Resident adviser Antoinette Jenkins is a friend, counselor and role model to the students of South Hall.
As a resident adviser, Jenkins works as an administrator, crisis manager, team member, community builder, counselor and educator. In her fifth year of working for Housing and Residence Life, Jenkins strives to be a positive role model for everyone she meets, but especially for the girls she advises.
"Many people have played adviser and mentor to me, and I want to be that for younger students,"Jenkins said.
"I love the relationships you build between the students and yourself. I feel like I'm giving back,"she added.
Jenkins is passionate about student advising, but this passion for helping others also is apparent in other aspects of her life.
Jenkins has served as the state coordinator for the One Million Bones program since August. She helps supply the materials and create different events for the project, which is a collaborative art installation designed to recognize the millions of victims and survivors who have been killed or displaced by ongoing genocides and humanitarian crises in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Burma.
The Hernando native is a first semester graduate student in public policy and administration, As an undergraduate, Jenkins majored in political science and minored in African American studies. Upon graduation with her master's degree, she wants to work with a non-profit organization.
"I hope I've helped others while I've been at Mississippi State, and I want to continue serving others after I graduate,"she said.