The 14th annual Salute to Delta Honor Graduates will be held in conjunction with Delta Council Day on June 9. Senator Roger Wicker (left), the keynote speaker for the event, will be joined by co-host Archie Tucker, senior executive with the Department of Agriculture.
Delta Council will hold its 14th Salute to Delta Honor Graduates Event during the 82nd annual meeting of the regional organization at Delta State University on June 9.
The Honor Graduate event is slated for 9 a.m. in a tent on the parking lot outside the east entrance of the Bologna Performing Arts Center.
U.S. Senator Roger Wicker will be the keynote speaker for the event, and United States Department of Agriculture senior executive Archie Tucker will serve as co-host for the event.
“We are pleased that two exceptional Mississippi leaders — Senator Wicker and Mr. Tucker — will be there to underscore the importance of continuing their educational and professional pursuits to these top young men and women of the Delta,” said Cass Pennington of Indianola, Delta Council Educational Policy chairman. “The Delta Honor Graduate event is designed to raise the level of awareness of parents, teachers and our local communities of the importance of bringing these bright young minds back to the Delta after they have completed their formal and advanced education.”
Wicker, a native of Pontotoc and resident of Tupelo, has represented Mississippi in the United States Senate since December 2007. Wicker serves as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and he chairs the Subcommittee on Seapower. He is a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, serving as chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet; Environment and Public Works Committee; and the Rules Committee. Wicker is also a member of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Congressional Board of Visitors.
Co-hosting the event will be Archie Tucker of Greenville, who is the deputy administrator of USDA’s largest Agricultural Research Service regional location in the country. Tucker’s extensive professional and civic activities have led to personal recognition including the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005 and the Herbert White Preeminence Award for Achievement in Excellence from Mississippi Valley State University, a resolution from the Mississippi House of Representatives and Parent of the Year for the 1999-2000 school year from the Mississippi State Board of Education. Additionally, Tucker is a member of several organizations including the Advisory Board of the National Society for Minorities in Agriculture, Executive Board of Alcorn State University and the National Alumni Association for MVSU.
The Honor Graduate Event is designed to bestow special honor upon two exemplary students from each of the high schools throughout the Mississippi Delta Region, including public, parochial and private schools. Students are selected by school administrators based on grade point average, extracurricular activities and community service.
In addition, a $2,500 scholarship will be awarded to the top Delta Honor Graduate as selected by higher education officials in the Delta, to help defray tuition and expenses as the student’s college of choice sees fit. The top Delta Honor Graduate will be recognized on stage at the Delta Council annual meeting during the Business Session, which begins at 10:30 a.m. Wicker will also be on hand to introduce the keynote speaker for the 82nd Annual Meeting, United States Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue.
Sponsors for the meeting: BankPlus, Catfish Farmers of Mississippi, Cotton, Inc., Sanders, Mississippi Corn Promotion Board, Mississippi Rice Promotion Board, Mississippi Soybean Promotion Board, and Southern Ag Credit/Mississippi Land Bank.
