MSU Welcomes High School Students, Speakers to Zacharias Conference

STARKVILLE, Miss. (Press Release) — More than 100 high school juniors and seniors from around the region will participate this weekend in Mississippi State’s 15th annual Donald W. Zacharias Leadership Conference.

With the 2015 theme “We All Need Somebody to LEAD ON,” the event takes place Friday-Sunday [Feb. 6-8].

Sponsored by the university Student Association’s Freshman Forum, the program is designed to help students nearing graduation to further enhance leadership, communication, organizational, critical-thinking and goal-setting skills while expanding their awareness of communal and global issues.

State Sen. Sally Doty will be featured speaker. A Mississippi Legislature member since 2011, the Brookhaven native represents Lawrence and Lincoln counties, along with a portion of Simpson County. She is secretary of the Senate Finance Committee and holds additional committee memberships on Judiciary A and B, Economic Development, Business and Financial Institutions, and Drug Policy.

A Mississippi University for Women and Mississippi College School of Law graduate, Doty was appointed to Gov. Phil Bryant’s Task Force for the Prevention of Teen Pregnancy and chairs its State and Local Action Committee.

Other conference speakers will include:

–The Rev. Stan Buckley, pastor of Colonial Heights Baptist Church in Ridgeland;

–MSU head baseball coach John Cohen;

–Khristi Edmonds, MSU communication instructor; and

–Senior philosophy and religion major Taylor A. King of Collierville, Tennessee, the 2014 New Maroon Camp director;

“We have changed the format so students have a greater opportunity to interact with students outside their designated group,” said junior political science major Holly M. Travis of Starkville, conference co-director.

In addition to hearing from the guest speakers on different elements of leadership, Travis said participants will take part in small-group sessions and collaborate on group projects to be presented at conference’s end. To complete the projects, students will divide into separate groups, select a global issue and work to develop solutions that feature community involvement.

“Our goal is not only to provide them with information on how they can be impactful leaders, but also to allow them an opportunity to put that information and those lessons to work immediately,” said Travis.

For the first time, the conference will feature a short-answer and essay contest in which participants describe how “leaning on” another person has impacted their leadership abilities. The contest challenges seniors planning to attend MSU to share thoughts on one of three leadership or global issues.

Eight top finalists will participate in Sunday [the 8th] interviews, with two selected to receive MSU scholarships.

“The weekend is going to be very high energy and busy, and we think the students will enjoy the speakers and activities we have planned,” Travis said, adding that she hopes “the lessons they learn while spending a weekend on our campus will spur them on to make changes in their own lives and the community around them.”

The Zacharias Conference is among several campus memorials to MSU’s 15th president whose 1985-97 tenure is the second longest in the land-grant institution’s nearly 137-year history. Zacharias died in March 2013 in Starkville following a long illness.

For more about the annual event, visit www.thestudentassociation.com/#!dr-zach-leadership-conf/c8gdor. Travis also may be reached at hmt78@msstate.edu.

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