Actress Shanola Hampton visits her alma mater, Summerville High School, to inspire students

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCBD) – Lowcountry native and television star Shanola Hampton was in Summerville speaking with students about hard work and perseverance.

The Summerville High School alum and star of the NBC show “Found” reminisced with school staff about her time as a “Greenwave,” a place she dreamed of being an actor.

“I bleed green and gold, and I love my Greenwave and all of the staff,” she said.

Hampton said she knew being an actor was something she wanted to do from her days walking the school halls. “I always wanted to be an actor, and so I knew I had to start somewhere. So even when I was doing the minor roles, when you’re from South Carolina you’re like I have arrived and then you get a taste of that and you dream a bigger dream.”

Hampton graduated from Summerville High School in 1995. She remembered many of her teachers and talked about how they helped shape who she was.

“Ms. Perkins took me under her wing and just really accepted — I have a very big personality, and it’s been like this forever. It can be a lot when you are in school, let’s be honest, right? And so she was one person who never tried to dim my light and so much of Summerville I can say that. Mrs. Profit who was my English teacher here, and she was hard-core. But she was so good and cared so much about her students.”

Hampton then judged a student talent show at the school.

She said it took 10 years in the business before her first big break, which was playing the role of “Veronica Fisher” in the TV show “Shameless.”

Hampton is now a producer and star of “Found,” which is in its second season on NBC.

“The arts, and the media, the theater and the campus is so large and the students are so kind. It means so much to me to be back to know that this is where my foundation started,” she said.