Dakota Ashby enjoys the face-to-face college experience he’s had at Hinds Community College and has done so in the company of fellow “people persons” like himself.
“I think of myself as a good people person,” Ashby said. “So I’d like to interact with people and sell with people. I can’t just stay behind a computer all day.”
Ashby, 20, of Flowood, earns an associate degree from Hinds this semester and plans to pursue a marketing degree at Mississippi State University next fall. Getting others around him involved in college life is a talent he’ll bring with him to school and the workforce.
“At Hinds, I’ve been in Honors and Phi Theta Kappa on the Rankin Campus during my time here,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of volunteer activities, plus on-campus things like Chalk-and-Walk, where we’re allowing students to do chalk on the sidewalk in the courtyard near the George Wynne building just to calm them down from exams, help with anxiety and perform better on their tests. And just to have fun.”
Ashby is among three student speakers in as many ceremonies May 12 inside the Muse Center on the Rankin Campus. In all, 734 will participate in ceremonies May 11 for nursing and allied health graduates and May 14 inside J.D. Boyd Gymnasium at the Utica Campus. Credentials will be conferred to 1,317 graduates in all.
Ashby served as president of service for the Alpha Omicron Omega PTK chapter, which helped him grow simply by feeding off the energy of like-minded students.
“These organizations helped me grow academically, for sure, because I was around people who had the same goals,” he said. “The Honors Center on campus also provided a nice place to just do some homework, study before a test or just chill out for a second.”
Starting college at Hinds is a great move for any student, regardless of what their thoughts might be after high school, he said. “Coming out of high school, I didn’t know what my major would be,” he said. “So I thought it in my best interest to not go to a four-year university right away. Here, it’s such a smaller setting with more personalized attention with the teachers.”
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