Dr. Vicki Bodenhamer, MSA executive director, believes the scholarship offers show the benefit of a worthwhile investment.

“It shows the benefits of quality education when opportunities are provided for Mississippi’s children,” Bodenhamer said.

The executive director believes MSA graduates have a bright future ahead of them.

“In 2005, all but one of our students went to college and the other went to New York to pursue work in the arts. I think we will have 100 percent college attendance this year,” Bodenhamer said. “Not many schools can say that.”

Bodenhamer believes the investment of Mississippi taxpayers will pay off for Mississippi colleges and universities.

“The majority of these scholarship offers are from within the state of Mississippi.”

Bodenhamer concedes that some of MSA’s 42 graduates will leave the state, but she said many will remain in Mississippi.

“Some apply out-of-state and some have gone out-of-state, but we encourage our students to apply to our Mississippi schools,” Bodenhamer said.

The executive director believes that MSA graduates have a host of quality colleges and universities to choose from within the state.

“All of Mississippi’s State institutions have quality visual and performing arts departments,” Bodenhamer said.

Several MSA students will attend the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), which Bodenhamer believes is a good fit for many MSA students.

“USM is the only state institution with nationally accredited art programs in each of the three areas we offer here at MSA,” Bodenhamer said.

However, Mississippi state colleges and universities are not the only institutions recruiting MSA graduates. Private colleges in Mississippi are shelling out big bucks for some of MSA’s most talented graduates.

Greenville native Brittani Johnson studied vocal performance at MSA and received more scholarship offers than any other student, Bodenhamer said. Johnson was offered a total of $137,000 in scholarships from Millsaps College in Jackson. Johnson also received the Gates Millennium Scholarship, a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Several MSA students were awarded the Mississippi Scholars Award and others received in-house awards from the MSA Foundation.

“This year marks the first time the MSA foundation has offered a scholarship to a student with the highest average in each of our three disciplines,” Bodenhamer said.

Each of the three award winners received $1,000.

“These are highly accomplished students,” Bodenhamer said. “You won’t find a finer group of students as far as I’m concerned. These kids are ready to compete with anyone in the nation.”

If colleges all over the state have their eyes on MSA students, then students from all over the state have their eye on MSA.

The state arts school recently completed its third year of classes and will accommodate more students during the 2006-2007 school year than in previous years.

“We extended our application deadline because of hurricane Katrina,” Bodenhamer said. “We have more applications and more accepted for admission than ever before. We’re having to add faculty.”

And it’s not just for the arts. Bodenhamer said employers in the 21st century are looking for other qualities that artists possess.

“Artists are creative and flexible and they think outside of the box,” Bodenhamer said. “The idea of a starving artist in the 21st century is a myth.”

MSA graduates who have announced the intentions plan to attend Mississippi State, University of Mississippi, USM, Delta State University, Mississippi College, Millsaps College, Copiah Lincoln Community College, Southwest Mississippi Community College, Hinds County Community College, Savanah Arts College, Centenary College, University of New Orleans, Loyola University, Naropa University, Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Drexel University, Memphis College of Art, The Art institute of Pittsburg, and Radford University.

©The Daily Leader 2006

This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Thursday, June 1, 2006 at 11:50 pm and is filed under Scholarship. Tags: Brittani Johnson, Centenary College, College, Copiah Lincoln Community College, Delta State University, Drexel University, Education News, Grant, Greenville, Hinds County Community College, Loyola University, Melinda Gates Foundation, Memphis College of Art, Millsaps College, Mississippi, Mississippi College, MSA Foundation, Naropa University, New York, Pittsburg, Radford University, Rocky Mountain College, Savanah Arts College, Scholarship, Southwest Mississippi Community College, state arts school, Student, University of Mississippi, University of New Orleans, University of Southern Mississippi, Vicki Bodenhamer, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.