Ole Miss First provides scholarships to some of the University of Mississippi’s most outstanding students, along with career and life mentoring, cultural experiences and more.
For the past 20 years, the Ole Miss First Scholarship program has attracted talented and deserving students from Mississippi and beyond. Our scholars have achieved high honors on campus, including leading student government, inducted into UM’s collegiate Hall of Fame and Phi Beta Kappa, and selected as Taylor Medalists and Rhodes Scholars.
Points of pride include:
- Over more than 12 months of a global pandemic, Ole Miss First has continued to provide meaningful mentorship and build community in creative ways for its scholars. Though we would rather meet with our students in person, we have relied on technology and creativity to stay connected. Fall 2020 began with a hybrid retreat, where the OMF staff reunited with scholars and met our freshmen! We continue to hold weekly student meetings via Facetime and Zoom. Once monthly, we gather via Zoom for dinners with inspirational speakers. We also provide special events for our students such as hosting a seniors-only Zoom gathering, making candy bags for Leap Frog with our freshmen and gifting monthly boxed supper pick-ups catered by local restaurants. Our students have continued to excel academically while remaining highly involved in multiple campus organizations and engaging in all that our University has to offer.
- We are so proud of OMF sophomore Cameron Blanchard who was recently selected to be a member of the prestigious UM Columns Society, a group of 14 men and 14 women who serve as the official hosts and hostesses for the University. Cameron's many activities include Ole Miss Ambassador, RebelThon steering committee member, CodeMiss and the MOST program participant. A computer science major on the pre-med track, she is the first recipient of the James and Lee Ann Carpenter OMF Scholarship.
- The new location for the Ole Miss First offices in Minor Hall provides a more inviting, easily accessible environment for our students that includes individual study rooms, meeting spaces and more conducive mentoring facilities.
Ole Miss First scholarships are funded by generous donors who understand the program’s mission of supporting outstanding young people as they prepare for future careers and lives.
Your Giving Day gift might be only the beginning. Some of our donors choose to establish their own scholarship funds or endowments. The scholarships are often named in honor or memory of a person who personifies the Ole Miss First spirit of leadership, scholarship and service. Donors often get to know their scholars.
On Giving Day, we prove that the University of Mississippi family is better together. Let’s all work as one to support scholarships for our students. Together, WE are Ole Miss.
Please celebrate Giving Day by making a gift! Thank you!
