S A V E M Y S C H O O L

State officials are trying to move my school to Mississippi College for Women, in Columbus. The move would cost T O N S O F M O N E Y. The move would make it impossible for almost all the amazing teachers here to continue working for Mississippi School of the Arts (MSA.)

The move would make conditions worse for students, and they would lose the sense of "home" that is so prominent here in Brookhaven. The move would destroy the home created for so many alum already.

Though the move wouldn't take place until after my graduation, I would still feel very much affected. MSA has meant so much to me in these two years. It is a wonderful opportunity and family that anyone would be lucky to be included in: faculty, teachers, or students.

MSA has made me a better and more mature person. If it weren't for MSA I would not be pursuing my writing as I am now. If it weren't for MSA I don't know who I would be right now. The people surrounding this school have been my mothers and fathers--they've pushed me and helped me with any and everything I've needed. These people are unlike any others, and losing them would be a travesty for potential students to come.

Just as MSA is coming into view--just as people are becoming aware of it and being interested in it, MSA is potentially getting knocked down and halted. MSA could well fall apart because of this. The spirit of MSA, the Phoenix, would be so put down by this pointless move--recovery would happen, I'm sure, but not without struggle. Not without a forever looming sense of betrayal and loss.

MSA doesn't deserve this. The students and teachers and faculty who have made their homes here don't deserve this.

I will never understand why people fail to respect the arts--I will never know how to explain to them its importance. Imagine a world without color, a world of complete sameness, with no words, no music, and no creativity. Imagine a world completely void of Beethoven, Bob Ross, the Beatles--a place where children didn't color pictures to hang on their parents' fridge. What a loss.

I love MSA, I love it for all it's done for me and everyone who has come in contact with it. I love it for trying, no matter what challenges are brought to it. But more than I love it, I need it. I need to come back to MSA, like every other alumni--and see that it's still here--the same as people go home, just to know that it's still there.