Chevron Pascagoula hosted a breakfast to honor 10 Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College students for winning $1,000 Chevron Scholarships on August 31 at MGCCC’s Jackson County Campus. Chevron annually awards scholarships to MGCCC students in the industrial trades and engineering areas.

The 2023-24 scholarship recipients are Thomas Ferguson, Ronaldo Lopez, Prentiss Malone, and Jimmie Wilson, Process Operations Technology; Allison Cailouette and Triston Dobson, Instrumentation and Controls Technology; Brason Owenby, Welding; and Jackson Snodgrass, Trenton Fountain, and Kenyan Buckner in MSU’s Engineering on the Coast program.

“We’ve been proud to partner with MGCCC since the inception of these programs, which now serve as a direct pipeline into our workforce,” said Zak Byrd, general manager of Operations, Chevron Pascagoula Refinery. “MGCCC produces high quality, workforce ready applicants who are integral to our business as we develop the energy that improves lives and powers the world forward.”

Many of these students plan to seek jobs at Chevron upon completion. All said the scholarship comes at a great time to help them further their education.

“I am hoping that this is a good sign for me being able to get a job at Chevron when I finish in December,” Malone of Lucedale said.  “It is a great place to work with wonderful benefits.”

Dobson of Hurley said the scholarship is making a big difference in his financial situation.  “It is tough to go to college and find a way through work or whatever to pay for it,” he said.  “The scholarship relieves a lot of that pressure.”

Dr. Tammy Franks, vice president of the Jackson County Campus, lauded Chevron for their strong support of students.  “We have an outstanding partnership with Chevron that goes back many, many years,” she said.  “Not only do they provide our students and programs with financial support, but they also hire a significant number of our graduates into great paying jobs that offer outstanding benefits.”