Warm Welcome Awaits New Mississippi College Students

Hundreds of new Mississippi College students are invited to a diverse lineup of Welcome Week events in late August.

“Be Here” is the theme of the slew of activities cranking up with move-in day for freshmen at MC residence halls on Saturday morning August 23. It’s followed by lunch and a new student-parent convocation at 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church Clinton.

Welcome Week’s concert featuring the Virginia-based rock band Parachute is already generating lots of buzz. The Saturday evening show at Swor Auditorium begins at 8 p.m. A big crowd is also anticipated at Sunday evening’s 8 p.m. reception at the Gore Galleries for President Lee Royce & his wife, Rhoda. Students are encouraged to come dressed in black & white attire.

Among other key activities:

-- Student-athletes, freshmen and others will make the short drive to Trustmark Park in Pearl to see the Mississippi Braves play the Birmingham Barons Monday evening August 25th at 7 p.m.

-- MC student groups travel to a variety of Jackson area locations on Tuesday afternoon to do service projects. That’s followed by a three-hour Night at the Reservoir’s Old Trace Park with the university’s clubs and tribes starting at 5 p.m.

-- Fall classes begin Wednesday August 27 at 8 a.m. as the Baptist-affiliated university starts its 189^th academic year, but there’s much more in store. An evening campus worship is set for 7 p.m. in Anderson Hall followed by bowling at Indian Lanes in Clinton.

 -- Promising a delicious meal served by Campus Dining, over 1,000 MC students are expected to walk to the Back to the Bricks celebration in Clinton’s Olde Towne business district beginning 5 p.m. Thursday August 28. On another steamy summer day, they will get to enjoy ice cream cones, visit with area merchants and find out about student organizations.

-- Welcome Week concludes with a neon dance event at Duling Hall in Jackson’s Fondren district Thursday night.

“It’s a pretty jam-packed schedule,” says Danni Woods, director of student activities. “Students don’t need to go to Oxford or Starkville to find things to do.”

For sure, MC students shouldn’t get bored.

Mississippi College sophomore Mary Elizabeth Stringer loved her first Welcome Week as a freshman last year and encourages all MC newcomers to participate.

“The whole week was absolutely wonderful,” says Stringer, 19, a business administration major from Tylertown.

From visiting with the Royces to mingling with Clinton area merchants at Back to the Bricks, Welcome Week makes new students feel right at home, she said. “I felt like MC was the place for me. It’s a great way to meet lots of freshmen.” And the busy week gave Mary Elizabeth fresh insights about her new hometown of nearly 26,000 residents. “I got to see what Clinton has to offer.”

So far, more than 420 Welcome Week packets have been sold to MC students at a cost of $50 each. A number of the Welcome Week activities such as the Back to the Bricks festival are free for students.

For more information, contact Danni Woods at 601-925-3830 or go to www.mc.edu/welcomeweek.