For each of the last three years I have studied the record of the 150 or so nominees and have been humbled by the experience. Mississippi is blessed with some outstanding young people who are moving mountains to benefit themselves, their families and their communities. No, a successful candidate must do much more than merely what is expected. You probably can't win it by being a full-time volunteer. The judges like to see someone holding a paying-job and toting a full load of community work and having a successful family life as well.
Conventional wisdom holds that there is much more opportunity outside our state than there is in it.
Let us agree at the outset that staying in Mississippi has been a conscious decision. Any of the Top 40 nominees could have chosen to leave the state and would have found success somewhere else. Let us further agree that their conscious decision to be here probably did not turn on money considerations alone. The bright lights of Atlanta, Houston or perhaps even Birmingham, usually offer a higher starting salary than a comparable job in Mississippi. I think the salary disparity diminishes as one moves up the experience ladder, but initially, starting salaries are higher elsewhere.