Volunteer Spotlight

Tyler Epp
Hopewell High School

"He was the first person I wanted to call…"

David "D.J." Long says his mentor, Tyler Epp, was the first person he wanted to call when he learned that he was being promoted mid-year to the 10th grade – after having been held back in the 9th grade at Hopewell High School because he did not pass his EOC tests.

"This guy is the best man on the planet," said a beaming D.J., when asked about his mentor. "Hanging out with Tyler, learning from him, it's definitely kept me motivated to do better in school," he said. In fact, just before the interview for this article, D.J. had received a Perfect Attendance Award at the school's Awards Ceremony.

Tyler Epp, a Davidson College graduate who has lived in Charlotte for the last decade, learned about CIS through CIS board member, John Tate. Eighteen months ago, he began mentoring D.J., and also Straton Hopper, both CIS students at Hopewell. The bond that he has developed with D.J. and Straton is very evident. The boys say they love to just "hang out" with Tyler, maybe going to get a smoothie or have dinner at their favorite Chinese restaurant. They also enjoy working on cars at Tyler's business – Tyler is general manager of NASCAR's Hall of Fame Racing. The shop recently moved to Concord, but the boys still try to get there several times a week, they love it so much.

"Last year I was skipping class a lot," says Straton. "Tyler has helped me learn how important school is and how you really need it in life."

Serena McCorkle, CIS Site Coordinator at Hopewell, says that Tyler's affect on these two has been "nothing short of phenomenal." "Tyler is so humble, but he has been extremely inspirational for these young men and has gone beyond the call of duty," said McCorkle. "Their commitment and interest in school has increased a thousand-fold since he began mentoring them."

As for Tyler, he says he wanted to help in whatever way he could because he himself has been blessed to always have people in his life who cared about him and his development in and out of the classroom.

"I know how important that type of support is when things get tough, and everyone deserves to have someone in their corner," said Tyler. "D.J. and Straton have so many more hard choices to make than I did when I was in high school. They face challenges every day that I can't imagine, and they are so resilient. I love the opportunity to sit down with these guys, share a pizza, race go-karts, go bowling, or whatever."

It's obvious that Tyler doesn't consider what he does with these guys anything extraordinary. "I'm just trying to show them that there is a life out there, that they can make it, and that just because they've stumbled, it doesn't mean they have to fall down," said Tyler. "I just hope that they get half as much enjoyment out of our time together as I do."