On Wednesday, October 19, 2010, Principal Trosclair received a surprise telephone call from Dr. Martha Saunders, President of the University of Southern Mississippi. She congratulated him and “all associated with your fine school” for being named one of the Top 50 Catholic High Schools in America. “I am glad that this Honor Roll has recognized what we at Southern Miss have known to be one of the finest schools anywhere,” she said in a follow-up letter.

The second reason for her call was to tell him that the University of Southern Mississippi is offering scholarships to all of the top 50 seniors in the 2011 graduating class. The scholarships are for $500 for each of their first two semesters if they enroll at USM as freshmen in 2011. The special scholarship, “designed to commemorate the school’s accomplishment,” will be "stacked" with any other academic or leadership scholarships awarded to students, (excluding the Presidential Scholarship, which is a full tuition, room and board scholarship).

On a few days earlier, Dr. Saunders had visited St. Patrick to invite our senior class to call and make an appointment for a personal tour of USM. She and her staff enthusiastically shared the many opportunities USM has to offer. Joining her was Jordan Mathews (St. Pat ’09) who is a member of the Eagle Connection, the prestigious student recruiting team. (Read about their visit in a “News Story” dated October 12.)  

Thank you, Dr. Saunders, for the $50,000 in scholarships that you have granted in recognition of our school’s being named to the Catholic High School Honor Roll. We are grateful.