Visiting Grisham fellows from Newton High School pair off during team-building exercises at the Haley Barbour Center for Manufacturing Excellence during their visit to the UM campus. Photo by Thomas Graning/Ole Miss Communications
OXFORD, Miss. – For the second time in three years, a group of talented students from Newton High School spent a day-and-a-half on the University of Mississippi campus, a visit that organizers hope will inspire the students to better themselves and their community.
During a ceremony in early February, 26 students from the high school were named NHS Grisham fellows. As part of the program, they participated in a content-rich trip to Ole Miss on Feb. 13-14 that included a welcome by Richard Forgette, associate provost; a campus tour; a lecture by Brian Foster, assistant professor of sociology; a leadership development activity; and a community service project.
They also had some fun and attended the Arkansas-Ole Miss basketball game followed by a dessert social on the Oxford Square. The students ended the evening with a stay at The Inn at Ole Miss.
Bruce Ware, an alumnus of Newton High School and a UM graduate, and his wife, Rhondalynne, started the program in 2016.
“We created the NHS Grisham Fellows Program to honor professor emeritus Vaughn Grisham, who founded the McLean Institute,” Ware said. “Dr. and Mrs. Grisham, in addition to being world-renowned community development experts, have been important mentors and advisers to me. At the center of their work is a focus on communities investing in and educating their young people.”
A key component of the fellows program is having diverse and broad community support and local engagement, Ware said. This year, 14 adults, including the Wares and a combination of Newton citizens, Ole Miss alumni, and Newton Municipal School District teachers, staff and parents, served as chaperones for the trip.
The inaugural Grisham Fellows Program was very successful, executed by the McLean Institute. When Ware and his wife realized that the NHS Grisham fellows who matriculated at Ole Miss were typically in the FASTrack program, they proposed the idea of the program being a team effort between the McLean Institute and FASTrack.
“For us, it has been inspiring to follow the initial cohort of NHS Grisham fellows,” he said. “Once they complete their senior year and graduate from Newton High School, the data supports that they have a higher probability of matriculating at a four-year university and having the tools to successfully start their college careers. We are absolutely thrilled about that.
“We are also excited to see more NHS students thinking of Ole Miss as a college option. To that end, it has been fascinating to work with the University of Mississippi’s FASTrack team and McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement to further enhance the program.”
Ware serves on the advisory board of the McLean Institute, which was founded and run by Vaughn Grisham for 25 years. Under the leadership of Albert Nylander in 2012, the institute amplified its efforts to engage communities in fighting poverty through education.
“The McLean Institute seeks to have statewide impact, and this partnership with Newton High School allows us to touch the lives of more young people across Mississippi,” Nylander said. “It is our hope that spending time on a college campus can instill a sense of ‘what is possible’ through higher education and inspire these young people to be change agents in their community.”
Ware’s longtime friend Randy Cuchens, a minister and community leader in Newton, also has been instrumental in the formation and growth of the NHS Grisham Fellows Program.
“The goal is to get the students to reach their maximum potential, no matter what school they choose to go to,” Cuchens said. “We think the college campus provides our high school students here at Newton the best opportunity to become their best selves.”
During the trip, students also learned more about the university’s FASTrack program, which is designed to help first-year students transition smoothly into college. FASTrack provides a platform for students to be successful in their freshman year of college by offering smaller classes and providing students with one-on-one time with their advisers and mentors.
“In addition to getting students familiar with college classes, we also provide them with the tools they will need to build and utilize a peer-to-peer support system,” said Jackie Certion, coordinator for enrollment and advising for the FASTrack program. “It provides them with resources to not only help build their community, but to also build and enhance their learning skills.”
Based on the encouragement and support of his mother, Bruce Ware became the first in his family to attend college. Many of the students who participate in the program also are the first in their families to attend college.
This year, in memory his late mother, Bruce and Rhondalynne Ware established the Annette Ware Fund through the McLean Institute and the University of Mississippi Foundation. The fund sponsors educational programs at Ole Miss for Newton High School students.
The Freeman Co., a Dallas-based brand experience company in the trade show and event space industry, served as a corporate sponsor for this cohort of NHS Grisham fellows.