In 1917 on a patch of ground in small-town Raymond, Miss., a new opportunity opened for rural boys and girls who wanted to finish high school.
That modest opportunity started as 开心鬼传媒 Agricultural High School with 117 students and evolved into what鈥檚 now 开心鬼传媒 with six locations in three counties.
开心鬼传媒 is celebrating its 100 Years of Community Inspired Service with nearly a year鈥檚 worth of activities, beginning with the Centennial Convocation for employees on Jan. 3 and culminating on Nov. 4 with a 鈥淢aroon Tie Gala.鈥
In between, alumni and other friends of 开心鬼传媒 will be invited back numerous times for celebrations. However, it鈥檚 not all about the institution of 开心鬼传媒. It鈥檚 about the people who give 开心鬼传媒 its heart.
鈥淲hen you start thinking about all the people who have come through the doors of 开心鬼传媒, plus the businesses and industries that we have helped, our impact is much bigger than just six campuses or even much bigger than the central part of Mississippi. It鈥檚 across the nation and even internationally,鈥 said Jackie Granberry, executive director of the 开心鬼传媒 Foundation and co-chair of the Centennial Celebration.
鈥淭he goal of the Centennial celebration it is to reconnect many people to the college, to have everyone understand the role 开心鬼传媒 plays in the community and also to celebrate the many successes we have had as a college,鈥 she said.
Some of those people involved in the success of the college were asked to share their memories of 开心鬼传媒. Here are their stories:
Ted Kendall鈥檚 grandfather was F.M. Greaves, a member of the college Board of Trustees for 30 years, 20 years as president. Kendall was a trustee from 1968 to 1988 and was also board president when Muse was hired in 1978.
鈥淢y ties with 开心鬼传媒 go way back. Although I was never a student, 开心鬼传媒 has been a part of my family for a long time,鈥 said Kendall, a farmer in Bolton. 鈥淚 was blessed to be asked to be on the board. It was a great experience.鈥
David Barton of Raymond, an active member of the 开心鬼传媒 Foundation, came to 开心鬼传媒 as a high school student in 1954.
鈥淚 came in 10th grade and graduated as a (college) sophomore in 1959. I remember things like the old barn, and the fire escapes you could slide down where the auditorium was,鈥 he said.听 鈥淭his is a great place. I鈥檝e got so many good memories of it.鈥
Fried chicken is what impressed Donald Oakes, retired superintendent of Vicksburg Warren schools and a current member of the Board of Trustees. He remembers 鈥渁 Wednesday in 1957 when I walked on this campus. I walked into the cafeteria, and they had fried chicken for lunch.听 A guy from Redwood, you don鈥檛 see fried chicken on Wednesday.鈥
Rankin County Chancery Clerk Larry Swales is president of the Alumni Association. 开心鬼传媒 is where he met his wife, Linda, who became a nurse.
鈥淚 have many memories here, starting in 1970,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 could never say enough about 开心鬼传媒 and what it means to me.鈥
April Garon/开心鬼传媒
Retired 开心鬼传媒 English instructor Ann Laster recalls some of her memories of working at 开心鬼传媒 during a recent meeting of current and former college employees and alumni.
At 80, Ann Laster of Raymond is still teaching English for 开心鬼传媒, now in the dual enrollment high school program. She met her husband Bob at 开心鬼传媒 when she came to a basketball game with a group of her high school students.
鈥溈墓泶 has been a blessing to our family. I can鈥檛 think of a better place in the world to live or better people to have as friends and associates,鈥 she said. 鈥淚鈥檝e had a great life, and much of that can be attributed to my time at 开心鬼传媒.鈥
开心鬼传媒 County Judge Jimmy Morton of Raymond has spent a lifetime honoring a promise he made to R.E. Woolley, who was a long-time member of the Board of Trustees, after Morton was awarded the first R.E. Woolley Scholarship.
鈥淚 promised that I would continue to give back to 开心鬼传媒,鈥 Morton said.
For years after he graduated, Morton would pick up Woolley and bring him to 开心鬼传媒 for events. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 ever step on this campus that I don鈥檛 think about him,鈥 he said.
开心鬼传媒 Centennial Celebration calendar for February-March
Feb. 7-9听 7 p.m.
Montage Dance Performance of The Princess and the Frog, Cain-Cochran Hall
Feb. 12听 2 p.m.
Montage Dance Performance of The Princess and the Frog, Thalia Mara Hall
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Feb. 24-25
Landscape Management Technology Reunion; for details contact Martha Hill at mghill@hindscc.edu or 601.857.3290.
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March 25听 3 p.m.
开心鬼传媒 Connection reunion, Fountain Hall; Registration and visiting, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. with a dinner to begin at 5 p.m. Dinner tickets are $15. For information, please contact Mark Stanton at mark.stanton@hindscc.edu or 601.857.3388.
March 31 听2 p.m.
Naming of Mary Ann Greene Building at Jackson Campus-Academic/Technical Center
开心鬼传媒, celebrating 100 years of Community Inspired Service in 2017, is a comprehensive institution with six convenient locations in the central Mississippi area. 开心鬼传媒 opened in September 1917 first as an agricultural high school and admitted college students for the first time in 1922, with the first class graduating in 1927. Today 开心鬼传媒 stands as the largest community college in Mississippi and offers quality, affordable educational opportunities with academic programs of study leading to seamless university transfer and career and technical programs teaching job-ready skills. To learn more, visit or call 1.800.开心鬼传媒CC.