Executive Director of the Mississippi Community College Board Kell Smith and Phi Theta Kappa President and CEO Dr. Lynn Tincher-Ladner speak with a student.
Mississippi Delta Community College (MDCC) celebrated the end of the 2023 academic year at the Mississippi State Penitentiary (MSP) at Parchman on May 11.
As they have been since the program began in Spring of 2021, the incarcerated students were proud and excited to receive certificates for the credit hours that they have completed through MDCC at MSP.
Vice President of Instruction Teresa Webster shared some rousing statistics.
“Since the program began, students in the facility have completed over 774 credit hours and 258 classes,” said Webster. “Included in those statistics are three students here today who have over 30 hours and one who even has a 4.0.”
During his speech to the students, MDCC President Dr. Tyrone Jackson shared news that sent excitement through the attendees.
“We have submitted a prospectus that, once approved, would allow Mississippi Delta to offer a full associate of arts curriculum here that goes beyond the humanities classes,” said Jackson. “The best is yet to come because your success is contagious. It inspires me and the rest of the MDCC family.”
The most exciting part of the day came when seven students in MSP became the first incarcerated individuals in the state of Mississippi to be inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Honors Society.
“PTK is THE honor society for community colleges,” said Webster. “Today, due to your hard work and success, we get to put another charter into place.”
Webster introduced President and CEO of Phi Theta Kappa Dr. Lynn Tincher-Ladner. Tincher-Ladner gave an inspiring but challenging speech to the students and new inductees.
“I’m not here to communicate that things are going to be easy because honestly, it’s going to be hard with the labels that you have,” said Tincher-Ladner. “Moving forward, you’ll have to replace those labels and today, I label you an honor student.”
Tincher-Ladner went on encourage the students to continue to push forward in their education. According to Tincher-Ladner, students who complete their associate degree have a recidivism of only 16% and for those who go on to receive a bachelor’s degree, it drops to 5%.
“But we don’t know a single Phi Theta Kappa member who has been back after he’s left… and we’ve looked,” said Tincher-Ladner.
Following the moving speech, the new PTK members came forward, signed the charter to officially establish the Beta Omega Beta Chapter and took the PTK oath.
Following the ceremony, one of the new inductees, Michael Orrell, was quoted saying, “This program was an answered prayer for me. Because of my faith and MDCC, prison has changed from being a punishment to being my preparation for my purpose.”