Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A Mississippi State-developed leadership program for high school students is being launched with the gift of more than $440,000 from a private Lauderdale County foundation.
Conceived by university President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong, the Young Guns Summer Leadership Camp will stress personal character and leadership development to rising seniors.
The Meridian-based Riley Foundation grant will enable the land-grant institution to offer four one-week sessions in June and July. Foglesong recently received notification of the award from foundation executive director Becky G. Farley.
The camp will be jointly sponsored by the university and foundation, along with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
Sessions will be held June 18-23 and 25-30, and July 16-21 and 23-28. In addition to taking place primarily at the MSU Riley Center in downtown Meridian, they will include complementary exercises on the Starkville campus and at the Native-American reservation in Choctaw.
"Those selected to attend will reflect the diversity of Mississippi in their backgrounds, interests and ambitions," Foglesong said. "Young Guns will begin the process of transforming these young men and women into enlightened leaders capable of motivating others to accomplish extraordinary things."
Young Guns will be led by Cade Smith, a Grenada native named last year to lead MSU's Sonny Montgomery Chapter of the Appalachian Leadership Honors Program--another program conceived by Foglesong. The ALHP is a part of the Division of Student Affairs.
"During the spring, educators from 60 high schools will help us identify students with impeccable characters, a keen sense of responsibility and a willingness to work hard to achieve honorable goals," Smith explained.
He said each camp will be diverse in gender, race and socioeconomic status, and will include those who currently may not see higher education in their future.
Smith said the weekly schedule will involve a series of structured activities "that include team-building exercises, a real-life project relevant to a Mississippi community and individual skills assessments."
"Each camp also will involve 10 Choctaw students to help foster shared cultural experiences," he added.
While free to all who are selected, the camp will require a $20 enrollment fee to ensure follow-through of the admission process, Smith said. The fee may be waived, however, if a sponsoring educator indicates that the amount creates a financial challenge.
Foglesong and Smith both emphasized that considerable thought and planning has gone into development of the Young Guns program.
"We really feel that the Young Guns experience will provide a motivation to assume leadership roles in their communities," Foglesong said. "Ultimately, these students will form a foundation of adult citizens capable of leading their communities in social progress, education reform, economic emergence, and other critical needs of this state and the nation as a whole."
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For complete details on the Young Guns camps, contact Dr. Smith at 662-418-0140 or cade@saffairs.msstate.edu.
Ms. Farley of the Riley Foundation may be reached at 601-481-1430.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.