Margaret “LeAnn” Potter, a third-year student at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s Jackson County Campus, recently earned a scholarship through the Coca-Cola Two-Year Colleges Scholarship Program. Potter is one of 350 students to earn the $1,000 award, which goes to those who have demonstrated academic success and completed 100 hours of community services within the previous year.
“It is an honor to be recognized for my efforts, and the scholarship will be a tremendous help in furthering my education,” Potter said. “Earning the Coca-Cola Scholarship has given me great encouragement and enhanced my confidence. My dream is to be a forerunner for teaching foreign-language classes at the elementary level, which combines my passion for Spanish with my love of children.”
Potter is also the secretary/reporter of the JC Campus’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter and publishes the PTK newsletter.
"The Coca-Cola Two-Year Colleges Scholarship Program addresses a large, primarily under-served population of college students. A scholarship of this nature provides the support and sense of encouragement these students need to continue to succeed," said J. Mark Davis, president, Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation.
Fellow JC Campus student Eric Place also recently earned the $1,000 PTK Leaders of Promise Scholarship, an award that provides new PTK members with financial resources to help defray educational expenses while enrolled at a two-year college. The program also provides opportunities and encourages students to assume leadership roles by participating in society programs. Place, one of 30 to receive the award, is majoring in history at Gulf Coast with a minor in political science.
“This is the first thing I’ve ever won,” said Place, an honor student and PTK vice president of service. “I got this scholarship by writing essays, and I’m ecstatic about winning it.”
Place also said he hopes to graduate from Gulf Coast and attend The University of Mississippi.
