Hinds Community College Transfers Find Home at Mississippi College

Mississippi College student Mallory Walker, 20, of Brandon, a transfer from Hinds Community College.

Reading her Bible on the interior steps of Nelson Hall on a rainy September afternoon, Mallory Walker believes she’s right at home at Mississippi College.

“I feel this is where God wants me to be – from the moment I came,” says Mallory, a 20-year-old Brandon resident. “I love the Christian atmosphere here, especially growing closer to God.”

It’s mid-September on the Clinton campus and so far so good for the future Mississippi teacher. The Hinds Community College transfer student sums up her MC experience in three words. “I love it.”

The Brandon High graduate is among 330 to 360 Hinds Community College transfers enrolling at Mississippi College each year. More from Hinds CC are expected to keep coming.

Helping boost those numbers is a partnership announced in May 2012 between Hinds and Baptist-affiliated MC. It helps adult students make the transition to the Clinton campus. The “2 plus 2” agreement between the two schools enables the Christian university to grow its adult enrollment.

A 32-year-old mother of four children, and a Hinds graduate, Olubusola “Ola” Hall is a senior at Mississippi College’s School of Nursing. She went into the field because giving back to the community is deeply rooted in her native Nigeria.

“With nursing you can always give back,” says Ola Hall, president of the Student Nursing Association at Mississippi College and the university’s Phi Theta Kappa president.

Ola moved from her native Nigeria to Chicago as a 10-year-old girl. “My parents wanted to give us a better life.”

As an 18-year-old, Ola moved once again, this time to Mississippi. A 1999 graduate of Jackson’s Wingfield High, she postponed her college studies to raise a family. Ola earned her associate’s degree from the Hinds campus in Raymond where she served as student government association’s vice president. Attracted by the school’s smaller classes, Ola found her way to MC. As an MC nursing student, she served as a summer intern at the Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.

Mallory Walker didn’t come from another continent thousands of miles away. But the former dean’s list student at Hinds Community College will also be giving back as an elementary school teacher.

The daughter of Bobby and Richlynn Walker attended the Hinds’ Rankin campus in Pearl before taking classes on the Clinton campus. The MC student expects to spend plenty of time in Lowrey Hall, headquarters of the School of Education this fall and spring. “I have always loved working with children, and the Lord has lead me to my calling.”

Doors were opened for Mallory Walker to receive an education at Mississippi College. “I am truly blessed that God has financially provided me with the opportunity to attend MC.”