On an average day, one can find Christopher Jolivette practicing with the Famous Maroon Band as a saxophone player and drum major, directing an Honors Onstage production or maybe even drafting a publication for “Endeavors”— an undergraduate research journal at Mississippi State University. Through each of these avenues and more, Jolivette has left his mark on Mississippi State University’s campus, and he has done it from the beginning of his journey here.

Hailing from McCalla, Alabama, the senior English and psychology double major hit the ground running with involvement opportunities that sparked his passion for music, literature and social justice. Beginning with roles like his one as an academic and life skills mentor for ACCESS, which supports students with intellectual and developmental disabilities as they experience higher education, Jolivette quickly extended his hand to his fellow bulldogs.

Jolivette sees himself as a constant advocate for Black scholars and scholarship at MSU, a task he takes seriously and challenges his fellow students to take on as well.

“That’s the whole essence of being a Black scholar: walking through doors and leaving them open for other Black scholars,” Jolivette said. “I am not the first, and I hope that I am not the last of a long line of Black scholars that go to a state school and that do great things for their local community and… even better things for their global community, right?”

Gabriella Sutherland, Jolivette’s girlfriend, recounted one of her first memories of him.

“One instance I remember specifically… was when he rose out of his chair to deliver an impromptu speech in front of an auditorium of 100 of his peers. No stutters, no nerves — just a passionate extemporary,” Sutherland said. “This was our first semester, mind you.”

Sutherland, a senior psychology and interior design double major, described Jolivette as someone who loves what he does, pushing others around him to do the same.

“He’s a very consistent reminder that we have to feed ourselves in many ways. You cannot be whole if you are not pursuing and honoring the things that make you feel full,” Sutherland said.

These impromptu speeches are indicative of Jolivette’s passion for literature, understanding and theatre as well. This is reflected in his efforts with the English and psychology departments, as well as the Shackouls Honors College.

Eric Vivier, associate professor in the English department and faculty fellow in the Shackouls Honors College, described Jolivette’s contributions to the two, naming him “one of our best English students” and a “pillar of the honors community.”

Jolivette has partnered with many MSU faculty members on literary research, published in at least 2 scholarly journals, completed his senior thesis and applied for numerous prestigious scholarships, such as the Fulbright and Rhodes. Jolivette was selected for the Fulbright U.K. Summer Institute scholarship program in the summer of 2023 and was named a finalist for the Rhodes scholarship this year.

Active in the arts community, Jolivette also plays in an MSU jazz ensemble, holds the president and founder title for Honors OnStage and arranges music when asked. Jolivette is particularly proud of Honors Onstage, which serves as a creative outlet for honors students who perform during concerts, plays and other events throughout the semester.

However, amid all of this, he holds his identity as a Black scholar close to his heart. Vivier went on to share Jolivette’s contribution to the honors college’s efforts to be inclusive.

“He is willing to make the argument that honors can be a space for Black students,” Vivier said. “He’s been appropriately critical of honors and the campus, and American society in general.”

In preparation for his bittersweet departure from Starkville, the self-deemed “explorer of genres” is applying to graduate schools with hopes of landing a scholarship to study critical theory in the United Kingdom. He hopes to follow this with law school, seeing this as a time of need for lawyers and theorists who are extremely educated in the “practicality of the legal system” and the theory that constructs it.

Jolivette said, “We have to have people who can critique [the legal system] and can posit new solutions for it.”

Upon being asked to offer a last bit of actionable advice or guidance for other Black scholars at MSU, Jolivette quoted Portuguese author Fernando Pessoa’s “The Book of Disquiet.”

“I am, in large measure, the selfsame prose I write. I unroll myself in sentences and paragraphs, I punctuate myself… I’ve made myself into the character of a book, a life one reads,” Jolivette quoted.

Jolivette believes that if African-American scholars are the work that they do, and they don’t “neglect that vital part” of themselves, they will be doing the work that will bring recognition to the Black community. To him, identity is power and to be recognized is to no longer be oppressed.

Jolivette said he hopes his legacy casts a light on the scholars after him and that his future career uplifts them just the same.