USM celebrates Transfer Student Week

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - 2.1 million college students transferred schools in 2021 according to Forbes.

This week the University of Southern Mississippi is celebrating its transfer students during National Transfer Student Week.

This week gives transfers the opportunity to reflect on their journies and the chance to make new connections across campus.

“I get to work with an amazing group of students,” said USM Coordinator for Transfer Student Success Emily Thorton. “I get to see them from the first part of the semester to the end and see them celebrate not only their grades but their social connections and their academic achievements and it’s just an honor to be a part of their story,” she said.

USM provides several resources for transfer students including the honor organization Tau Sigma, Transfer Student Association (TSA) and peer mentor program, Transfer Transitions.

Ashton Husband is one of those peer mentors. A transfer from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, he said he joined the TSA in the fall of 2022.

“It was something I wanted to join just because I know the transition from junior college to university was really hard for me, especially during Covid,” said Husband. “I didn’t really have nobody to talk to, nobody to lean on. It was just me and my classes and I didn’t really know how to go about that.”

After serving as recruitment chair for TSA, Husband transitioned to a mentor status to work with students themselves and ended up getting selected as a 2023 National Transfer Student Ambassador.

“I wanted to work with transfer students themselves and give them all the knowledge I have being here for over 2 years and then it led me to getting this award that I didn’t think I was ever going to get,” Husband said. “If you had told me from that moment that I would have accomplished all of this in just a year and a half, I would have said you were lying. I keep saying this ain’t nothing but God, I couldn’t have done this myself.”

Transfer Student Week will last until Friday, Oct. 20.

For a full list of events, visit https://www.usm.edu/student-success/ntsw.php.

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