High School Students Gain Skills, Connections in UM Program

The University of Mississippi institute established the program in 2021 as outreach and training for south Mississippi high schoolers. Since that time, the program has grown to include enhanced networking and community service. This year's gathering was March 21-23 in Gulfport.

Pathways to Leadership is a weekend event for high school juniors and seniors to learn leadership skills through hands-on service, speakers and engaging activities. Students must be nominated by a school or community leader to participate.

"Our overarching goal is for the betterment of these students with skills they can take away and use elsewhere," said Melissa L. Jones, associate director of the Lott Institute. "If you want to be a leader, you've got to invest in your community."

More than 40 students from south Mississippi, southern Alabama and Tennessee converged to become a community, make connections and invest in the Gulfport community.

The students completed a service project where they distributed nutritious food and essential goods to people along the Gulf Coast. This was made possible from the assistance of state Rep. Jeffrey Hulum III, whose district includes Gulfport, and Feeding the Gulf Coast.

Hulum said he hopes the students felt the power of community and understood what it means to care for others with dignity and compassion.

"Life can change in an instant, and any of us could find ourselves in need," he said. "That's why it so important to serve one another whenever we can."

While completing the project, students made all the decisions concerning how to carry it out. They decided how to pack the food boxes, who loaded vehicles with food, who directed traffic and how to interact with the families picking up the food.

The students did it all using critical thinking, leadership and communication skills.

"Through their practical experience with the food distribution, students learned the framework of the theory of change model," said Katelin Hayward, program manager for the Lott Institute.

"This provided the skills of how to make a plan that will achieve its outcomes that students can take home with them and use, whether it be with their school principal, community or even their family," she said.

Gulfport High School junior Crosby Parker said his favorite part of the weekend was the service project.

"It was meaningful to give back and see the impact firsthand," he said. "Listening to Rep. Hulum discuss leadership was also inspiring. He emphasized responsibility and integrity, and just being authentic in leadership."

The weekend also included classroom work, where students learned about professional ethics, leadership, and community and economic development. These were taught by Lott Institute partners from the UM Center for Practical Ethics and the Office of Economic Development at Insight Park.

Emerson Morris, a UM sophomore public policy leadership major from Gulfport, participated in Pathways in 2021 while in high school. She has also served as a counselor for the event, along with other Lott Institute undergraduates from the Gulf Coast area.

"Pathways to Leadership opened my eyes to the fundamentals of leadership, collaboration and community service," Morris said. "It pushed me to recognize that I, too, can be a leader, and I am so glad I have the opportunity to embody servant leadership through this major, on campus and in my community.

"I loved meeting the next generation of students who will change their communities and the world itself."

During a panel discussion, Pathways participants asked the Ole Miss students about college life.

"We're asked things like 'How do you manage your time?' and 'How to maintain leadership roles and work your way up in student government?'" said Molly Bowen, a junior from Ocean Springs, majoring in public policy leadership.

"I know quite a few (participants) that came on to Ole Miss and they're all doing great things. Pathways gave them a head start on how to be involved and hearing from us and our experiences helped them get involved right when they get to Ole Miss."

Shaddai Galvez, a senior at Blue Mountain High School, said she hopes to pass down the skills and values she learned to others in her community.

"I will be able to aid it physically, but also inspire others to develop dreams, aspirations and goals for themselves," she said. "I am confident that attending Pathways will morph me into the person my community needs to push them out of negative situations to stepping into their full potential."

That's the outcome the program's organizers aim for, Jones said.

"At the end, we hope Pathways students realize that it was a weekend well-spent where they made new friends and a new network, learned new skills to take back and possibly gained the courage to take the next step," she said.

Top: High school juniors and seniors work together to package food and essential goods to distribute to families in the Gulfport area. This service project is part of Pathways to Leadership, a program of the university's Trent Lott Leadership Institute, held March 21-23 in Gulfport. Submitted photo