Scholarship Luncheon Honors Donors, Salutes Recipients

Eleven years ago, Mid-South Community College began a tradition that links visionary, generous, passionate, and resourceful donors with the men and women directly benefitting from their amazing investments. The annual Mid-South Community College Foundation Scholarship Luncheon is truly a great event and is a highlight of every spring semester.

The luncheon gives us an ideal opportunity to connect two vitally important pieces of our puzzle. Our donors have the opportunity to see the results of their investments in the lives of our students, and the students have the opportunity to personally thank those who have positively affected their lives. We all know that we can put a quantitative value on the dollars that are invested in these scholarships, but none of us could hazard even a rough estimate as to the ultimate impact of those dollars in changing lives. It is such a tremendously powerful agent within this educational process, and it is something that we can never celebrate enough.

The event has come a long way. For our first scholarship luncheon in 2003, we honored 10 donors and the students they helped. We didn’t need many tables and chairs to accommodate the participants. On March 20, 2014, however, the story was much different as a packed house heard about 78 scholarships created and sustained by individuals, families, civic groups, and companies. More than 200 people participated, and I have to admit that I was overwhelmed by the size of the crowd and the monumental impact that is being made every day by and through our donors and recipients.

Sometime folks with special circumstances need special opportunities, and these scholarships help us create those opportunities. Awards through our Foundation have become the lifeblood of Mid-South Community College. It may be that $500-a-semester scholarship that adds on to the Pell grant that gives people the opportunity to pay for child care, put gas in the car, buy groceries, or walk away from a part-time or minimum-wage job in order to lay the groundwork for a real career. For many of our students, if they did not have that extra help, they would not be here. The general public perception is that these folks have all of the financial aid they can get, and the truth is, even if they receive everything they even remotely qualify for, they will just barely meet their school needs. Foundation scholarships help them get over the hump and truly focus on a better life.

Our private scholarship program is a wonderful example of the willingness of our community to invest in the lives of those who have such great potential to move our region forward. Through the generosity of many, we are touching people who will be the first in their family to graduate from college, and that is an awesome opportunity. At the end of the day, because of the liberality of our scholarship donors, lives are changed and communities are strengthened. Our economies can grow, and our schools are better resourced. The quality of life is raised for everyone by individual choices to help someone. It is through the generosity and foresight of our scholarship donors that we are changing the landscape of the Delta through education.

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