For 36 years, Mississippi School for Math and Science has been a fixture on the campus of Mississippi University for Women.
At Monday’s convocation ceremony, MUW General Counsel Karen Clay announced the creation of “The Power of Six Scholarship” which will provide full four-year scholarships at The W for MSMS graduates who apply at the university. The scholarship comes after the University of Southern Mississippi announced in March it would offer full academic scholarships for MSMS graduates who applied for admission to the university for the 2024-25 academic year.
MUW’s scholarship will be available permanently. USM made no mention of extending its scholarship beyond the current year.
To what extent the “Power of Six Scholarship” solidifies MUW’s role as host campus for MSMS is hard to quantify, but the benefit of providing these academic scholarships seems self-evident. It’s an idea so obvious we wonder why such scholarships weren’t part of the equation from the start.
Since its inception, MSMS has attracted many of the very best students from across the state, and its status as the best public high school in the state, and one of the best in the nation, was established almost immediately. Each year, the graduating class of MSMS attracts millions of dollars in scholarship offers and its students have gone on to continue their education at many of the finest colleges and universities in the nation.
At the same time, our state has suffered from what is called “brain drain,” with our top students leaving the state to pursue opportunities elsewhere.
Students who leave the state to pursue higher education are less likely to return once their academic careers have ended, so the idea of providing full academic scholarships to these students is one tool to help address that exodus.
USM has offered those scholarships for this academic year. MUW offers them in perpetuity.
Frankly, all state universities should do the same.
MSMS graduates represent the state’s most gifted students; providing a scholarship to keep them in state makes it more likely they will grow roots and keep their skills here.
MUW or USM may not offer what some of these students are looking for, but the prospects of these students finding an academic home at one of the state’s eight public universities are high. Certainly, some MSMS students will look to continue their education at institutions far and wide. But many of those same students might prefer to study closer to home if presented with that opportunity.
Every university is looking for the kind of students MSMS produces: highly-motivated, proven, disciplined, mature. These are the kind of students Mississippi needs to build a brighter future for our state.
The scholarship idea may have originated with USM and MUW, but it is one that should be embraced by every university in our state.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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