East Mississippi Community College alumnus and former West Lauderdale standout Mallory Vance was ranked among the MACJC leaders with a .445 batting average this past season. Vance, who is enrolled in the University of Mississippi’s occupational therapy program, credits her time at EMCC with preparing her for graduate school.

JACKSON — Collinsville resident Mallory Vance graduated from East Mississippi Community College in May and was taking her first classes in the University of Mississippi’s master of occupational therapy program before the month was out.

Vance, 19, a softball standout who graduated from EMCC with a perfect 4.0 GPA, said she was a bit apprehensive at first about moving from EMCC’s Scooba campus to attend school at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.

“A lot of my classmates came from a university and had already taken all kinds of kinesiology classes,” Vance said. “I hadn’t taken any of those classes and I was really scared before our first test. Our first test came and I aced it. I was way more prepared than I thought I was.”

Vance credits faculty at EMCC with providing her with a solid educational foundation.

“The faculty and staff at EMCC helped prep me for the next level,” Vance said. “If I ever had any questions, they were always available. The teachers at EMCC want us to learn and to succeed. They want us to not just be better students but to be better people as well.”

Vance was busy while at EMCC. Named to the 2017 MACJC All-State Softball Team, Vance was ranked among the MACJC leaders with a .445 batting average this past year while topping the Lions in hits (61) and runs scored (38) for the second straight year.

Off the field, she was named a Scholar Athlete and was EMCC’s 2016-17 student recipient of the HEADWAE (Higher Education Appreciation Day, Working for Academic Excellence) award. She was also a member of the collegiate national honor society, Phi Theta Kappa; was a member of the 2017 All Mississippi Community College Academic Team; and was chosen by classmates as both a Sophomore Class Favorite and 2017 Miss EMCC for the Scooba campus. Last year she was selected as the most outstanding student during Awards Day in both General Chemistry and Honors English.

 “Mallory wants to learn,” EMCC Humanities instructor Derrick Conner said of Vance. “She wants you to challenge her. She doesn’t want it to be easy or spoon-fed to her. She is extremely intelligent and her work ethic is incredible.”

Vance said her involvement in athletics and EMCC’s various academic and social programs not only made her a more rounded student but helped prepare her for graduate school as well.

“I had to be a big time manager at EMCC,” Vance said. “When I got to grad school, they told us upfront that you have to know how to balance your social life with your studies. I had already learned at EMCC that you have to set aside certain amounts of time for study. When I got here I was already prepared to start planning what was ahead of me.”

 She is planning her career as well.

“I definitely want to specialize in pediatrics just because I love kids,” Vance said. “But honestly wherever God wants me, at the end of the day, is where I want to go. What drew me to occupational therapy was the fact that that while physical therapy works a lot with the body, occupational therapy works with the body plus the mind and the social and psychological aspects as well.”

Where does Vance see herself in 10 years?

“I would love to be working in a children’s hospital in acute care,” Vance said. “Hopefully I will have a nice house and a husband and some kids.”

When asked if she missed EMCC, Vance replied, “Every single day. I absolutely loved the Scooba campus and I loved the people. Leaving EMCC broke my heart but at the same I knew that someday I would have to move on. The point of going to a community college is to break off into something better and that’s what EMCC prepared me to do.”