Category: News

Photo: Chloe Newton Tori Hendren and Zack Myers enjoy anytime they can get with each other, including studying at Cups. They reminisce about their favorite dates and first date.

The winter haze has set in for many students on the campus of Mississippi College. Homework has picked up; tests have begun. Students burrow into the library and the Commons to stay warm and to study. However, motivation slows as students realize their next break isn’t until mid-March. 

Yet Valentine Day stands as a beacon of light to college students. It’s an excuse to stop studying and celebrate relationships, two things which students love to do. Couples either have been planning since last February or they are scrambling to find a restaurant that’s not Olive Garden. 

Among those students making their plans are Tori Hendren (a junior English Lit. major from Millington, Tenn.) and Zack Myers (a junior electrical engineering student from Dothan, Ala.). While the two students seem paradoxical because of their majors, their personalities compliment each other quite well. They finish each other’s sentences and laugh while reminiscing about the past three and a half months of dating.

“One of my favorite [dates] is when we walked around the Brick Streets and played Cornhole. Then we went and just got food afterwards,” said Hendren.

“No,” said Myers laughing at his partner’s harmless mistake,” We went to Salsa’s first. Then, we went to Dollar General and got stuff to paint. We went to a little courtyard area on the Brick Streets, and we followed Bob Ross.”

“It went terrible,” Hendren jokingly said. To clarify, Hendren was referring to their painting skills not the date.

Like many couples on the Mississippi College campus, Hendren and Myers have dug deep into their innovative sides to create fun yet affordable dates. While the Clinton area doesn’t supply the most fun activities for dates (yet), several places outside of the city possess the perfect atmospheres for couples and friends to enjoy.

First up, the Fat Cat Art Cafe in Flowood creates opportunities to get one’s hands dirty and to tap into one’s creative side. Anyone can throw a pot or paint a canvas. Painting pre-made pottery can cost as low as $1 and painting on a canvas costs $20. In order to throw or sculpt pottery, appointments are recommended. Each costs $25 per person. It is an additional $5 to paint thrown pottery. While a couple tries to master their inner Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in the iconic pottery scene from Ghost, the Fat Cat Art Cafe is littered with actual cats for the enjoyment of all. 

For the more active couple, Dance Applause Factory (DAF) and The Hangout might be a better fit (no pun intended) option. Old-souled couples and friends will enjoy DAF’s variety of dance classes. For the month of February, foxtrot (Mondays from 7-8pm), rumba (Thursdays from 7-8pm, and samba (Friday from 7-8pm) classes will be taught for couples to join. In addition, weekly dance parties, held on Friday nights from 8-10pm, are thrown. Each dancer must pay $10. These dance parties include ballroom, Latin, and swing dancing.

In contrast, for the couples and friend groups who love a good sweat, the rock walls at the Hangout are a great choice. Rather than traveling almost two hours to Red Bluff, the Hangout is conveniently located in Ridgeland. For $10, climbers get access to shoes, chalk, and the walls. However, the hours are limited from 6 to 8pm on Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday. 

Valentine’s Day is notorious for being a holiday of last-minute gifts, and flowers are arguably the classiest gift to show love and appreciation. Greenbrook Flowers, a Jackson based florist, has operated since 1917. From daisies to chrysanthemums to violets and sunflowers (perfectly gifts for die hard Harry Styles fans), this florist will provide the perfect bouquet for any occasion. 

Among the top Valentine gifts are chocolates. Food is a love language to many college students.

“The smell of chocolate is something that’s really sensual and nostalgic. All of these things come to play in our memory and emotions and our mind. For me, chocolate equates something to joy,” said Emmie King, owner and operator of Nandy’s Candy in Jackson.

King’s mother, Nancy, opened the candy store in 1980 with the intention of spreading joy and love to the Jackson area through everyone’s favorite candies. The business is stocked with chocolate strawberries, candy apples, chocolate-filled heart boxes, jelly bellies, and gummy bears. There is something that fits everyone’s budget.

Though it is the shortest month in days, February is the longest month for a college student. February stands as the only month in the entire school year that does not have a break. Valentine’s Day supplements the long, dark days of studying with a bit of cheer. It takes focus off of homework and studying and replaces it with showing love and appreciation for others.

King said, “We all know that Valentine’s Day is the day of love. Winter is long and dark, and [Valentine’s Day] is a light.”

Photo: Auditorium at East Campus as of 1/24/2022. The renovations will see the auditorium and surrounding former junior high buildings become the re-imagined Gore Arts Complex.

Mississippi College’s East Campus, home to the old Clinton Junior High building and Gore Arts Complex, is well underway of being remodeled. Since the spring of 2021, the art department at MC has planned to expand to that side of campus to maximize efficiency of operations and services to students once the renovations are complete. The move means most of the studio art programs in Aven will be moving over to the Gore Arts Complex at East Campus. This move will make more space available in Aven for graphic design programs, as well as the communication and music departments. The art department’s utilization of East Campus will bring new programs and opportunities for students involved in the art department and anyone with an interest in the classes they offer. Graduate students will be able to make use of offices and personal work spaces at East Campus.

The art department’s administrative assistant, Nathan Jarnagin, as well as Department Chair Randolph Miley, discussed some of the plans the department has for its future at East Campus. Dr. Miley described the new facilities as a “studio environment for all of the hands-on art courses at MC.” The art department will be able to have more and bigger classes with the expanded facilities and will have opportunities to create brand new classes to compliment additional art majors and minors at MC. “The move will triple the size of our program and allow a great deal of growth between studio art as well as graphic design,” said Miley. The growth will see the addition of things like a legitimate dark room in Aven for a digital photography program and studios at East Campus for new woodworking and sculpting programs. The auditorium at East Campus will also provide theatre programs at MC a place for practicing and performing in a spot built for the sole purpose of those programs. 

The art department at MC has quickly been outgrowing its home in Aven. Over the past few years, it has only been harder for the department to use Aven as a place to comfortably execute all of the art programs and make use of new equipment that can make those programs so much greater. “We’ve been in a critical space issue for many years,” explained Jarnagin. “We have made do with the space assigned to us 50 years ago, but we have a much bigger program now. We have no space for studio art or graphic design to grow.” With the art department utilizing studio art to create more classes for non-majors, demand has skyrocketed for more space and a re-evaluation of the studio art program’s facilities. Ceramics is another program that has seen some of the major growth in the art department. The addition of new kilns over at East Campus will be huge for the ceramics program and allow for more classes and more participation.

The Gore Arts Complex at East Campus is also getting special treatment from a former Choctaw. Katie Jo Chane, a former interior design student at MC, is the interior designer for the remodeling proceedings. Chane is on staff as an interior designer with CDFL, a Jackson-based architecture and engineering team. “It was a really cool thing to see an MC graduate given the responsibility of the interior design on this project,” said Miley. “She’s got some really great ideas and we’re very excited.” Chane’s talent will offer the art department a fresh look at what their studios can achieve. Her plans are allowing the department to make the expansions they want and need for all the students within the studio art and graphic art programs at MC.

Campus ministries are an important part of life at MC, providing opportunities for students to find Christian community and grow in their relationships with Christ. This article will spotlight three of the most well-known ministries on campus—RUF, BSU, and FCA—and how they have served the campus community this semester. All three of these ministries welcome any and all MC students to attend their events and get involved.  

The Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) is a ministry of the Presbyterian Church in America which meets weekly on MC’s campus. According to MC’s Campus Ministries webpage, they “strive to provide an in-depth ministry to college students based upon the authority of the Word of God in every area of life.” 

Stephen Griffin, an MC senior and member of the RUF ministry team, has been involved in RUF since his freshman year. He explained that RUF serves campus through a variety of “avenues of ministry.” One of these is RUF’s weekly large group, which meets in Provine Chapel and includes worship and teaching by minister Jeff Jordan. Other avenues of ministry, according to Griffin, include “guys and girls small groups, one-on-ones, and fun events like our semester swing dance, movie nights, and more.”

RUF’s main focus is to serve the campus community well by being “consistently available to students,” Griffin said. But they also occasionally partner with local churches for events such as “RUF Sunday,” where members of RUF may help lead worship at the church and have the opportunity to talk to the congregation about the ministry. 

With Christmas approaching, RUF tentatively plans to hold their yearly Christmas party on Sunday night, Dec. 5. “We’ll get together to hang out, eat Christmas snacks and desserts, and sing lots of carols!” Griffin said. Updated information about RUF events can be found on their Instagram, @rufatmc. 

The Baptist Student Union (BSU) is another well-known ministry on MC’s campus. According to the Campus Ministries webpage, BSU’s focus is “to be a student-led, Christ-centered ministry that seeks to provide opportunities for spiritual growth and Christian community.” With a lead team of 28 students overseeing six different branches of ministry, BSU accomplishes this mission through a variety of different forms of outreach. 

BSU’s weekly Vision worship service, which meets at 6:30 p.m. on Monday nights at First Baptist Church Clinton’s Activities Building, is one of their most popular ministries, according to BSU director Mandy Phillips. “That’s kind of our weekly touchpoint where people get to be with a large group and get to know the crowd. But we also consider our small group discipleship groups another place where that depth happens.” Throughout the week, students meet for Bible studies in co-ed or gender-specific small groups. BSU also provides one-on-one discipleship and mentoring opportunities. 

“The goal is that anyone who wants to be a part of BSU feels a part and can find a place to serve and grow and be encouraged that we’re loving them,” said Phillips. She mentioned that the recently acquired BSU house, located next to Cups, has played a big role in this, as a means of “showing hospitality and letting people study here and hang out.” 

BSU’s campus connection team plans a number of events to serve MC’s campus. Some examples of BSU’s outreach on campus this semester included a Trunk or Treat, a giveaway of copies of The Case for Christ, and their annual Friendsgiving dinner. BSU also has an international student ministry called Ethnos, which fosters friendships between international and American students. They often partner with the International Student Association for events such as pumpkin painting and carving in October. 

BSU is also active in serving the community. One of their most popular forms of community outreach is their apartment ministries, where students go out to an apartment complex near Clinton on Wednesday afternoons and put on a backyard Bible club for the local kids. Along with that, BSU offers opportunities to serve with We Will Go ministries in Jackson, partners with local churches in their community outreaches, and seeks out other opportunities to serve the local community. 

Beyond the local community, BSU is known for their missions program, which sends students around the U.S. and worldwide. Although due to COVID restrictions they are unable to do their traditional Christmas in Asia mission trip this year, they are looking forward to their spring break and summer missions opportunities. They also sent students on a disaster relief trip to St. Rose, Louisiana in early November to help provide relief from Hurricane Ida. 

As Christmas approaches, BSU will hold their final Vision service on Dec. 6, which will be a “relaxed Christmas worship service” along with some annual traditions including a gingerbread house contest and an ugly sweater contest, Phillips said. “That’s become kind of a fun last hoorah that doesn’t go super long, and people can come for parts if they want to. It’s got that mixture of keeping the focus on the Christmas story but also just having some fun with other lighthearted traditions.” More information about BSU events can be found on their Instagram, @mc_bsu. 

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is another prominent ministry on campus. Although the ministry is primarily targeted toward athletes, all students at MC are welcome to get involved. 

Currently in the process of hiring a new full-time staff member, FCA has been almost entirely student-led this semester, and the team has made some changes from previous years. One of the most significant regards FCA’s large group worship services, traditionally held every Monday night at 8:30 p.m. in the Coliseum.

“We came to the conclusion that although our corporate worship is great and it has a place, we felt like we needed more discipleship opportunities and we needed more opportunities to build relationships with people,” said Cooper Gadman, a member of the MC baseball team and head of the FCA executive team. “So one thing that we’re doing differently this year is instead of every Monday night doing worship, we’re doing that every other Monday night. And so on the opposite Mondays we’re doing what we call team huddles, which are just small groups.” 

Huddles are divided by sport, but there are also guys and girls huddles for those not involved on a sports team or whose sports team does not have a representative on the FCA lead team. “By the end of May we want to have a huddle for every team on campus,” said Gadman, “so we still have I think five or six that we need to target for the spring, but that’s the goal I set for myself and for the team, and it’s going really well.”

FCA is working on expanding their community outreach and hope to plan a serve day in the spring, but this semester they have hosted a couple of events seeking to involve the campus community. One of these was Fields of Faith, a campus-wide night of worship, prayer, and teaching held on the baseball fields in October. Gadman was pleased with the turnout at the event: “It was really cool just to see new faces out there that we’d never seen,” he said.

The other major event hosted by FCA this semester was a packing party for Operation Christmas Child. They encouraged sports teams, clubs and tribes, and other groups on campus to purchase items to fill Operation Christmas Child boxes. Then on Nov. 8, they held a packing party in the Coliseum, providing coffee and donuts for students in attendance. Students packed boxes, wrote notes for the children who would receive them, and prayed over the boxes. Over 250 boxes were packed through this event. 

While Operation Christmas Child was FCA’s main event for Christmas, they will also hold a worship night on Dec. 6 which will most likely be Christmas-themed. More information about FCA can be found on their Instagram @mc.fca.

Many students at Mississippi College do not confine themselves to the boundaries of Clinton. Many students frequently visit the Jackson area for many reasons ranging from church on Sunday morning to a night out to eat with friends. However, safety can often be a concern when visiting Jackson. As of Nov. 8, there have been 127 homicides in Jackson, which puts the city on track to reach a record high by the end of the year. With the homicide rate so high in a city so close and popular to campus, whether or not students feel safe in that area is in question. 

When junior Brennan Heard reflected on the homicide rate, his heart went out to the many families in Jackson. “There’s families with newborns that probably have to consider living in areas that aren’t safe… It also definitely makes you rethink staying around Jackson after you leave Mississippi College, or at least stay in the safer areas.” 

Heard’s words reflect what many families in Jackson are thinking as many of the recorded homicide victims and suspects are young men and women, as well as children. As students graduate, many do not stray far from campus, seeking job opportunities or even a life of marriage in or near Jackson. The Jackson Police Department and the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office provide up-to-date data and maps detailing the year’s homicides for the benefit and safety of the public. 

Although our campus is not in the middle of the city, Clinton is only a short drive away from the outer limits of Jackson and some of the more dangerous areas. Officer Travis of the Mississippi College Office of Public Safety provided further insight into how campus safety protocol keeps students on campus secure. “We always have at least two to five security officers present, as well as Clinton police… We also try to build a rapport with students so they are comfortable reporting anything to us that makes them uncomfortable on campus or the surrounding area.” There are also a number of security cameras in place around campus as well as the “blue poles.” These poles exist for all students to use if they are somewhere on campus where they feel unsafe and need to get ahold of the security office. The campus security office can also be reached at (601) 925-3204. Officer Travis also made note that many of the homicides in the Jackson area can be attributed to gang violence, but some other crimes that can flow into the areas around Jackson are drugs and theft. 

Junior Nathanael Smith has lived in Jackson for most of his life. He discussed some of the dangers he experienced growing up and how best to approach safety in the area. “One thing is just understanding the layout of Jackson. You can be in the niceness of Fondren then the next thing you know you’re in the middle of sketchy industrial areas.” Smith stressed that while the “safer” areas of Jackson are largely sectioned off, it is important to know your surroundings and to travel with a buddy if possible. He also noted that come nightfall, it’s best to just avoid some of the higher risk areas. “We had a lot of car break-ins even though we lived in a nicer neighborhood, so you should always make sure nothing valuable is visible if you leave your car.” While homicide is scary and especially prevalent this year, vehicle theft is another leading crime students should be aware of when in Jackson.

In its third year on campus, the Multicultural Student Association (MSA) has become well-established at MC. As they host more events this year, MSA’s officers hope to see the organization’s influence grow and more students take part. 

MSA seeks to recognize and promote the cultural diversity that exists among the students of MC. “We’re an organization that promotes multiculturalism, inclusion, diversity, and we recognize different cultures,” said MSA president and founder Camryn Johnson. 

Johnson, a senior Mathematics major from Byram, Mississippi, had the idea to start MSA in her sophomore year. “I’m not in a tribe or anything, and I just wanted to have my own piece of home and piece of community on campus,” she said. She pitched the idea for MSA to some upperclassmen friends and with their support founded the organization in early fall 2019. 

During their first year on campus, MSA participated in the Homecoming tailgate, held a Halloween fundraiser, and put on a number of events as a “culture explosion” during February. Due to COVID-19 restrictions last year, however, MSA did not hold events, although they still had Zoom meetings and community service projects such as a book drive for the children’s hospital. 

This year, MSA returns at full strength. During the month of October, they held a T-shirt fundraiser, a community service drive to benefit Shower Power in Jackson, a Halloween bash, and participated in the Homecoming tailgate. In November, they plan to emphasize mental health, with an event bringing in a speaker from Counseling Services, as well as recognizing Native American Heritage Month. Information about their upcoming events can be found on their Instagram @mcmsa_. 

Johnson encourages anyone interested to come to MSA meetings or events. “We have open meetings, so anyone can come to our meetings, anyone can participate in our community service projects, anyone can come to the tailgate, so it’s pretty open. We do have active members, but it’s open to everybody.”

Students sometimes confuse MSA with the Campus Programming Board’s Cross-Cultural Committee. Johnson, who is on the Cross-Cultural Committee, explained that the committee supports other organizations on campus including MSA. For example, when Johnson had an idea for a Hispanic Heritage Month event but knew MSA did not have as many resources to put on this event, she pitched it to the committee and the two organizations worked together to host the event.

Queen Washington, chair of the Cross-Cultural Committee and an MSA officer, clarified, “The whole purpose of the committee is to help other organizations on campus that are culturally inclusive. So if MSA were to have an event and they need help with certain things, the Cross-Cultural Committee would come and help them either acquire more resources or give them the help that they need.” Emphasizing that the two are not the same, however, she added, “MSA will go more into the community, and I would say [the Cross-Cultural Committee] is more putting events on campus that bring culture to the school.”

Washington, a senior and the SGA representative for MSA this year, has participated in MSA since its inaugural year. “When Cam first started MSA our sophomore year, I originally got interested in it because I knew of Cam and I liked what they had going on. The main concept of MSA was to create an inclusive environment and a safe space for minority students or students of color, so that’s what really attracted me to it.”

As a member of the track team, Washington said her only friend group at the time was within her sport, so she enjoyed getting to meet new friends through MSA, as well as being able to have honest conversations there. This year, she is excited for the events MSA will host and believes that they will be impactful despite the organization’s small size. “Even though numbers are small, the personalities that we do have, you can tell people are eager to be involved.”

MSA design chair Kendriana Addison brings a unique perspective as a graduate student at MC. She first joined MSA last year. “I kept seeing the flyer on the door of the Med Sci building, and it said that they had meetings on Zoom every Tuesday. So on a random Tuesday I just hopped on and I really liked what they were talking about, so I kept logging on.”

As a grad student, Addison expressed that MSA gave her a way to meet friends and get involved on campus. “I really like MSA because it’s a safe space to pretty much talk about anything. We talk about diversity, inclusivity, politics, mental illness, we talk about anything. And whatever goes on in MSA stays in MSA.”

MSA secretary Esther Urbina has been an officer since MSA’s inaugural year. Having transferred from Hinds Community College, Urbina said she felt “out of place” at MC at first since she did not join a tribe and was not involved in any other organizations besides the Board (then CAB). When a friend told her about Johnson’s idea to start MSA, Urbina went to a meeting and decided to join as an officer.

“I just thought that MSA was a great place for me since I didn’t know many people at Mississippi College, I didn’t know much about organizations other than CAB. I guess I was looking for a place where I could feel in place; I knew I was a person of color but I didn’t want that to exclude me from other things. The slogan that we have at MSA is ‘where diversity meets inclusion,’ and I wanted that place where there was diversity but we were inclusive as well.” She hopes MSA will continue to expand to represent even more cultural backgrounds. 

Urbina, who will graduate in December, said MSA has been impactful in her time at MC in giving her a place to get involved and meet so many different people. “I’m going to miss MSA when I graduate, but hopefully in the future there are more people who are as passionate as Cam and other people in the organization that will keep the organization alive and going throughout the years.”