High school students from across the state listened to speakers and got to know Mississippi State University at the fifth annual Dr. Donald Zacharias Leadership Convention that was held over the weekend as part of the Freshman Forum at MSU.
This year 85 students attended the two-day convention which took place from Friday afternoon until Saturday evening. The number of attending schools nearly doubles the previous average attendance of 40 students, director of the Freshman Forum George Harris said.
The 85 students represented 12 different schools from Mississippi and Alabama, Harris said.
“I’m very excited about setting the record for having this many schools attend,” he said.
Friday night, the visiting students heard from Student Association President Jon David Cole before eating pizza and participating in games. Later that night the students heard from Zacharias, a former president of MSU, who addressed the importance of leadership.
Hank Flick, a professor from the department of communication, and vice president for student affairs Bill Kibler spoke Saturday.
Emily Miller, a student who attended the convention, said, “I’m really enjoying the chance to meet new people and to see the campus.”
“I hope this event will allow the students to come away with fresh ideas that will empower them to go back to their high schools and community to make a difference,” Harris said.
Sophomore animal and dairy science major Jodi Griswold, who attended the convention as a senior in high school, said she first attended the event to help her decide which college she wanted to attend, and this event led her to choose MSU. “I loved the convention because I was able to talk to so many different schools, I got to know so much about the campus and I carried important leadership advice back home,” she said.
Recruitment is one of the weekend’s goals, Harris said.
The event was organized be 17 freshmen who were chosen to send letters to the schools, they placed follow-up calls to the schools, booked rooms for the session, rented out the Club level of the Davis Wade Stadium, and supplied the speakers and food, Harris said.
“I’m very proud of the freshmen who worked so hard on this. They had a lot of passion,” he said.