Coahoma Community College News July 25, 2019 CCC Alumnus Adopts Highway, Gives Mississippi Delta Students an Opportunity to Collect Community Service Hours Some give back to the youth of the community they were raised in by starting a mentoring program. Others make generous financial donations to such groups. Alvin Ward II, Ph.D., an alumnus of CCC and Delta State University, has created an opportunity for young students to satisfy community service obligations. In his hometown of Cleveland, Mississippi, Ward has adopted a stretch of Highway 61 to offer students age 12 and older the chance to collect community service hours they may need to graduate or meet other requirements. This specific service project allows young students to contribute to the city's beauty by ridding the area's roadsides of trash. While a student at Coahoma, Ward noticed that many of his schoolmates needing to do community service struggled to find local businesses that would help. "Our students are our future, and they are the ones who will become our future doctors, attorneys, etc. I wanted to give students the opportunity to earn community service hours because I have a well-rounded perspective of being both a student and a professional," said Ward. "I have seen how hard it is for students to find organizations that will be willing to aid them in acquiring the community service hours they need to graduate from their degree program. This was my small way of ensuring that I do my best in attempting to fix that problem. My love and passion for helping the community is germane to my love and passion for student development. "The youth are the key to community progression, improvement, and development because their ideas are fresh. They're full of energy. More and more young people are becoming actively involved in their communities, and it is because they have become aware of its importance." Ward desired to make his grandmother proud by working toward a childhood goal she encouraged him to pursue. "I was about 10 or 11 years old when I told my grandmother that I wanted to do something similar to this one day," Ward said of the achievement. "She told me to hold on to that dream and to fulfill it even if she was not on earth to see it come to fruition. I never forgot that, and I made sure that it happened." After graduating from Coahoma with honors in 2010, Ward furthered his education at Delta State University. There, he received a bachelor's degree in computer information systems as well as a master's in information systems management. He attained his doctorate in education with an emphasis in organizational leadership from Northcentral University. Ward now teaches organizational management at Mississippi Valley State University. He has two signs planted on the Cleveland roadsides to indicate the full distance of the road named in his honor. One is located where Highway 61 and Rosemary Road meet and the other is placed at the Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall. Ward says it is both amazing and humbling to have his name on display in his hometown. "It means that I have put the needs of the community before myself, and I would have it no other way. I know that this will help so many students, and I am elated and eager to work with these students," he expressed. Our communities need us, our ideas and our physical help to progressively better our environment, he added. Request a volunteer form to clean the Alvin Ward Highway location in Cleveland, Miss., by emailing dralvinward@gmail.com<mailto:dralvinward@gmail.com>. SANDRA M. PHOENIX HBCU Library Alliance Executive Director Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library 111 James P. Brawley Drive SW Atlanta GA 30314 404-978-2118 (office) 404-702-5854 (cell) http://www.hbculibraries.org sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> Honor the ancestors, honor the children and those yet to come. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/hbculibraryalliance1/ and Twitter at https://twitter.com/HBCULibAlliance Check out "PULSE!" The HBCU Library Alliance's News Source! - https://hbculibraryalliance.wordpress.com/