Mississippi
Millsaps legislative internship program hopes to increase women’s roles in MS politics
The Millsaps College Women’s Legislative Fellows program
Millsaps College student Abby Henry participates in the Millsaps College Women’s Legislative Fellows program.
When it comes to women’s involvement in the legislative process in Mississippi, most would agree that historically there haven’t been many seats at or around that political table.
After all, relatively few women have been elected to seats in the Mississippi House and Senate, and other roles in the process for passing laws such as lobbying, legislative staffing, legislative news reporting and advocacy work also in the past have put women in the minority.
As for elected officials, Mississippi women make up only 18 seats in the 122-member House and nine seats in the state Senate, which has 52 members. Only one woman holds a statewide office, Lynn Fitch, who serves as the state’s attorney general.
One program at Millsaps College, a Jackson-based private college, has been attempting to help reverse that position by placing women students with state lawmakers during session. The program has been in place for seven years.
While this isn’t necessarily going to result in elections, Millsaps College politics professor and program director Eric Schmidt said, it will expose them to the legislative process and could possibly inspire some to pursue one of the many careers that participate in the legislature.
“It began from this observation of a crisis of representation for women in Mississippi state politics and our donors and faculty members got involved in the creation of the program,” Schmidt said. “We’re trying to figure out if is there a way to give young women at Millsaps an opportunity to shadow legislators for the duration of the session, and that’s what the program has been.”
One of the four students participating in the program this year, a Little Rock native and Millsaps senior Abigail Henry, said the experience so far this session has opened her eyes to the difficulties that people in the Legislature face, especially lawmakers looking to work on legislation and lobby for further support for their initiatives.
Henry also said she has seen how she as a woman can participate in this process and has gotten a firsthand look at how people in the Capitol, regardless of identity, work to advocate for, research and reach across the aisle.”
“Even given the current political climate, there’s a lot of different voices that are being heard and amplified in the House,” Henry said. “I think just there being women interns at the Capitol makes it to where if anyone has any prejudices associated with women or female college students, just interns being at the Capitol challenges their paradigm, and like causes them to rethink their own biases a little bit.”
Schmidt told the Clarion Ledger the program works by selecting a small number of juniors and seniors who sign up for the course. Once selected, those students are placed with a lawmaker and serve essentially as a staffer.
Those responsibilities include conducting legislative research on what bills are moving through the House and Senate, performing constituent outreach for the legislator and also helping to organize events. In some instances, students even discuss legislation with politicians that their legislator is pushing for.
This year, Reps. Omeria Scott, D-Laurel; Timaka James-Jones, D-Belzoni; Zakiya Summers, D-Jackson and Tamarra Butler Washington, D-Jackson, all took on students such as Henry. The other students in the program this year are Candise McDonald, Sara Cavicchi and Anesu Chipendo.
All of this, Shmidt said, is to increase their awareness of and participation in the legislative process.
“A lot of their work is self-directed,” Schmidt said. “So, several of the students participating on their own initiative are conducting research on things that they know that their legislator is interested in and producing write ups for their lawmaker that will be relevant at some point down the road.”
Scott said she has been helped greatly by her student, Sara Cavicchi, who has helped her with research on the various bills in the House. Scott, who often challenges GOP-sponsored legislation in the House, said that research is vital to her work on and off the floor.
“I do think that it is critical for young women to be exposed to this process,” Scott said. “That’s why I think this program at Millsaps is so important. The other thing that I would say is that it is critical that we involve them, and that’s what I’ve tried to do with Sarah. I’ve tried to let her see what it is that I do, the things that I need to do my work and have her to actually see what it is that I do and how it’s done.”
James-Jones, who has been working directly with Henry, told the Clarion Ledger that the program has helped members to see women in more roles at the Capitol, which pushes the boundaries on what women can do as elected and unelected officials in state politics.
“I think that having the opportunity for students to be more engaged in this program, it gives them a direct opportunity to share all this along with us,” Jones said. “We’re so happy to have Abby. She’s doing a phenomenal job. I mean, she’s spot-on on everything, very resourceful.”
As the legislative session continues, Henry said the experience she gains in the state Capitol will help translate into skills she needs to put under her belt as a social worker and policy advocate.
“A lot of my job will be advocacy, and I like learning how to advocate for marginalized populations,” Henry said. “I wanted to get some experience like researching legislation and different ways of advocating for marginalized people that might be nontraditional and also I just like being able to communicate with people of different political parties on certain issues.”
Grant McLaughlin covers the Legislature and state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.
Mississippi
Mississippi lawmakers face pressure to counter looming federal cuts to health care after punting this session
Wicker: Mississippi powered Artemis II
Published 4:00 pm Monday, April 20, 2026
For nine days this month, space travel captivated the world. Families gathered around their screens as four astronauts strapped into the Integrity spacecraft docked at the Kennedy Space Center. As the launch countdown ended, four Mississippi-tested RS-45 engines ignited, and the ground shook. Seven seconds later, the Integrity had liftoff. For six intense minutes, the RS-45 engines rocketed the crew into high Earth orbit, sending them on their historic lunar flyby mission.
Mississippi should take a bow. The four RS-45 engines were tested at our very own Stennis Space Center, where Mississippians have been ensuring the quality of rocket engines since the Apollo program. For eight years, engineers, safety managers, and logistics specialists from the state have tested the engines that powered the Integrity and will power future Artemis launches. Their work paid off, and the launch was a marvel of engineering. NASA leadership made special mention of the rocket engine burn, calling it “flawless.”
One Mississippian in particular helped make the mission a success. Hernando native Matthew Ramsey handled a great deal of responsibility as the mission manager for Artemis II. The Mississippi State University graduate helped set the focus for the mission and equip the astronauts and staff for the job. Matthew also served as the deputy of the Mission Management Team, the group of NASA staff that comes together just days before a launch. The team assumes the risks of the mission ahead, and they make tough calls during flight if challenges arise.
As the Artemis II journey progressed, the world could not stop watching. Our social media feeds were full of photos and videos beamed down from the heavens. They captured humorous situations, such as the astronauts adjusting to life without gravity or testing their plumbing skills.
We also witnessed moments of majesty. On the fifth day, the Integrity began using the Moon’s gravity to slingshot our astronauts back home. That trajectory led the crew around the Moon, farther from Earth than any humans have ever gone. As the explorers looked upon outer space, they captured stunning images. Among the most remarkable is Earthset, in which Commander Reid Wiseman photographed Earth as it appeared to fall below the horizon of the moon.
When their spacecraft returned to Earth’s atmosphere, the crew was traveling nearly 35 times faster than the speed of sound. Ten minutes later, a series of parachutes began opening. Eventually, the spacecraft’s speed fell to 20 miles per hour, and the crew splashed down into the Pacific Ocean.
Mississippi was once again there to assist. The astronauts were greeted by the USS John P. Murtha, a U.S. military vessel built in the Huntington Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula. The ship’s amphibious design was suited to welcome the space travelers home—equipped with a helicopter pad, medical facilities, and the communications system needed to locate and recover the astronauts safely. Crucially, the USS Murtha was built with a well deck, a sea-based garage that stored the Integrity on the journey to shore.
Artemis II was a resounding success, paving the way for planned future flights. When the Artemis program returns humans to the moon, Mississippi will be there every step of the way.
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