McLean Scholar takes service, leadership roles

Brittany Fields converses with Albert Nylander at the McLean Institute.

Houston native Brittany Fields looks forward to giving back

By University Communications Special to the Chickasaw Journal

Some students from small towns grow up yearning for the day when they can graduate from high school, go off to college and leave the community they feel has nothing to offer them.

They leave with the anticipation of making their lives better and gaining all that the world has to offer, including opportunities that may not have been afforded to them back home. Brittany Fields, a recent graduate from the University of Mississippi, was one of those students.

Raised in a single-parent household, Fields graduated from Houston High School in Houston, Mississippi, before heading to college. Moving away from Houston gave her an opportunity to see Chickasaw County from an outsider’s view and helped her “see the county’s true values that many people so often overlook,” Fields said.

“Houston, Mississippi, is a very small town where everyone knows everyone,” she said. “But that’s not a bad thing. Houston is a lively town.”

“The people are sociable, and the educational system is remarkable,” she added. “Crime rates are low. There’s a church on every corner, and the town itself just gives you a sense of wellbeing.” Fields said she believes it’s her duty to not only give back to the community that so graciously gave to her, but to innovatively bring more to a deserving town. She started her journey to do just that when she joined the McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement at UM in 2014 as an undergraduate innovation scholar.

Vaughn Grisham, a leader in the field of community development, founded the McLean Institute at Ole Miss in 1984. From that foundation, the McLean Institute was dramatically expanded as