Transfer Day welcomes community college students [GALLERY]

Tierra Woods
Staff Writer

Approximately 250 community college students from all over the nation attended Jackson State University’s annual Transfer Day on Feb. 19.  Sponsored by the Office of Community College Relations, Transfer Day gave students who have attended two-year community colleges or other universities the opportunity to see what JSU has to offer.

During the event, students were introduced to academic programs, clubs and campus activities, and given scholarship and admissions information. Students transferring to JSU need 30 hours of transferable credit, including English composition, college algebra, science electives, humanities, social sciences, and a 2.0 GPA.

James Cunningham III, a biology major from Washington D.C., who attends Hinds Community College, was one of three students who was awarded a scholarship.

Cunningham, a non-traditional student, chose to attend a two-year institution to begin his college experience but is now ready to transition to a four-year institution.

“The people (at JSU) were excellent. They were very informative and they made me feel comfortable in what they were saying. Jackson State may be the best fit for me,” stated Cunningham. “Honestly, I have to give the glory to God. This (scholarship) is God-given; it’s like a gift almost. It’s like he sent a gift to my personally, this is just how I feel. I feel like I’m just blessed right now. It’s so amazing how they called my name particularly out of anyone else. So I just feel the excitement and the joy. I’m just excited, Go Tigers.”

Mary Catherine Blunt, who attends East Mississippi Community College, said Transfer Day was memorable to her because of the JSU environment.

“The hospitality really stood out for me.  Transfer Day helped reassure me of my decision to attend JSU in the fall, and that JSU will be my home for the next two years,” said Blunt.  The Columbia, Miss. native plans to major in mass communications.

Paul Scott, community college recruiter at JSU, was pleased with the attendance at this year’s event.

“It exceeded my expectations. We ended up having an overflow for the luncheon and we almost had the theatre packed out, so it went over very well. A lot of the transfer students that come, many of them are scholarship caliber students, so the expectation is that we have a lot of incoming students that may possibly be on a scholarship or have the incoming GPA to get a scholarship.  So that being said, many of them come in academia prepared and ready to go into their department.”

Photos by Tierra Woods