Contact: Sammy McDavid
Edward A. Sanders
A Mississippi State sophomore from Washington County is among nearly 50 university students selected for 2004-05 Ronald Reagan Future Leaders Scholarships.
Edward A. Sanders of Leland is receiving a renewable $5,000 award from the Phillips Foundation that honors the 40th president of the United States. A 2002 Leland High School graduate and the son of Jeanette Sanders, he is the only Mississippi student and just one of three at Southeastern Conference schools named as new Reagan Scholars.
Based in Potomac, Md., the foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 1990 to "advance constitutional principles, a democratic society and a vibrant free-enterprise system." Its Reagan Scholars Program was launched in 1999 to recognize "undergraduates who demonstrate leadership on behalf of freedom, American values and constitutional principles."
Sanders is a political science/pre-law and history double major who served as a member of the MSU Student Association Senate during the 2003-04 school year. He continues as coordinator of the SA's effort to raise $66,000 for a life-size bronze campus statue of MSU alumnus and former congressman G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery of Meridian.
In addition to his SA duties, Sanders has held leadership roles in the John C. Stennis-Sonny Montgomery Association, a student organization promoting involvement in the political process, and the campus NAACP chapter. MSU Alumni Delegates, Black Student Alliance and MSU College Republicans are among his other extracurricular activities.
Earlier this year, Sanders received state and regional journalism awards for columns he wrote as a member of the opinion staff of The Reflector, MSU's student newspaper. One of his opinion pieces was chosen for inclusion on the daily FoxNews.com Website.
A former intern for the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Veteran Affairs, he is a student worker for the Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State.