Contact: Emily Daniels
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A Mississippi State student again is the winner of a top award given by the Mississippi Young Bankers, a division of the Mississippi Bankers Association.
A student from the university has received the Orrin H. Swayze Jr. Scholar award six out of the last seven years.
Senior Spencer N. Pipitone, a finance and marketing major from Brandon, is this year's Swayze Award selection. The son of Patrick and Kathy Pipitone, he recently accepted the honor at the organization's conference and convention in Point Clear, Ala.
The $5,000 award is presented annually to the top Magnolia State university major in banking and finance that best represents the tradition of banking excellence exemplified by Swayze, a senior officer for Trustmark until his retirement in 1967.
Since 1979, the MYB annually has recognized five finalists. In addition to the Swayze, four other awards of $1,500 each are presented to MYB Scholars. All finalists must be interviewed by the organization's scholarship committee and participate in sessions during the four-day conference.
MSU senior Kyle J. Upchurch, a business administration major from Raymond, is a 2014 MYB Scholar. He is the son of Kevin and Marjorie Upchurch.
Both Pipitone and Upchurch are President's List Scholars at the land-grant institution.
Of his selection for the Swayze Award, Pipitone said, "I think you're always surprised when you win an award. We all think that we're qualified but when you actually win, it's always nice."
He expressed appreciation to the MSU College of Business faculty for providing him "an advantage by preparing me to be able to talk to people within the industry."
Michael Highfield, finance and economics department head, returned the praise, saying Pipitone represented MSU extremely well.
"His selection as this year's Swayze Scholar certainly speaks to his accomplishments as a student with a very promising career ahead," Highfield said.
"This is a prestigious award, and we are very proud that several of our students have been selected as Swayze Scholars and finalists over the years," he added.
For more about MSU's finance and economics department, see http://business.msstate.edu/programs/fe/; for the Mississippi Young Bankers, www.msbankers.com/youngbankers.
Complete information about MSU is available at www.msstate.edu/.