Rachel Cohen: Lott Leadership

Over the summer, Rachel Cohen, a senior at Oxford High School, participated in a program called Lott Leadership. Lott is a program where participants stay on the Ole Miss campus for four weeks and then travel to Washington D.C. for another week.

“It’s like summer school, but a lot more interesting because you are in smaller groups with people who have similar interests as you,” Cohen said. 

They took several different classes, including political science, a leadership course, and a speech class. They had community time after their classes, where they participated in different activities.

“We did a color run, and we played battleships at the Turner Center pool,” Cohen said. “In D.C., we went to the community center and watched The Play that Went Wrong, and we also went to a bunch of museums.”

Over the course of the trip, Cohen created close bonds with others in the program. Most people who went to Lott were from the south, but there was someone from Portugal and someone from Germany who attended this year. 

“I have some people that I did not know in June that are now some of my best friends,” Cohen said. 

Cohen was able to make new friends and learn a lot from this experience. She enjoyed the classes and became more interested in the things she learned about. She had a really good teacher, who was able to make learning more fun for the students. 

“He got us all super engaged and interested in learning about politics, which is not something I ever thought I would say,” Cohen said. 

Lott is a very competitive program in Oxford because it’s local, so to get into Lott you have to submit an application to your counselor first. Then, the counselor picks five people to apply to the actual program.

“If you were accepted, you would then make a video explaining a place that’s meaningful to you and write an essay about one public policy change you’d make in your community,” Cohen said. 

Lott is a very educational program, where you can make new friends and learn how to become a leader in your community. Cohen really enjoyed her time participating in Lott Leadership and creating new memories that she will keep forever. 

“I think everybody should have an experience like this where they are forced out of their comfort zone,” Cohen said. “It was a really great program.”

Alex Ritchie: Envirothon Nationals

Alex Ritchie, a junior at Oxford High School, went to New Brunswick, Canada over the summer to compete in Envirothon Nationals after regional and state competition. Oxford’s A team and B team got first and second at both regionals and state, and the A team got to go to nationals.

“I was on the B team for both regionals and state, but when we got to the national level, someone could not go, so they asked me,” Ritchie said.

 For the competition, they had a training day where members of the team went to different stations and studied material to be used to compete.

“They had a forestry station, where they taught you about some of the trees in New Brunswick, and at aquatics they taught you about freshwater muscles that lived in the area,” Ritchie said.

Each person is assigned a station they are supposed to know the most about. Ritchie was assigned to soils as her main station, but she also went to forestry and aquatics.

“I learned a lot more about New Brunswick in general and how it was formed. I learned a lot about its glacial history and rock history.” Ritchie said

On Tuesday, they competed and took five tests. There was a multiple choice section and then a field test for each category.  

“People are tested in aquatics, forestry, wildlife, soils, and environmental issue,” Ritchie said. “This year, the issue was climate change.”

They had a fun day on Wednesday in St. John with their team. They were able to walk around the city together and have lunch after attending an environment expo.

“They had a container village where they turned old shipping containers into little stores,” Ritchie said.

Ritchies’ favorite part of her experience was meeting new people from all over. Ritchie made friends that she is still keeping up with, and some members of the club are talking to those they met on daily.

“We played frisbee with a bunch of other teams, we played tag in the rain, and we had lunches and dinners with other people,” Ritchie said. “There was even an envirothon dance where I got to spend some time with people from other teams.” 

Ritchie originally heard about this club from some of her friends who thought she would like it. She decided to join her Sophomore year. Envirothon is a great club that is very educational and can help students experience different things. 

“Y’all should come do envirothon. It’s really super fun,” Ritchie said.

Jackson Doss: Mississippi Boys State

Jackson Doss, another senior at Oxford High School, had fun at Ole Miss participating in Mississippi Boys State. Boys State is a mock government leadership program Doss got into through a Schoology application. 

“It was a great way to meet new people and a good learning experience for those wanting to learn government, all while having fun with new friends,” Doss said.

Doss’ role in the mock government created was sports alderman. This meant that he managed the sports team for their “city,” Poulos. 

“I also helped to try and pass a mock city project that revolved around building a new prison,” Doss said.

Doss’ favorite part of his experience was the late night fun, sports, and meals with the new people he met. He made many new friendships and memories with the other participants.  

“My favorite memory, by far, was getting to steal people’s mattresses in our dorms as a prank on my other Boys State delegates,” Doss said. “I met new people from all over the state that I still talk to this day, and I consider myself lucky to make the memories that I did with them.”

Boys State helps with understanding of government systems. The participants learned how the systems work and function, among other things about being a leader.

“The thing that was most beneficial to me, however, was learning how to interact with people I had never met before,” Doss said.

Boys State is a very fun and educational program where students can learn about government, leadership, and make new friends and memories with new people.

“Overall, I feel like Boys State was a memorable experience that will help me in future leadership roles and gave me new friends and memories,” Doss said.