Rankin was raised in the Mississippi Delta and in Oxford, Mississippi. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a degree in English and Creative Writing.
Stories
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Wayne Rodolfich has served as superintendent of the Pascagoula-Gautier School District for the past 14 years. |
Vanessa Gibson is the Director of Children and Youth Services at Jackson County Civic Action.
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Paige Roberts became the President and CEO of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce on June 3, 2019. |
Ronald Baczkowski is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of VT Halter Marine, Inc. Prior to this assignment, he served as Vice President of Business Development at VT Systems, Inc.; VT Halter Marine’s U.S. parent headquarters.
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Jack Wright became the 22nd Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College football coach in December 2017, so he enters his second season in Perkinston in 2019. |
Lavon Capers has spent 21 years at Vancleave -- 19 of those on the football staff, with the last four as head coach. |
Chris Cavote is the general manager of the Pascagoula Refinery, a position he has held since January 2018. |
Coach Lewis Sims is a 1990 graduate of Moss Point High School. He attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland where he was a two-year letterman in football for the Midshipmen. |
Jen Robertson is the Business Development and Marketing Analyst for Mississippi Export Railroad (MSE). She joined MSE in August 2018. |
$42,000.00 was given out in scholarships yesterday to students from Pascagoula and Resurrection High School. You heard us right...FORTY-TWO THOUSAND!! |
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 Music has been an important part of leading an ordinary life for students at the Music School for Children With Disabilities in Honor of Paul Harris in Lublin, Poland. Founded by Rotary members, the school serves 20 students with various disabilities, including Down syndrome, autism, and visual impairments. The Rotary Club of Lublin-Centrum-Maria Curie-Sklodowska has provided funding with help from Rotary Foundation Matching Grants and the Henryk Wieniawski Musical Society, which houses the school. After their son Mateusz was born with underdeveloped eyes, Mariusz and Joanna Kania looked for ways to help him be active. When he showed an aptitude for music, they looked for a teacher and were thrilled to find the Paul Harris music school. |
 For years, Angalia Bianca had slept in abandoned buildings throughout Chicago. She stole. She did drugs. She spent time in and out of jail for forgery, theft, trespassing, and possession of narcotics. But after she landed in prison for the seventh time, something changed -- Bianca knew she wanted a better life. She just didn’t know how to make it happen.After serving her time, Bianca sought help from a local homeless organization, A Safe Haven, and moved to its shelter in the Rogers Park neighborhood. Bianca followed the program closely -- she attended all the required meetings, passed drug tests, and volunteered at every opportunity. |
 What is it like taking a large team to Africa? It has probably been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. In mid February, I began leading Rotary members from all over the East Coast of the United States through Ghana. I’ve tried to give the team a warm Ghanaian welcome like I’ve received on my earlier trips. A large trip is a real blessing because each person sees Ghana and our work in a different way.A highlight for the team was greeting the chief of Sagadugu. The team got excited about buying goats and food for children in the villages where I support eight churches. It was good to see the pastors of most of the eight churches, and I had to explain that we were just passing through on our way to Bolgatanga. |
 Throughout India and around the world, Rotary clubs are celebrating a major milestone: India has gone three years without a new case of polio. The last reported case was a two-year-old girl in West Bengal on 13 January 2011. To mark this historic triumph, Rotary clubs illuminated landmarks and iconic structures throughout the country with four simple but powerful words, "India is polio free."The three-year achievement sets the stage for polio-free certification of the entire Southeast Asia region by the World Health Organization. The Indian government also plans to convene a polio summit in February to commemorate this victory in the global effort to eradicate polio. |
