Candice White

    College graduation is a significant milestone in a student’s life, and for recent University of Southern Mississippi graduate Candice White of Meridian the achievement is even moreso.

     As a member of USM’s Class of 2010, White’s has the honor of graduating in the centennial year of the Hattiesburg university.

    “Ever since I started at Southern, they’ve been telling us that we would be the centennial class,” said White, a forensic science major.

    And though proud to graduate during a once in a lifetime event, White is more excited about her own benchmark moment during the commencement exercises: Recognition as one of the Southern’s two top graduates.

    The 2006 Northeast Lauderdale High School valedictorian earned the university’s Phi Kappa Phi Silver Bowl Award, the highest scholastic honor given at USM. The award is presented to the student with a 4.0 grade point average and the highest number of total credit hours from the university. White completed 156 semester hours in four years with all A’s.

    As part of the honor, White carried the Phi Kappa Phi banner for the Honors College – she was the only undergraduate to carry a flag – and was recognized by name during the ceremony of more than 1,500 graduates from all the university locations.

    “White has made every effort to succeed both in and out of the classroom,” said Southern Miss Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Joe Paul.

    Another highlight of the commencement ceremony for White came from former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, keynote speaker.

    “He compared what happened with (Hurricane) Katrina five years ago to what happened in New York in 2001, and said that an impeccable breed arise from such disasters,” she said.

    While attending USM, the summa cum laude graduate from the university’s Honors College was a Luckyday Foundation and a Vice Presidential Scholarship recipient, a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Gamma Beta Phi honor societies and served as president of the Forensic Science Society. She also received the Highest GPA in Freshman Chemistry Award, studied in England with Scotland Yard on the Jack the Ripper Case and studied under Dr. Henry Lee, world renowned blood splatter expert in the O.J. Simpson case.

    In high school, White attended the Trent Lott Leadership School at the University of Mississippi, the Rural Scholars Program at Mississippi State University and graduated from high school with 22 semester hours of college credits. She received Varsity sports letters in fast pitch softball (All-District), soccer (All-District, MVP, Best Offense Player), track and field (All-District- shot put, discus), cross country, basketball and volleyball, and served as president of the YMCA (Blue Ridge Leaders Club) and the Explorers Club.

    White’s major in forensics science includes an emphasis in chemistry and biochemistry; she minored in history. She credits her love for science to her high school chemistry teacher Joe Coxwell.

    “His classes were so intriguing; he really inspired me,” she said.

    So much so that White plans to continue her studies at USM to pursue a master’s degree in teaching.

    “I want to be a high school chemistry teacher; I want to inspire my students the same way I was inspired by my high school teachers at Northeast,” she said.

    But that will have to wait – for two weeks, at least. White left Thursday for a mission trip to the Dominican Republic with First Baptist Church.

    “This will be my first mission abroad,” she said. “There’s a church there and we will bring people from the community to the church, as well as meet the needs of the people in the community and be used however the church needs us. Hopefully, we will lead people to the Lord.”

    Born in Franklin, Va., White and her family moved to Meridian in 2003. She is the daughter of Jackie and Anice White, and has two brothers: Graham, who just completed a year in Iraq and is “on the way home,” and Jason, a junior at Delta State.

    In January, White will marry Timothy Brent Malone of Meridian, who attends Delta State. White said she hopes to secure her first teaching job in the Delta and eventually return to Meridian to teach.

    White offers the following advice to young scholars:

    “Set the bar of achievement high and work hard to attain it. Also, play as hard as you study. Although I pursued academics heavily in college, I also enjoyed college. There has to be balance.”