Motlow Smyrna Student Wins Lipscomb Transfer Trustee Scholarship

By Jonathan Graham

Motlow Buzz Contributing Writer

          SMYRNA -- As a society, we love tales of those who overcome obstacles and achieve success despite the harrowing challenges that they may face. As a college, we have students who not only do this, but who also embody character traits that humble us in our service to them. Jazzmin Mitchell is one of these students.

          Jazzmin Desiree' Mitchell is a 24-year-old Nashville native who lives in Murfreesboro. In 2013, she was the first in her family to graduate from high school and enroll on scholarship to Middle Tennessee State University. Unfortunately, due to stress and depression, Jazzmin was academically and financially suspended from MTSU in 2014. However, Jazzmin did not give up.

Jazzmin Mitchell

          In 2017, she enrolled at Motlow State Community College as a nontraditional student. Jazzmin took advantage of important resources at Motlow Smyrna, including the Student Success Center's tutoring services. This led her to conquer her first semester with a 4.0 GPA. She went on to serve as the 2018-2019 Tennessee Regional Secretary of Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society. Due to her excellent academic performance, she received the opportunity to apply for the Lipscomb Transfer Trustee Scholarship.

          Each year, Lipscomb University awards this prestigious scholarship to eight community college students in the State of Tennessee. The application process is very competitive. Each of the 13 TBR Community Colleges can nominate up to five students to compete for this scholarship. Once a student is nominated by their community college, they participate in a panel interview at Lipscomb University. Out of the possible 65 students nominated by all 13 community colleges, only eight students are selected to receive the full-tuition scholarship. Qualifying students must plan to enroll at Lipscomb as a full-time student, earn at least a 3.5 GPA, and complete 30 or more credit hours at their respective community college.

          Jazzmin Mitchell’s hard work, determination and positive attitude paid off. She was one of eight students this year to be awarded the Lipscomb Transfer Trustee Scholarship and will be attending Lipscomb University this fall. Jazzmin made a comeback. She is a true success story, one which should be told and celebrated.

(Editor’s Note: Jazzmin Mitchell graduated from Motlow State on May 5, 2019.)

Celebrating Our Students

By Ramona Shelton

Motlow Buzz Managing Editor

            SMYRNA -- One of the phrases spoken time and time again at Motlow State Community College is “student success,” but success is not simply calculated by the number of points accrued in a class or making it to the finish line. Success also includes everything that students participate in while they are here. The Smyrna Campus’ Celebration event was designed to honor those extra successes, the ones in which students excel above and beyond the classroom.

            Celebration 2019 was the third incarnation of this event, and each year it gets bigger and bigger as we have more students to celebrate. Our club officers, student ambassadors, peer tutors, and other extra-curricular participants were invited to attend the Celebration 2019 ceremony so that we could have the chance to celebrate them.

            This year’s attendees included:

            * Abby Mire - 2019 Honors Mentor and Writing Center Tutor

            * Isam Alshehabi - 2019 Psi Beta Treasurer

            * Megan Williams - 2019 History Club Secretary

            * Lucas Lanius - 2019 History Club President

            * Jazzmin Mitchell - 2019 Student Ambassador, 2019 Phi Theta Kappa Regional Secretary, two-time Celebration honoree, and recipient of the Lipscomb University Transfer Scholarship, one of only eight such given in the entire state. This scholarship will cover Jazzmin’s entire bachelor’s degree in social work!

            New to Celebration 2019 is the addition of Spotlight Student recognitions. Faculty members were asked to submit the names of students from their classes who stood out to them and deserved a moment in the spotlight. In addition, nominating faculty were asked to tell us why they believed this student was so outstanding.

            Spotlight Students attending the Celebration event (and the nominating faculty’s description of them) were

            * Mary Dawoud - Mary is the embodiment of what we love to see in our students. She is a non-traditional student carrying a large load of classes and balancing that out with being a wife and mother. In the past year, she has never missed a day or even been late. She completes assignments as early as possible to give herself the time to do them right. If there is an opportunity for extra credit, she is first in line to take advantage of it even though she never needs it. This is a woman who is an inspiration to other students!

            * Sarah Abdelmalak - Sarah is an amazing student. She works tirelessly to understand the concepts covered in class and lab. Sarah wants to understand what she is learning not just what is going to be on the test. She asks thoughtful questions and actually reads the text book! I am very impressed with Sarah since English is not her first language and she has only been in the United States for three years. She is more dedicated and works harder than most students.

            * Brittanny McCoy - I have Brittanny McCoy in my Fundamentals of Communication class, and she is truly a stand-out student!  All of her speeches are thoroughly planned out, extremely insightful and well executed. She puts 100 percent of her efforts into everything she does. I wholeheartedly recommend her for nomination as a Spotlight Student!

            * Alex Smith - Alex is one of the best students that I have ever had in class. He is tremendously thoughtful and engaging. He works hard to make connections between not just the past and present but in how things in history effect each other.

            I know that Alex plans to go on to graduate school and teach one of these days. I have no doubt that in a few years, he will be right back at Motlow Smyrna as an instructor rather than a student.

            Joshua McGee - Joshua is a standout student. He is currently enrolled in two of my classes. Joshua is a good listener in class but so much more! He participates in class discussions and many times provides the “spark” to those discussions. Joshua has proven himself to be a true leader in the classroom.

            These worthy honorees are only a few of the amazing students we have here at the Motlow Smyrna Campus. Plans are already being made for Celebration 2020, so if you want more info on that, please email Ramona Shelton at rshelton@mscc.edu.