Contact: Sasha Steinberg
Photo by: Megan Bean
STARKVILLE, Miss.-- "Think about how you can give back to your community and make it a better place," Entergy Mississippi President and CEO Haley R. Fisackerly challenged the more than 2,000 graduates during Saturday's [Dec. 13] fall commencement ceremonies at Mississippi State University.
"Your success is directly tied to the success of your community," the Columbus native told his audience. Fisackerly holds a bachelor's in management from MSU. He also received his master's from George Washington University in public policy administration.
In addition to leading Entergy Mississippi, which serves more than 441,000 customers in 45 counties in western Mississippi, Fisackerly is board chairman of the USA International Ballet Competition and a steering committee member for the Mississippi History and Mississippi Civil Rights museums.
"Your community is where you'll send your kids to Scouting or soccer, where you'll work, where you'll raise your family, attend church and build friendships," he said. "It's where you'll pay your taxes, receive your police and fire protection and send your kids to school. It's where you'll call home."
Fisackerly urged the graduates not to allow technology and social media to control their lives.
"Look up. Be personally present. Show the world your face, not the top of your head. Technology is amazing, and it's great how social media has opened new channels of communication. But it shouldn't take you away from the present or isolate you from your surroundings and the people around you.
"Engage others with your voice--not with your fingers hiding behind a screen," he said. "The people around you that you engage just may lead to new opportunities and provide you with relationships that will help you succeed."
Whether volunteering with charities or at homeless shelters or participating in business, church, or school-sponsored events, "we all have something we can do to help our community," said Fisackerly, who spent six years on Capitol Hill assisting U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran with Mississippi economic development projects and legislative matters related to energy policy, the environment and interior appropriations.
In his closing remarks, Fisackerly shared one of his favorite "Denverisms," or words of wisdom, from Denver Moore, co-author of the best-selling book, Same Kind of Different as Me: "Nobody can help everybody, but everybody can help somebody."
MSU is Mississippi's flagship research university, available online at www.msstate.edu, facebook.com/msstate, instagram.com/msstate and twitter.com/msstate.