Miss MC Jessica Benson Plans Teaching Career

Miss MC Jessica Benson

Laurel native Jessica Benson, who’s serving as Miss Mississippi College, plans a lifetime of service as a school teacher.

On that path, Benson would be following in her mother’s footsteps. Her mom, Sheila Benson, is a teacher at West Jones High School. Her father, Brent Benson, is a pastor at Salem Heights Baptist Church.

Jessica’s long list of achievements on campus, first at West Jones High, then at Jones County Junior College, and now at Mississippi College, is quite impressive. The 22-year-old MC senior refuses to slow down as she nears graduation day in 2011.

At West Jones, Jessica was voted to have the most school spirit, and was active in the Bible Club and Student Council. Travel a few miles to the Jones campus in Ellisville, and that’s where Benson received scholarships to play on the Bobcats tennis team and sing in the school choir.

At MC in Clinton, she first enrolled in the Fall of 2009. The Jones graduate immediately got active in the Kissimmee Social Tribe and co-hosted hosted the university’s annual Fall Follies during Homecoming in 2010. The history major serves as a photographer for “The Collegian,” the school newspaper, and sings in the praise band at First Baptist Church in Jackson.

Getting elected Miss MC by hundreds of her classmates in October was quite an honor. “I was very surprised because there were a ton of awesome girls on the list,” Benson told “The Collegian” in a recent front-page story.

Being Miss MC is an honorary title that reflects what students think of their classmates and their extensive involvement on the Clinton campus. Benson is part of an extraordinary group of student leaders at MC. Mississippi College senior Casey Stevens of Clinton serves as Mr. MC this year and plans to enter the occupational therapy program at the University of Mississippi Medical Center after he receives his kinesiology degree in the spring of 2011.

Benson is passionate about 5,000-student MC, the Baptist-affiliated school that’s the state’s largest private university. “I have absolutely loved MC. It’s a fun environment and the atmosphere makes everyone feel welcome,” she said just days before the new year rolled around. “Even though it’s an academically challenging school, I still have a ton of fun.”

Benson plans to take classes in the alternate route program over the summer and that will be her ticket to a classroom in the fall of 2011. She’s also making plans to earn a master’s degree in education.

The Jones County native also finds time for hobbies. “I love to make headbands and anything artsy.”