 It’s hard to believe another school year has begun. It seems like only yesterday we launched a program at Millsaps to help our students find their passion or calling in life. Nine years later, the Millsaps Faith & Work Initiative has become an integral part of the College's mission and identity - offering rich and varied opportunities for vocational exploration, spiritual formation, and community service.
Time-tested programs like our Lilly Internships provide unique opportunities for students to test out career paths under the guidance of caring mentors, and a diverse array of service-learning courses helps them connect classroom learning and the world of ideas to real-life problems and hands-on solutions. Our 1 Campus, 1 Community (1C1C) program has become the community service hub for the College, connecting students, faculty, and staff to myriad community partners and service opportunities, especially those related to K-12 education and the North Midtown neighborhood across the street from the College.
Again and again, we find that if we give our Millsaps students a little encouragement and guidance, they are ready and able to change the world for the better. I hope you enjoy a few snapshots of our work from the past year. (And drop us a line if you want to learn more or get involved).
Darby K. Ray, Ph.D
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 Millsaps sophomore Lamees El-Sadek participates in the Faith & Work Initiative’s Lilly Fellows program for discerning and exploring one’s vocation or calling in life. Here we see her at her Lilly Internship site, the UMC Family Medicine Clinic, with mentor (and Millsaps alum) Dr. Anthony Cloy.
Mentors serve as role models for Lilly Interns, providing them with hands-on work experiences and personal guidance for the vocational journey ahead.
In addition to their on-site work, Lilly Interns get together on campus each week to talk about what they are learning about themselves, their calling, and the wider world of work and life.
Internships are available in almost any field a student can imagine.
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Service Learning in Costa Rica |
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 Professor Bob Kahn (Modern Languages) loves to use community service as a learning tool for his Spanish students. Here, Millsaps senior Isreal Scott practices his Spanish while volunteering at an orphanage in Costa Rica.
Click the following link for a short article about another Faith & Work Initiative service-learning project:
Software Engineering Class Builds Software for Children's Home
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Called to a Life of Leadership and Service |
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Students who participate in the Faith & Work Initiative’s C.A.L.L.S. program gather together twice each month to share food, fellowship, and spiritual inquiry and formation opportunities.
Once again this year, a Millsaps C.A.L.L.S. student (Philip Cortese) was awarded a prestigious Undergraduate Fellowship through the Fund for Theological Education.
Read some reflections by Philip
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1 Campus, 1 Community Opens Doors |
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Among our newer programs, 1 Campus, 1 Community (1C1C) has been generating loads of student energy and participation, offering people from across the College rich opportunities to develop long-term partnerships of mutual respect and transformation with our neighbors in need, especially those in the North Midtown and K-12 education communities.
1 Campus, 1 Community staff members Quanda Sims and Mike Gaines (above) joined other Millsaps students, faculty, and staff in conducting door-to-door surveys of hundreds of homes in the North Midtown neighborhood as part of a comprehensive community assessment sponsored by the North Midtown Community Development Corporation.
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 1 Campus, 1 Community Post-Baccalaureate Fellows Catherine Schmidt and Mike Gaines introduced themselves to North Midtown residents with an ice cream icebreaker.
1C1C Fellows volunteer 20 hours/week at a local non-profit and spend the other 20 hours/week on campus connecting Millsaps students, faculty, and staff to community service partners and activities.
Catherine spends her off-campus hours at Parents for Public Schools, while Mike spends his at the North Midtown Community Development Corporation.
Read some reflections by Catherine
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In lieu of their usual holiday gift swap, the Millsaps Office of Institutional Advancement caught the 1 Campus, 1 Community spirit and bought books for the Brown Elementary School library. Erin Kate Goode spearheaded the effort and is seen here with librarian Ruby Butler.
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Studio Art students at Millsaps offered a four-week print-making workshop to kids in the Bethlehem Center’s after-school program. Here, they use mirrors to teach printmaking concepts and techniques.
Professors Sandra Murchison and Brent Fogt oversaw this creative service-learning project.
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 Over one hundred and twenty Jackson Public Schools tenth graders from five different high schools got a taste of college life when they spent the day at Millsaps learning about the joys and payoffs of a college education.
The program was designed to inspire students to set their sights on a college education and enroll in college prep courses during their junior and senior years of high school.
A campus tour, pictured here, was part of the day, as were informational sessions featuring professors and students. The highlight for many of the tenth graders was lunch in the Millsaps Cafeteria.
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Millsaps sorority members cleaned out their closets to provide hundreds of party dresses to Rowan Middle School girls prior to their eighth grade dance. Shoppers bought dresses for $5 each, with all proceeds donated back to Rowan.
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The third annual Millsaps-North Midtown Block Party attracted hundreds of fun-loving souls of all ages as the West Street gates to campus were thrown open for the afternoon.
An unprecedented number of Millsaps student organizations provided games, snacks, and positive energy. |
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