On Friday, Nov. 30, ten MSMS students—seniors Edith Marie Green, Indu Nandula, and Ashely Nguyen and juniors Ryley Fallon, David Barber, Simeon Gates, Ayden Dusek, Gina Nguyen, Kaitlyn Steil, and Catherine Boltz—volunteered at the Columbus Walmart and Kroger as bellringers to raise money for the Salvation Army. Students worked diligently from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., some donning Santa hats in the Christmas spirit.
The annual event was sponsored this year by Ms. Latoya Bledsoe, Goen Hall Director and a large support of service-related activities at MSMS. “For service to be one of the pillars of MSMS, I am an advocate for giving back and providing opportunities for our students to volunteer. It doesn’t cost a thing to serve.”
“It felt great to be giving back,” volunteer Indu Nandula expressed. “At one point we were singing Christmas carols… and one woman came and sang with us. That encounter alone made the whole event so worth it… and very rewarding.”
Volunteers were able to receive wellness credit hours for participating. On Dec. 7, Ms. Bledsoe is planning to take another group of 17 MSMS students to raise money by bellringing at the local grocery stores again.
The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science is Mississippi’s only public, residential high school specifically designed to meet the needs of the state’s most academically gifted and talented students. MSMS is ranked the no. 6 best public high school in the nation and the faculty was ranked no. 1 as the best public high school teachers in the nation by Niche.
For more information, please visit themsms.org.