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Finding mentors and guidance is an integral part of having a successful college career. Merritt Tompkins found both at the , as well as all over campus at the ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ of Mississippi.

Tompkins, who is set to graduate in May with a bachelor’s in Southern studies and a double minor in intelligence and security studies and global security studies, found her niche by studying the South through an interdisciplinary lens.

“I found Southern studies through the Academic Common Market scholarship, and I thought it sounded great because I love history and English,” Tompkins said.

The Academic Common Market is a tuition-savings program for college students in 15 states who want to pursue degrees not offered by institutions in their home state. Thompkins also had roots at the university, where her grandmother and grandfather attended.

While a freshman in English and Southern studies professor Adam Gussow’s Southern Mythologies and Popular Culture course, Tompkins learned to critique the South through literature, music, theatrical performance, film, television and music videos.

“I still think about that class because once you get to college, there is a way that a professor can have so much character that I feel like a high school teacher can’t have because the management of a classroom is so different,” Tomkins said. “The professors here; not only are they mentors, but they’re also a little bit of a celebrity in a way.”

Tompkins also used concepts and critical analysis she learned from faculty fellow and writer in residence Ralph Eubanks’ Rights and Southern Activism course to provide her mom with extra facts while they visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., this summer.

Tompkins impressed Eubanks with her ability as an undergraduate to conduct historical analysis. He even saved her final paper examining the memorialization of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, through works of art and culture, which he found incredibly moving.

“At its very core, my rights and activism class seeks to examine power dynamics in the movement, particularly related to gender,” Eubanks said. “The class pays close attention to the role women played in the movement, whether it was Fannie Lou Hamer's speech at the 1964 Democratic national convention or the Women’s Political Council in Montgomery, Alabama, which stood at the core of organizing the bus boycott there in 1955.

“Merritt Tompkins recognized how the power dynamics of the movement were mirrored in art and culture, and she did it in a way that was clear and concise.”

Before arriving at Ole Miss, Tompkins had a storied high school career as a kicker for the Destrehan High School football team in her hometown of Destrehan, Louisiana. She also was a goalkeeper for the soccer team and a member of the golf team.

“I feel like I’m in this weird phase of life right now, and everything feels like it’s changing,” she said. “I find myself thinking a lot about the past and about the future and how much I've changed.

"I love sports because I loved the community aspect of it, and I always loved being part of the team.”

While in Oxford though, she made the classroom her central focus and remained on the sidelines as a sports fan.

“I am the Ole Miss women’s basketball team’s No. 1 fan, and it’s been so fun for me to watch them grow over the last four years,” she said. “I drag my friends to games all the time and I just love attending games here.”

Her role as a leader for the Southern studies ambassadors and informing others about the program seems to come naturally to her. Previously, she was a community desk assistant for student housing and has worked this year in the .

At the library, she also found like-minded people, including Sarah Katherine Glass, program coordinator for the IDEAlab, and Elizabeth Batte, outreach and strategic initiatives librarian.

“I think you have to find support when you go to college, and you have to have adults to rely on because sometimes your friends aren’t going to cut it,” Tompkins said. “Sometimes you need the wisdom of someone who’s lived their life a little bit more than you, and there are some really good people in Barnard Observatory specifically for that, and also in the library.”

Batte said she has become a better supervisor, librarian and mentor through her relationship with Tompkins.

“Merritt is one of those students you meet and immediately know they have great things ahead of them,” Batte said. “Merritt genuinely loves to help others, from helping her uncool bosses learn Gen-Z slang, teaching visitors how to use tools in the maker space and assisting with library research and exhibit projects.”

Beyond gaining skills in writing and conducting research, Tompkins loves sharing about the Southern studies center’s other institutes, encouraging people to read magazine and Gravy.

By taking classes from several departments in the , Tompkins gained insight into different perspectives.

“It’s been a place for my ideas and my creativity that I don't find in a lot of other academic pursuits I've had in my life,” she said.

Being in a creative space, around professors who are easily accessible, is important to Tompkins.

“The people here have dedicated time and energy into investing and caring about what they are doing for the world, and that’s what I want to do the most in my future,” she said. “I’m trying to find places where people care about what they’re doing.

“I know I have the tools to figure it out, and I gained them here. I’m a walking advertisement; I just love it.”

Top: Merritt Tompkins has found support, purpose and community as a Southern studies major at Ole Miss. Photo by Srijita Chattopadhyay/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services

See more photos from Merritt Tompkins' Journey to Commencement