Sallie E. Simons Scholarship

The Charleston Symposium of the Preservation Society of Charleston is pleased to award the 2025 Sallie Enders Simons Scholarship to Jocelyn Patterson. This competitive scholarship recognizes an outstanding student majoring in historic preservation, art history, museum studies, decorative arts or a related field.

Patterson is currently in her second year at Clemson University studying for a Master of Science in Historic Preservation. She graduated from Clark Atlanta University with a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Media Arts and Public Relations.

In 2024, she was chosen as the Diversity Scholar for the National Trust for Historic Preservation Conference. That same year, Patterson received an Ashley R. and George H. Wilson Fellowship, which helps support outstanding historic preservation students during their time in the program at Clemson University. In addition, she was awarded a Dewey Lee Curtis scholarship given by the Decorative Arts Trust.

While attending classes, Patterson also works as a Museum Interpreter at The Powder Magazine of Charleston, as well as owning and designing shoes for Gola Sweetgrass. She produces unique leather sandals with sweetgrass ornaments inspired by sweetgrass baskets of the Gullah/Geechee cultural heritage.

She is passionate about preserving architectural heritage and utilizing technical expertise to promote sustainable preservation practices.

Sallie Enders Simons (1927-2012) was a great supporter of historic preservation and the arts in Charleston. She attended Ashley Hall School in Charleston and graduated from St. Catherine’s School in Richmond, Virginia, after which she studied at Parsons School for Design in New York. She was a member of the Preservation Society of Charleston, The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of South Carolina, The Huguenot Society of South Carolina, and the Board of the Charleston Heritage Symposium. She was a passionate advocate for preservation, as well as an accomplished artist with a large portfolio of watercolors. Along with her wonderful sense of humor, she is remembered for a strong sense of history and community.