Bryson Shupe of Pearl, left, and Kaley Weems of Brandon met each other at Hinds Community College’s Nursing Allied Center while they were taking classes for the Associate Degree in Nursing. They became engaged in March with a wedding planned for 2026.
Bryson Shupe of Pearl and Kaley Weems of Brandon met each other at Hinds Community College’s Nursing Allied Center while they were taking classes for the Associate Degree in Nursing. They became engaged in March with a wedding planned for 2026.
They graduated together on May 14 in a ceremony at the Muse Center on the Rankin Campus and both have jobs waiting for them at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Weems in the neonatal department and Shupe in the neuroscience department.
“We were in the same clinical group the first and second semester. I guess we just grew fond of each other,” Weems said.
Hinds is awarding more than 1,200 degrees and certificates to 900 Hinds graduates over three days, May 14-16, which means a number of graduates are earning more than one community college credential. Among the graduates, 437 students are graduating with honors, including 220 cum laude, or 3.2 to 3.59 grade point average; 154 magna cum laude, or 3.6-3.99 GPA and 63 summa cum laude, a perfect 4.0 GPA.
The speakers for each ceremony are students receiving degrees who have shown leadership and excellence in their fields of study and were selected by their instructors and peers.
Jaden McKinnis, 19, of Magee, left, said the invocation and benediction at the May 14 graduation ceremony at Hinds Community College. Adonia Georgette Turner of Clinton, right, was the student speaker. They are with Hinds President Dr. Stephen Vacik.
Jaden McKinnis, 19, of Magee, said the invocation and benediction for the Nursing Allied Health ceremony. McKinnis studied business administration on the Raymond Campus and plans to attend Jackson State University to pursue a bachelor’s degree.
Georgette Turner, 55, of Clinton, spoke on behalf of fellow students in the Nursing Allied Health ceremony on May 14. After graduating from the nursing program, she will continue to help others from an ambulance and in the Emergency Department at a Jackson hospital.
Turner already has several degrees from Hinds, beginning in 1987. She reflected on the potential obstacles her fellow graduates may have faced.
“Maybe some of us came back to school after years of being away. We balanced jobs, raised families or studied in between working shifts, eating and preparing meals, and rocking babies and diaper changes. We attended classes in the middle of everything life threw our way — and we didn’t quit. That, to me, is a different kind of strength. A different kind of success,” Turner said.
“I stand with you today to tell you to never give up, you are never too old. And Hinds has everything you need to continue your journey, we’ve already done the hard part: we showed up for ourselves,” she said. “And wherever you go next — remember this: You belong in every room you enter. You earned your seat at every table. And your story matters, no matter where it started.”
Students with last names beginning with A-I graduated on Thursday, May 15 at 10 a.m. at the Muse Center, and those with last names beginning with J-Z graduated the same day at 2 p.m.
The Utica Campus has a separate ceremony. A Bell Tower ceremony preceding the Friday, May 16 graduation is at 9:30 a.m. on the Utica Campus. Graduation will follow at 10 a.m. in Boyd Gym.
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Jaden McKinnis, 19, of Magee said the invocation and benediction at the May 14 Hinds Community College graduation ceremony.
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Adonia Georgette Turner of Clinton was the student speaker at the May 14 Hinds Community College graduation ceremony.
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Chelsea Gates, 24, of Byram graduated from Hinds Community College on May 14. She already had an undergraduate degree in exercise science and came to Hinds for the Physical Therapist Assistant program. “This was just the next step,” she said. The program was “very thorough, but good.”
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Brianna Mayeux, left, Caden Buffington and Alexis Lamb, all of Brandon, received Associate Degrees in Nursing from Hinds Community College on May 14.
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Madison Hedrick of Vicksburg received an Associate Degree in Nursing from Hinds Community College on May 14.
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Nevagant Jones of Ridgeland received a degree in radiologic technology from Hinds Community College on May 14.
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Corshonte Moore of Flora received an Associate Degree in Nursing from Hinds Community College on May 14.
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Patrick Cullum of Jackson received a degree in Respiratory Care Therapy from Hinds Community College on May 14. At age 37, he was tired of the years of working in the restaurant business. “I’m looking for a better retirement, better benefits and a better life for my son,” he said. He has a job lined up at the University of Mississippi Medical Center beginning June 9.
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Kiana Bryant of Brandon received an Associate Degree in Nursing from Hinds Community College on May 14.
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Kiana Flores of Brandon received Associate Degree in Nursing from Hinds Community College on May 14.
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Wendy Wilson of Brandon received an Associate Degree in Nursing from Hinds Community College on May 14. Wilson, 46, said she “always wanted an education. It was finally my turn after the kids were grown.” She is planning to work in a local operating room.
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Jamiah Andrews of McComb received a degree in Physical Therapy Assisting from Hinds Community College on May 14.
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Kenzerrius Maghett, 26, of Belzoni, decided to attend Hinds Community College while shadowing health care workers in various departments in his job at University of Mississippi Medical Center. “It was two years before I came to (Hinds to) study Respiratory Therapy,” said Maghett, who plans to work at Children’s of Mississippi. “Hinds was a challenging experience, but overall I liked it.”
