Cellular South Approaches Decade of Giving

Members of the Cellular South team visited with scholarship recipients at the recent university-wide scholarship reception. Pictured from left: Tanya Rankin, Marketing Manager, Internal Branding; Blake Barnes; Jim Richmond, Corporate Communications Director; Aaron Anderson; Nicholas Kollath; Anita Clarke, Public Relations Specialist and Tammie McCullough, Human Resources Manager. (Photo by Danny Rawls)

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – There’s an old African proverb that states: “It takes a whole village to raise a child.” For The University of Southern Mississippi, that saying can be modified to say that “It takes a whole community to raise a student.”

This notion proves true in the sense that for a student to be truly successful, the members of the entire University community – including faculty, staff and administration – all play significant roles.

In addition, there also are those members of the community who play a significant role in terms of financial assistance to many students at Southern Miss. These friends of the University come in the form of either individuals or organizations.

Over the years, one such organization, Cellular South, has continued to play a major role in helping Southern Miss students become connected with their respective future. And this year marks the 10th Anniversary of this mutually beneficial relationship.

Dating back to 1997, Cellular South has contributed nearly $300,000, to the University for scholarships, funding one Presidential scholarship in the Honors College, four scholarships in the College of Business and one scholarship in the College of Science and Technology.

“We are very committed to Mississippi,” said Jim Richmond, Director of Corporate Communications for Cellular South. “From a corporate communications standpoint, our platform is education. We do a lot of education sponsorships on the high school level, as well as on the university level. We do scholarships at multiple universities across the state, and it has been a great partnership with Southern Miss. They’ve been customers of ours for a very long time, and it’s a win-win for everybody.”

Not only does the company focus on bettering the education in the state, it also knows that without the relationships it holds with institutions like Southern Miss, its existence wouldn’t be as successful as it is today.

“We really feel that it is our obligation as a business entity in the state of Mississippi to help however we can, and education is a really good fit for us and the state,” Richmond said. “That is why we are committed. Education is our platform, and funding these scholarships is part of that.”

The fact that the company has made generous contributions for nearly a decade is significant in its own right. But what makes this partnership truly unique is the importance placed on building the relationship with the scholarship recipients who benefit.

“Meeting with our scholarship recipients is something we try to do on a regular basis, and we are trying to do an even better job of that,” Richmond said. “We have an intern program as well. If someone is on scholarship with us at Cellular South, they are then eligible to apply for a summer internship. We also try to always attend the scholarship receptions to meet the students.”

The company first contributed to the cause by creating an endowed Presidential Scholarship and then later added the annual scholarships. It is through these awards that Cellular South’s commitment to education becomes evident.

“There is no doubt that education is extremely important to us as a company,” Richmond said. “It is special when you have the ability to touch someone’s life and provide a quality education for them, and know that it is going to make a tremendous difference on their life and their family’s life.

“It’s a whole lot more than just paying for a scholarship,” Richmond continued. “It is really a lifetime gift. It is one of those gifts that just keeps on giving. That is the most important thing. We feel like it is our social responsibility to help better education in Mississippi, and we feel that this is a good way to do it – by funding these scholarships.”