students, but said she really enjoyed middle school students.
“They get to be 2 years old again,” she said. “They don’t know who they are, and they’re trying to find themselves.”
As an educator for more than 40 years, there are many issues McDaniel said she can spout off about. Her husband’s advice was to let it go, but McDaniel said when you spend that much time in education, it’s hard to turn it loose.
Times have changed since her time in the classroom, McDaniel said. During her tenure in education, McDaniel said the teacher always had the last word.
“I never had a parent to come to me and take a child’s side,” she said. “From what I hear, that isn’t true anymore. The teacher was there to do a job. I never had a parent to come to me.”
Parents, she said, are the key to a child’s development, and more emphasis should be put on educating parents on how to rear children because they are a child’s first teacher.
These days, McDaniel says she’s too old to worry about such things. McDaniel does, however, occasionally volunteer to read to kindergarten children.
“I’d rather tap dance and take piano lessons,” she said of how she spends her time today. “I always wanted to dance.”
McDaniel began taking tap classes at Tamalyn’s Dance Centre at age 65. She attends classes once a week in addition to a private lesson so she can feel extra confident about her tapping skills.
McDaniel said one of her teachers, Ginny Hunt-McElveen, is “wonderful because she puts up with adults.”
“We’re so much different than children,” she said.
In addition to taking adult tap classes at Tamalyn’s, McDaniel is a member of a number of state and national organizations, including the NAACP, United Methodist Women, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. and the S.C. Alliance of Black School Educators. She is also a member of the board for SACS, the S.C. Administrators’ Leadership Academy, Trinity United Methodist Church Kindergarten, Orangeburg Stevenson Renovation Committee and the Orangeburg Civic Ballet. She is an ambassador for the Orangeburg County Development Commission and serves on the United Methodist Women Community of Women Task Force. McDaniel is also a life member of the Claflin University International Alumni Association, Orangeburg Chapter.
While McDaniel found that her passion was in education early in life, she knows many young people are still searching for a career that will bring them satisfaction.
To young adults trying to decide what direction they should go in life, McDaniel said, “Love it.”
“Don’t get up and go to work every morning and hate what you’re doing,” she said. “Do something that gives you a buzz, and give it 100 percent.”
When looking back on her 40-plus years in education, McDaniel said she has no regrets.
“If I had my life to live over again, I would probably still go into education,” she said. “I might do it differently, but I’m sure I would still do it.”
T&D Features Writer Candace Newson can be reached by e-mail at cnewson@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5540. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.