This year, two of our Robertson Scholars from the Class of 2027 were published in news outlets for reflecting on their Community Summer internships. Scholars Kiestin Jackson and Jessica Lynette Johnson had commentaries featured in Mississippi news outlets about the time they spent interning in the Mississippi Delta. They spent the summer of 2024 at the Delta Center for Culture and Learning, a program out of Delta State University, where they documented the experiences of Delta Cultural Ambassadors participating in storytelling training. 

Jessica Lynette Johnson (‘27) was published in the Mississippi Free Press in April with her story, “A Summertime Trip in Rural Mississippi Changed My Life Forever.” In it, she described the culture shock of traveling to the Deep South for the first time, the bonding experiences she had with the Delta Ambassadors, and the Delta’s history and traditions she was able to fully immerse herself in. “In many ways,” she wrote, “Mississippi still has not left me. Parts of me are still there—still sitting at Club Ebony, still laughing with Mary Ann Mackey, still capturing stories that deserve to be told.” The Mississippi Free Press is a statewide publication that prides itself on promoting authentic Mississippi and Mississippian voices. 

Kiestin Jackson (‘27) had a reflective essay published in the print edition of the Clarksdale Advocate, the local paper of Clarksdale, Mississippi, where the Delta Center is located. Titled “Turning History Into Stories: The Importance of Investing in Agency,” Kiestin wrote, “…my work at the Delta Center quickly taught me that no one remains an outsider for long. At the heart of it all were the people, whose stories are too often told by others, reshaped and repackaged by outsiders who have no stake in them.” 

Kiestin and Jessica’s job at the Delta Center was to create a brand new webpage for the Delta Ambassadors, which showcased their work, as well as create the documentary that is woven throughout the site. While Kiestin is an Economics major, his experience in the Delta helped him realize that he wants to incorporate storytelling and “narrative agency” into his goal of creating opportunities for mobility for Black people. 

The Delta Center, where Jessica and Kiestin spent their Community Summer, focuses on preparing members of the Delta community to tell the region’s stories. Delta history has often been told by people with no connection to the region. In response to this, the Delta Center equips community leaders, business owners, and changemakers with workshops and learning opportunities to properly understand and share Delta history. They are able to do this with the help of funders like the Walton Family Foundation. The Delta Center is also a repeated host of Community Summer interns, one that always resonates deeply with Robertson Scholars.

To see how current Scholars are spending their Community Summer in the Mississippi Delta follow The Mississippi House on Instagram.