Faith’s Story
Faith and her younger brother
Faith with her mother in Disney World
Early Life
Faith Leigh Dutton was born on Dec. 10, 2000, in Honolulu, Hawaii. As a child of a military family, she relocated to several cities across the United States until she finally found a new home on the other side of the country in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
Friends and family remember Faith for her bold, enormous personality. From an early age, she adopted a quirky fashion sense, mostly revolving around her love for the color yellow. This trait would develop her trademark attire, her bright yellow Chuck Taylor Converse sneakers.
Faith was extremely family-oriented, especially when it came to taking care of her two younger brothers. She often mentored and watched over them almost as a second mother. Faith put others before herself, and this selfless mentality would drive the extraordinary impact she would have on her future home at Wando High School.
Along with her obsession with the color yellow, Faith adored sunflowers, creative writing, drawing (she would often draw pictures for her teachers as she sat in class), a big mug of coffee, and making friends with everyone she met.
Faith with her father
Faith and her brothers
Life at Wando High
Faith enrolled as a freshman at Wando High in the fall of 2015. Because of her love for writing and meeting new people, she enrolled in the Intro to Journalism elective. There, she shined as the top student in the class, often being mistaken for an upperclassman with her poise in discussions and her knowledge of politics and current events.
Faith was selected to be the editor in chief for the final mock student newspaper project, and she earned a 99 for her performance. Always striving for perfection, she argued with her teacher constantly for that final point. Her teacher, also the Wando yearbook adviser, recruited Faith to join the yearbook staff the following year. She was regarded by the adviser and the editors as the top prospect out of the enormous recruiting class.
Faith was competitive, meticulous, and strived for perfection. She also had a strong desire to lead, so the intensive yearbook environment was a perfect fit for her.
At Wando, Faith quickly began to build a unique reputation. Faith had an uncanny ability to sense when an individual was hurting or needed a friend, and she would often strike up a conversation with that person. Before long, Faith had brought that student into her life and made them a permanent friend. She had a reputation for building up her classmates and making them see the best in themselves.
Among Wando faculty, Faith was an all-star student. Aside from being an extraordinary academic, particularly when it came to writing, Faith would actively engage in class discussions each day. In classes where teachers would ask students to share “good things” in their lives before instruction began, Faith would contribute every day, usually with a story about her little brothers. But Faith also formed strong relationships with her teachers, often visiting them before or after school, or during class exchanges, to chat with them about their lives and hers.
Faith at the 2017 SIPA conference with her best friend
Faith at the 2017 yearbook release party
Faith with her yearbook Student Life staff in 2016
Yearbook Family
Faith found her true home at Wando in the yearbook program when she joined in the fall of 2016. Among her 40-plus peers in the class, Faith immediately became the heart and the light of the staff. Seniors admired and adored this bold, outgoing sophomore who brimmed with energy and life, and the students her age flocked to her as a friend. Faith entered the staff as a writer and began applying her talents to telling beautiful feature stories about Wando’s students.
She made no secret about her ultimate goal, however. Faith planned to be editor in chief, the highest position on staff, of this massive publication before she graduated. She even started working on her ideas and theme for the book she planned for her senior year. Even as a sophomore, she applied to become editor in chief for her junior year—Faith was already prepared to lead.
Faith and her yearbook teacher formed a strong bond during that year. Most mornings, she would have coffee with him and discuss life before school started. Sometimes, she would get to school before him and start the coffee machine. After she shattered his coffee mug while goofing around one day, Faith bought him what would become his favorite mug—the one he still uses today at school.
Faith found her best friends among the yearbook staff, and the class quickly became her favorite at Wando. She began to even consider the possibility of journalism as a career path. Her yearbook adviser also regarded her as one of the most talented students he had ever brought into his program, and not only did he consider her a shoo-in for the editor in chief job her senior year, but he also expected Faith to be the student who would elevate the program to new heights on a national level.
In March of 2017, Faith won her first yearbook writing award: Best Copy at the Southern Interscholastic Press Association’s (SIPA) Team On-Site Production competition. She had to report and write an article under a certain time limit while competing against schools from across the Southeast.
Final Days
In April of 2017, Faith traveled with her fellow yearbook staff members to Seattle for the National Scholastic Press Association spring conference. On the 6-hour flight, she and her yearbook adviser wound up sitting beside each other. The two discussed future plans for the yearbook and hinted at Faith taking over the program one day as editor in chief. By then, Faith had already earned the job as clubs editor for the following year.
In Seattle, Faith had the time of her life exploring the city and attending journalism classes. One early morning, she and a friend ducked into a café for coffee and breakfast. As they talked about their future plans in life, Faith said to her, “I just want to make a difference in the world.”
The 2017 yearbook was released to the public on May 15. Faith was overjoyed to see her articles and name in print. She told family, faculty, and friends that having her work published in the yearbook was one of her proudest accomplishments.
Faith’s excitement over the yearbook distribution activities that week was uncontainable. And since the incoming editors in chief are in charge of running distribution, Faith started discussing her plans for how she would run the operation next year once she secured the job. She couldn’t wait to lead.
Faith with yearbook friends on the Seattle field trip
Memorial for Faith at school three days after her passing
Faith’s Passing
On the afternoon of Friday, May 19, 2017—just four days after her work was published in her first yearbook—Faith was driving on Highway 41 in Mount Pleasant to run an errand for her family. A distracted driver traveling in the opposite direction swerved into oncoming traffic when the driver in front of him braked suddenly. His vehicle struck Faith’s head-on.
Faith passed away shortly afterwards at the Medical University of South Carolina. She was 16 years old.
The loss of Faith was devastating to family, friends, Wando faculty, and the yearbook staff. Numerous memorials were held around Mount Pleasant leading up to her funeral, and the yearbook classroom became a central location the following Monday for grieving students. A memorial to Faith was set up in the classroom with pictures and sunflowers. Students left bouquets of sunflowers at the flagpole at the front of Wando High.
Hundreds of students wore yellow.
Condolences and sympathy poured in from across the country from places where Faith had lived previously and made an impact in more lives.
At her funeral a few days later, each attendee wore something yellow in her honor. Members of the yearbook staff sat up front next to her family and wore necklaces made of yellow flowers.
At the reception following her funeral, those who knew her were allowed to step up to a microphone and speak. Wando students shared stories about her bold personality, her extraordinary energy, and her overwhelming kindness. But most importantly, several students spoke about how Faith changed their lives—and how some were on the brink of giving up on life until Faith Dutton reached out to make friends with them.
Faith’s yearbook adviser and journalism teacher awarded her that last point she argued for on her final journalism project. She remains the only student to ever score 100 on the project.
Faith’s Legacy
Shortly after her passing, yearbook students pored through Faith’s old social media posts. They found one that stood out, posted on Instagram just days before her passing:
“As wonderful as it feels to be called beautiful or pretty or gorgeous or lovely, it is not what matters in the end. To be frank, I'd much prefer to be called brilliant, daring, fearless, clever, kind, or ambitious. I'd much rather my mind or my soul be called beautiful than my exterior. Yes, beauty is valued in our society. Yes, loving who you are on the outside is vital. There is nothing wrong with loving your body or your face. But do not forget your mind. Your soul. Your heart. Because beauty fades, but who you are on the inside, that is eternal.”
Be brilliant. Be fearless. Be kind.
Those final three sentences became a rallying motto for the yearbook staff, and one that is still posted prominently in the classroom today. It is also the official motto of the Yellow Shoes Foundation.
The yearbook workroom that attaches to the main classroom is named in Faith’s honor. On Dec. 10 every year, Faith’s birthday, yearbook students—even those who didn’t know her—wear yellow in her memory. Each year, one graduating yearbook senior is presented with the Spirit of Faith award, an honor that is given to the senior who lives his or her life with brilliance, fearlessness, and kindness. It is considered the highest honor any yearbook student can receive.
At the 2019 Wando High School graduation—where Faith would have walked the stage to receive her diploma—an empty seat was left in her honor. The graduating yearbook staff members placed a pair of yellow Chuck Taylors under the chair.
Faith was awarded two scholastic journalism honors posthumously for her work in the 2017 yearbook. She placed first in Community Writing at the 2018 SIPA conference, and she won second place for alternative storytelling in the 2018 Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s Gold Circle Awards.
Faith was on pace to become one of the most award-winning students in Wando yearbook history.
Faith’s lasting impact to the yearbook family is still felt today. Staff unity, kindness, and a sense of family are stronger than they have ever been even though the current students never knew her. Wando yearbook is seen as a national model for interpersonal staff relationships by other schools’ yearbook staffs, and they often request advice for how to follow Wando’s example. The answer is simple: Be brilliant. Be fearless. Be kind. Live like Faith.
The yearbook staff dedicated the 2018 volume to Faith, and throughout the book’s production, the editors reminded the staff that everything they did that year was for Faith. The 2018 volume was named the Best Yearbook in South Carolina by the SC Scholastic Press Association.
It is the first volume in Wando history to win the honor.
Finally, to continue Faith’s legacy and to give back to members of the Wando community in need—just as Faith loved to do—Faith’s family, her yearbook adviser, and her social studies teacher created the Yellow Shoes Foundation in 2020.
