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Gayle Wicker Salutes Who's Who Mississippi College Students


Audiences will be inspired by "The Blind Side," the film that tells the true story of the Memphis couple reaching out to a homeless African-American youngster and helping him fulfill his potential.

The keynote speaker at a luncheon Tuesday honoring Mississippi College students, Gayle Wicker noted the amazing journey of Michael Oher, who now plays pro football with the Baltimore Ravens. Coming from a broken home, he was taken in by by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family, in the new movie starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw.

With God's help, MC students can also achieve great things and serve their communities in many ways by going the extra mile, Wicker told the "Who's Who" luncheon on the Clinton campus. "God will open and close doors along the way."

An MC graduate who serves as an administrator of the University of Mississippi's Tupelo campus, Wicker welcomed 71 MC undergraduates into Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges in 2009.

Founded in 1934, the organization is one of the most highly regarded and long-standing honors programs in the nation. Getting inducted, she said, shows "you have accomplished a great feat already."

As family members, faculty and staff looked on at Anderson Hall, Wicker told the group of student leaders there's much more to do along their journey in the years ahead.

"You will accomplish small tasks in great and noble ways," Wicker said.

The former Gayle Long, Wicker made MC history as the university's first woman to serve as student body president in 1972. The speaker thanked parents for serving as "encouragers" for this new generation on the Clinton campus.

The newest members of "Who's Who" have big dreams.

Lingshan Song, a native of Beijing, China, plans to receive her MC degree in English, and then embark on graduate studies for a master's in linguistics. Active in the Senate in the Student Government Association at MC, the 22-year-old wants to become a teacher.

Renard Ellis, 21, a business administration major and star player with the MC Choctaws football team, plans to attend MC's law school in Jackson. The MC tight end from Winter Haven, Fla. wants to pursue criminal law.

Maria Mercedes Pere, a biology major, is applying to medical schools. A resident of Natchitoches, La., Pere was joined at the event by her proud parents, Drs. Javier Pere and Ana Pere, who are both physicians in Louisiana.

Whether it's Mr. MC David Parker, the Student Government Association president from Meridian, or Miss MC Carrie Kirk of Madison, the captain of the Lady Choctaws soccer team, the "Who's Who" honorees have a bright future, university leaders say.

MC President Lee Royce and Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Jim Turcotte joined the annual salute to the scores of award recipients. Not all could make the journey to receive the honor. Reagan Erin Jackson, an English major from Philadelphia, Miss., was on a mission trip to Africa and had to skip the luncheon at the B.C. Rogers Student Center.