Congressman Bennie Thompson Addresses Mississippi College Graduation

Congressman Bennie Thompson

Mississippi College’s Graduate School commencement on December 18 will feature Second District U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson as the keynote speaker.

Ceremonies at the A.E. Wood Coliseum will begin at 7 p.m. About 273 MC students will receive graduate or law school diplomas that Friday evening on the Clinton campus.

A former Bolton mayor and Hinds County supervisor, Thompson was first elected to Congress in 1993. In 2006, the Mississippian was named the first Democratic chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee.

During his tenure as chairman, Thompson introduced the bill and engineered House passage of the nation’s most comprehensive homeland security package since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America.

Congressman Thompson has served on the U.S. House Agriculture, Budget and Small Business Committees.

After graduating from Tougaloo College, Thompson followed in the footsteps of his mother and worked as a school teacher. From 1968 to 1972, he served as a Bolton alderman in his hometown and the city’s mayor from 1973 to 1980. Thompson holds a master’s degree from Jackson State University.

In addition, he’s logged 26 years of service as a volunteer firefighter in his native Mississippi. For decades, he’s been an aggressive advocate for law enforcement and first responders.

Congressman Thompson and his wife, London Johnson of Mound Bayou, are the parents of one daughter, BendaLonne, one granddaughter, Jeanna, and one grandson, Thomas Gordon.

MC’s graduation program will be extra special for the Thompsons. BendaLonne Jamir Thompson-Griffith, an educational specialist with the Jackson Public Schools, will receive her doctorate in education leadership from the Christian university that Friday night.

“Education has always been my passion,” BendaLonne said.

Her mother and father, she said, inspired her to pursue a career in education.

Mississippi College’s undergraduate commencement begins at 2 p.m. at the A.E. Wood Coliseum on December 18. The guest speaker will be art professor Steve Cook.

A 1973 MC graduate with a 1975 master’s at the University of Mississippi, Cook was honored as the professor of the year at the Baptist-affiliated university in 2015. Steve and his wife, Jeanne, a French and English instructor at Hinds Community College, are Jackson residents.

The School of Nursing graduation on December 18 is scheduled at Swor Auditorium. There will be 39 nursing students receiving diplomas on the Clinton campus.

The event’s guest speaker will be Dr. Kimberly Sharp, the new Mississippi College nursing dean. The former Louisiana College nursing dean joined the MC family in August.

A total of nearly 200 MC undergraduates will be awarded degrees that day.