“I was originally going to attend a different school, but in the last month of my senior year, a JSU recruiter called to tell me to check out a scholarship opportunity for me here. I decided to humor him and take a tour of the campus while I was in town for my cousin’s graduation. I didn’t think I’d change my mind about the other school, but when I visited JSU, I completely fell in love with it. I saw myself here and thriving here in a way that I felt like I didn’t see myself at other places. Two weeks before I graduated, I changed my mind about the other school, and I came to Jackson State.

At first, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my major – accounting. But being connected in the College of Business, joining the accounting society, and meeting the different professors really put me on the right path. I feel like the College of Business is unparalleled. They really work with us to make sure we’re prepared for any and every opportunity.

I think I want to start my career in public accounting. I’ve been interning with a ‘Big Four’ accounting firm, and I’ve really enjoyed that experience. This summer, I’ll transition to a wealth management firm to get private sector experience. Eventually, I want to transition to the public sector and government work. Longterm, I see myself being the executive director of the Mississippi Legislative Budget Office.”


- Madison, junior accounting major from Hattiesburg, Miss.

“As a child, I battled a disease – called FSGS – that caused my kidneys to shut down. I went through dialysis and eventually received a new kidney when I was 11 years old. Because of that, I knew I had certain limitations, but I found other outlets to still help me feel normal.

I contracted COVID-19 on January 30, 2021. Once I found out, I raced home to Georgia because I knew, being immunocompromised, what could happen if COVID-19 was to truly affect me. I went through the quarantine process, and everything was pretty good for the first eight days. Then, on the ninth day, everything shifted. They rushed me from my home city of Albany to Augusta, and I was in the hospital for three weeks. I was extremely nervous, but I remained hopeful. I had surgery to put the shunt in my chest. But, things weren’t working, and they said I’d have to look for a new kidney. I immediately went into a state of depression because I knew how much this kidney meant to me. I thought, ‘Wow. One virus can just take 10 years away.’ But then I decided that I wasn’t going to dwell on the negatives. I was going to keep pushing. I still have a degree to work towards. I still have a family and peers that are looking up to me. From that moment, I just started fighting.

Knowing that so many other people went in that hospital for COVID-19 and didn’t make it out gave me all of the encouragement and strength that I needed, knowing that there’s a reason why I’m out. And that’s one thing that took me back to my childhood: finding a positive out of a negative. Finding a ‘yes’ out of a ‘no.’ There’s a reason why I am still here and that I am still fighting. I may not want to fight every single day, but there’s a reason for it. Even though I am battling what I am battling, I know that it is for a good. I am excited to finally unlock and open that final reason. That final revelation.”

– Tiranda, senior biology/pre-medicine major from Albany, Ga.

“As my family puts it, I’ve lived a long 22 years. During my junior year of high school, I lost my cousin to a drive-by shooting. Not long after that, I lost a close friend that I grew up with. It kinda pushed me to a breaking point. I didn’t really know what to do or how to act. I had been a straight-A student, but then I just stopped doing my school work. I felt terrible. I didn’t want to talk to anybody. And it hurt me the most to know that I was hurting my family by them seeing me that way.

I didn’t know how to fix myself. But what helped me was going to therapy, talking to someone who had no bias and no prior knowledge of my life. I’ve been to two therapists, but one of them could really relate to me on a different level because we had a lot in common. He was a younger man who was also in a fraternity. It really helped to have a therapist who looked like me to talk to me and listen to me. He was able to push me to open up more about things, and he would joke with me to keep the mood light.

So, although I’ve had a lot of hardships, hard times and experiences for the short life that I’ve lived, I overcame them. And I want to be there for people who may be dealing with the same things that I was dealing with: depression, anxiety, and all of that stuff. I want to be somebody who people come to who they know will actually listen. I want to do what somebody else did for me. That’s my motivation. That’s why I’m majoring in psychology.”

– Tyler, senior psychology from St. Louis, Mo.

“In Bangladesh, it’s not easy to get admitted into a good school. There’s a countrywide, joint exam, and they only select 6,000 people out of around half a million to get the exam. Then they select who will be appearing to take the exam. After that, they only choose 500-600 people to actually study in a university. So it’s a very competitive exam. I was admitted there in civil engineering, completed my bachelor’s degree and continued on.

I liked civil engineering from a very early age. After working on some science projects related to earthquakes, I started thinking differently about civil engineering, like maybe it’s a good major I can pursue.

I want to be one of the best civil engineers in the world. There’s no doubt about that. My first goal over here is to complete my Ph.D. It will take a toll on me, but that’s okay. I’m very passionate about it.”

Avipriyo, Ph.D. student in civil engineering from Bangladesh

“I became interested in mental health because of a personal struggle. I’m a domestic violence survivor. I was abused while I was a student here and pregnant with my son.

Throughout the domestic violence situation, I knew I didn’t want to be there. My body was there, but my soul wasn’t. It was detached from the situation. I kept praying, ‘God, give me the strength to get out of this. I know I should not accept this person. I should not love this person, but I do.’ It was like a stronghold keeping me there to be abused.

So I kept praying, and God gave me strength. He aligned people to come to me and speak a word because I was so ashamed that I didn’t want anyone to know what I was going through. I made an undercover plan to escape and I got out of the situation. But even before then, just being here on campus, seeing the people and laughing a little while, gave me some relief from the situation.
When my son was born, it was my second chance at life. I knew I wanted to be committed and finish what I started. I wanted to take my life back and do the things that would inspire him. So I finished my degree in criminal justice and correctional services here in 2018. Then, I got into graduate school in the School of Public Health.

I would tell anyone that may be in a domestic violence situation that they should think about what they want five to ten years from now. Do you still want to be abused? Do you still want to hate yourself? Know that you deserve better, and know that you can rise out of that situation.”

– Jessica, master’s student in behavioral health and education from Ruston, La.

“I always knew I wanted to do something in engineering. It might sound cheesy, but growing up, I was inspired to be an inventor by watching shows like ‘Phineas and Ferb.’ Around the eighth grade, I started writing down some of my ideas. From there, I started designing them. I have over 200 designs. I haven’t gotten anything patented yet, but I’m in the process.

The Center for Innovation is one of the reasons I came to Jackson State. Back at home, I didn’t really have access to a lot of engineering stuff. But here, I have free access to it. At the Center, I’ve actually started the process of building my inventions.

I’m majoring in engineering and entrepreneurship because I plan to own a tech company, and I just put two and two together. Not only do I want to learn how to build my own inventions, but I also need to know how to market them. I want to create things to help people have fun and brighten their day. One of the things I want to do with my inventions is help provide food in food deserts. I just want to help the world by inventing things that will help save it.”

– Nicholas, freshman double majoring in electrical engineering and entrepreneurship from Chicago, Ill.

“I’m actually a first-generation college student. It’s hard because everybody expects a lot from you. It’s pressure at times because they don’t really understand what it’s like and how hard it is to manage sometimes. But they’re proud of me and happy for me. I transferred here from a school in Alabama. I was a cheerleader there for two years, but I just didn’t feel at home. So for my last two years, I wanted to have that real college experience. That’s why I’m here. This is where my family wanted me to come to begin with.

I really love cheerleading. I started cheering during my sophomore year in high school. I did all-star cheer and I cheered in school. And in Alabama, I worked in a gym and coached an all-star team. Now I cheer at Jackson State.

It really has taught me to manage a lot of stuff well. I came here from Alabama doing a lot, and now I’m here doing pretty much the same thing. So for the most part, I’ve kind of got my time management skills down pat. Eventually, I want to open up my own gym and be a coach.”

– Steven, junior physical education major from Jackson, Miss.

“I’m classified as a sophomore, but this is my first year at JSU, so I feel more like a freshman. I was in the Summer Bridge Program, but most of my credits came from doing dual enrollment and AP courses in high school. So I came to JSU during the summer session with 41 credits, and by the end of the session, I had 47 credits. Next semester, I’ll be a junior. It was completely unplanned. In middle school, they always told me that I should take more challenging classes. Then once dual credit and AP courses became an option, I was like, ‘Why not?’ A lot of those credits can’t even be used for my major, which is engineering. But looking back, I probably would do the same thing again just to have the challenge.

When I graduate, I want to be a software engineer and be able to build code and programs to accomplish certain tasks. I know that the technology industry in Mississippi is small, but if I could play a part in growing that, I think that would be the ideal space to be. I don’t know what that looks like right now, but that feels like the dream. I’ve always loved Mississippi. I know there are other interesting places in the world, but I just feel grounded here. It’s my place. It’s my home. So like any normal person would want to do, I want to make sure my home is doing well. I want it to grow, and I want to make sure it’s at the highest standard and the highest quality.”

– Ethan, sophomore computer engineering major from Brandon, Miss.

“Istarted off at a community college, but during my last year there, I got pregnant. My initial reaction was denial because I didn’t have any symptoms. But, once I got over that, I was like, this is a choice that I made and I’m just going to have to roll with it. It is very challenging being a parent and being in college at the same time. I don’t always get to do things on campus. Sometimes I miss out on things, but that’s fine. I wouldn’t trade my daughter for anything.

Also, the support system that I have really helps me out. My daughter and I stay with my grandparents. They’re retired, so instead of me having to place my daughter in daycare, my grandparents watch her for me. That’s a big help.

And, I owe a lot to my professors. They know my situation, and they’ve really helped me. They’re really supportive, and they push me. They know that I’m not doing this just for me. I’m doing it for my daughter as well. I want her to have a better life because she deserves it.”

– Jantomi, senior journalism and media studies major from Denton, Tex.

“My mother and father were both in the military. My dad is a firefighter now, but my mom was in the military for 20 years, right out of high school. When I was little, maybe in kindergarten, she got deployed to Afghanistan for a year, and I stayed with my father in Grenada. It was really hard. She would send me mail, but my grandma couldn’t even finish reading it to me because I would be crying. I love my mom, and it was hard being away from her. I was so young that you would think it wouldn’t have affected me so much, but I was heartbroken. I just wanted to be with my mom.

When she came back, I cried a lot, but they were happy tears. We made big signs for her. We wrote on her car and gave her flowers. It was just very emotional because it had been so long, especially for a parent. I know she was going through it. So this was a happy moment with a lot of tears.”

– Iyanna, freshman business administration major from Tampa, Fla.