Willie Jackson (JSU 2010-14) of Vicksburg is a rising junior Civil Engineering Major at Jackson State University. This summer, he moved from his parents home in the Bluff City to live with his grandfather for three weeks in Jackson so he could volunteer as a math tutor for 84 students enrolled in the JSU Summer Developmental Program. He gets a ride with me to campus at 7:00 a.m. and remains until 5:00 and sometimes 6:00 p.m. tutoring those who need help in math. His explanati

on? "I love math and I love helping people." He reluctantly accepts a small food allowance for his labors but otherwise indeed volunteers without any apparent hidden agenda. He just helps others. Such benevolence from a young black man is seldom known or at least publicized. His grandfather and I enrolled at JSU about the same time back in the 1960s. His parents live and work in Vicksburg. Somewhere down the line, family values were instilled that manifest themselves in this young man. He is an unselfish oasis in a desert of selfishness. Better yet, he is lending a hand to high school graduates in the nine-week Summer Developmental Program process of qualifying to attend a Mississippi public university (Mostly JSU) this fall. JSU is doing it again, Challenging Minds and Changing Lives!And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'"
(Matthew 25.35-40)