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Summer Orientation 2015 Welcomes Mississippi College Freshmen


Jackson Prep graduates, Millie Waller and Camille Hood, are among the new Mississippi College freshmen welcomed at MC summer orientation on June 1. Millie is a Jackson resident. Camille is from Pearl.

As Mississippi College leaders welcomed freshmen and parents at summer orientation, Christopher Guillotte summed up the reasons he chose MC.

“God called me to preach and this is the school that will help me reach my goal,” says Guillotte, 18, a May 2015 honors graduate at Pearl High School.

A Pearl High Hall of Fame member, the Christian Studies major could have pursued other college options.

“He had plenty of opportunities to go out of town,” says his dad, Sean Guillotte, a sales associate with the Mississippi Braves baseball team in Pearl.

Minutes after the two hugged Monday morning, it was time for President Lee Royce and other MC officials to greet the newest wave of freshmen at Swor Auditorium.

Like Christopher Guillotte, Sarah Lewis won’t travel far from home in metro Jackson to receive a top-notch college education.

“I like that it’s a small college,” says Lewis, 18, a Clinton High School graduate, after orientation leader Elizabeth Moore checked her in at the lobby of Nelson Hall. “It’s more personal.”

With 5,000-student Mississippi College based in Clinton, it will be pretty easy to do her laundry and enjoy some delicious home-cooked meals, Sarah noted.

Scholarships and the chance to run cross country and track under coach Butch Ard were good reasons to convince Sam Darnall, 18, to get a Mississippi College education.

But other factors came into play in his decision to seek a college degree in the Magnolia State. “MC has a great business school,” says Sam, a resident of Bells, Tennessee.

As Monday morning’s fog lifted in Central Mississippi, students from across the South and other regions checked out their new surroundings at America’s second oldest Baptist college.

At the two-day orientation, the freshmen will stay overnight in residence halls, visit with professors, attend classes, learn about financial aid and become familiar with scores of student organizations. There will be informative sessions for parents, too.

MC freshman Camille Hood, 17, a Jackson Prep graduate, believes she’s at the right place to pursue her dreams of becoming a physician. A biology major from Pearl and member of First Baptist Church Jackson, she decided to come to the 189-year-old Christian university after “a lot of prayer.”

Her new MC classmate, Millie Waller, 18, who’s also a Jackson Prep grad, likes the close-knit, family atmosphere on the Clinton campus. An elementary education major, Millie instantly began making new friends at the school’s summer orientation on June 1. “It’s a smaller college so you get to know everyone.”