© 2024 South Carolina Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Preventing High School Graduation Attrition

Latasha Taste-Walker
Mike Switzer/SC Public Radio

One of the biggest hindrances to finding a successful career is the lack of a high school diploma.  One of the biggest causes for not receiving that diploma is when someone simply never finishes high school.  They just drop out.  Which is why our next guest’s organization has been busy for over 30 years providing dropout prevention services to local area schools.

Mike Switzer interviews Latasha Taste-Walker, director of development for Communities in Schools of the Midlands in Columbia, SC.

Stay Connected
After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.