6 minute read
Madison 101
The COB’s New Recruiter Introduces Herself
By Madison Crimm
Madison 101 is to know I love Diet Coke and a good book. Both of those things I attribute to spending childhood summers with my grandparents at their second home, a condo in Ocean Springs. Days were long and hot and always spent together – usually playing a rowdy game of Phase 10, walking along the beach or reminiscing about my grandmother’s childhood growing up on the Gulf Coast. Affectionately known as “Mimi” and “Deda” (pronounced “Dee-dah”) to me and seven other grandchildren, Jo Ann (an avid reader) and Harlon (a Diet Coke connoisseur) are two of my very best friends and biggest influences. A native Georgian, I grew up about four minutes from where my grandparents lived, so most of my afternoons were spent at their house.
So, when Mimi and Deda debated moving full-time to Ocean Springs, it made sense to me to explore the idea of attending college in Mississippi. My spring break as a high school junior was spent in the back of our family Yukon traveling from state to state and from college to college as I searched to find where I would spend the next four years. By the time we had reached Southern Miss, although it was Deda’s alma mater, I was exhausted and told my dad I did not even want to stop there. I was eager to make it to the warm gumbo I knew was waiting for us in Ocean Springs. Despite my glum teenage outlook, we finished our travels with a tour of the University of Southern Mississippi.
From the minute I stepped on campus, we were cheerily welcomed by everyone – from the woman staffing the visitor’s booth and handing out parking passes to our tour guide, Alicia, who answered each of my parents’ many questions with the biggest smile on her face. I felt the Mississippi charm, hospitality, grit and possibility as I toured and met more folks on campus. Never had I better appreciated William Faulkner’s sentiment, “To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi.” In the fall, I applied for admission, received an incredible scholarship to fund my education and, at first chance, registered for orientation. Mimi and Deda’s standing offer for weekend escapes including Diet Cokes and beach walks only sweetened the deal. And though they were now an entire Taylor Swift album away instead of just four minutes, the afternoons spent with them were back.
My transition to college was harder than I anticipated, as the thrill of moving six hours away from home became a reality filled with loneliness and stress. However, becoming involved in a plethora of student organizations brought me community and belonging and made Southern Miss and Mississippi feel like home. I became a leader in my sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, and a part of the Student Government Association. I shared my love for the Golden Eagles as a member of the Southern Style Orientation and Ambassador team and of Eagle Connection, the campus tour guide group. I majored in Communication Studies and found the curriculum immediately applicable. On occasion, I stole away to Ocean Springs for a weekend with my grandparents. During college, Mimi and Deda also became adoptive grandparents to friends I introduced to my haven along the way.
Madison with her grandparents, Drs. Harlon and Jo Ann Crimm, sources of life lessons and Diet Coke.
Photo courtesy of Madison Crimm
I finished my undergraduate degree in the spring of 2020. Amidst the chaos of the COVID pandemic was no way to close a chapter that felt transformative and had really marked me. So, I didn’t. I was hired as an Admissions Counselor that summer and joined the recruiting team at Southern Miss. The whirlwinds of my first two travel seasons provided significant lessons about higher education as a profession, about service to students and institutional constituents and about myself. I’m thankful for the foundation it laid for my career and the passion it brought me for keeping Mississippi students in the state and showing out of state students all the unique opportunities that the state has to offer.
As much as I enjoyed my time in Hattiesburg, I felt ready to spread my wings (no pun intended) and explore new opportunities while staying in the state I had grown to love.
Working in this capacity allows me to use my recruiting and event planning skills – those I learned as an undergraduate student and as a professional – to further enrollment in the College of Business. Helping students discover the opportunities that exist here, both inside and outside the classroom, almost makes me a little envious that they are at the beginning of their higher education journeys.
As the advisor to the College of Business Ambassadors, I support current students, develop them as leaders and learn about their experiences as Business Bulldogs. I am better suited to speak to the COB experience because of their willingness to share with me. I am proud of the ways they choose to serve the College and am glad they are willing to keep me up to date on everything from campus happenings to TikTok trends.
My duties also afford me the opportunity to interact with our alumni, who remain passionate about Mississippi State and the College of Business. Their stories of success after graduation and their dedication to serving MSU are examples of the benefits of receiving a quality education and how to show appreciation for that education. I am grateful to witness such care for an institution and to know that I am now a part of its story.
Thankfully, Mimi and Deda are in full support of my new gig and are glad Starkville is only a little farther away from Ocean Springs. I may have even taken a cowbell to them last time I visited for a weekend. (Whether it’s been rung yet is anyone’s guess….) Over Diet Cokes, I have told them all about my work and how it’s a culmination of things they instilled in me that we talked about on our many beach walks – caring for others and inspiring future leaders and guiding them to seek out new horizons. And always, always being available for a long chat.
Photo by Mary Hulbert
