Message from the Coordinator

Welcome to the inaugural Ole Miss First e-newsletter! Our scholarship program continues to provide mentoring and leadership development in conjunction with tuition assistance for deserving students. As you will see when you read our OMF scholars’ articles, our students are intellectually curious and seek out adventures and experiences that will help them learn more about the world and themselves. Here on campus, they are exposed to many worthwhile events and opportunities as well.

The Ole Miss First scholarship program hosted its back-to-school retreat at the University Museum on Aug. 23. Thirty-one scholars including eight freshmen were challenged and encouraged to embrace the diverse opportunities and experiences on the Ole Miss campus by Jennifer Stollman, academic director of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation. Other featured speakers this semester included Heather McDougall, founder and executive director of Leadership Exchange in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Melinda Sutton, UM’s dean of students.

Not only are our students excelling in a variety of majors including accountancy, finance, physics, international studies, music and pharmacy, but they are also volunteering their time in the local community. Each semester, OMF scholars are required to give back to the community at least eight hours of community service. They volunteer with such programs as Leap Frog, the Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society, Quiz Bowl, 9 Lives Cat Rescue and the Food Pantry.

I hope you enjoy our newsletter! Please feel free to contact me at rosie@olemiss.edu if you have any questions regarding our program, or visit our website at omf.olemiss.edu.

All the best! Hotty Toddy.

 

Rosie McDavid
Program Coordinator for Ole Miss First