Overall Winner
Chrissie Prichard
Chipola Junior College
Sophomore in Civil Engineering
4.0 GPA

Chrissie Prichard absolutely annihilates the pervasive stereotype of the dumb, blond cheerleader. Administrators and staff at Chipola Junior College assert that she is simply the greatest campus leader the college has ever produced in its 50-year history.

Prichard, 19, maintains a perfect 4.0 GPA as a sophomore in civil engineering, while serving as a substantive leader in Phi Theta Kappa, Student Government, and as captain of CJC’s award-winning cheerleading squad. More remarkably, Prichard has earned scholarships that pay for all of her tuition, books, and fees, and works two part-time jobs on campus to pay her other expenses. She’s totally self-sufficient, a rarity for super-involved campus leaders.

“On first impression, I don’t come across as very intelligent at all,” she says. “It’s part of the whole stereotypical blond cheerleader thing, that I’m air-headed. Some people don’t believe I’m an engineering major, and that I’m not dumb.

“I know that I’ve worked hard this past year, and I’ve done some things that are worthwhile. But I know that so many more do so much more than I do. It’s pretty amazing. I was chosen as first-team for the USA Today All-Academic—the stuff that the others do is so outstanding, I feel pretty average next to them. With all that they’ve done, how did I get chosen to be part of them?”

Prichard considers her greatest achievements to be as a PTK leader, a fact recognized nationally when she recently won the honor society’s prestigious Guiswhite Scholarship. “PTK allows students to maximize their potential, and our advisor is really good at helping us become leaders,” she says. “The people in PTK are some of the most positive people I’ve ever been around. I was always in clubs where people didn’t do what they said they would do. It was such a surprise and shock to find that all of the PTK people are just like I am—they’re so dependable, such positive people.”

With Prichard as the founder and lead force, PTK put on a massive project, the “Leadership of Promise Conference,” which brought hundreds of local high school sophomores and juniors to CJC to learn about community service projects and programs they could take back to their own campuses. “That was my baby, my project, and I know it made a difference,” she says. “We challenged them to create service-learning projects. That makes me feel really good that these projects have been developed there. These high school students are becoming leaders, learning that they can make a difference.”

As Prichard says, many of her peers in rural Marianna and nearby towns such as Chipley and Blountstown don’t think that broader issues affect them. “They live in a small town and are kind of insulated,” she says. “The conference helped them get the  message. It really influenced them.”

Prichard’s impact on the CJC PTK chapter is clear. Until this year, Chipola’s PTK chapter was ineffective and struggled to encourage eligible students to not only get involved but to join in the first place. “We’ve grown a lot this year. We have a six-person leadership team, so I can take credit for one-sixth of it,” Prichard says. “But we had a great chemistry between us, so we were able to grow and develop the chapter. We were the only six who applied last year for leadership positions, and this year we had 12 applicants. We even expanded our leadership team to 10. That showed that we worked really hard, and I don’t take credit for that myself.”

“She’s one of the most outstanding and amazing young people that I’ve ever been around. It’s just amazing,” says Dr. Lou Cleveland, mathematics instructor. “There’s almost no area that she’s not achieving in. And she’s not just showing up for meetings—she fully participates in everything. I’ve never seen a student who’s as active.

“She’s not a showy kind of person, the kind that wants to be noticed,” Cleveland says. “She’s very humble and is very careful in how she appears, downplaying her intelligence.”

Despite her humility, Prichard admits that without her, the conference just wouldn’t have happened. “I developed the agenda for that and coordinated it. I recruited members to be involved. I realized that I needed 38 volunteers, and I didn’t think there was any way we could get that many. I worked really hard to motivate my friends and acquaintances. I tried to bring in members who weren’t involved—only about 20 percent are involved. I tried to get the other 80 percent to join us and see that if you put it in, you’ll get a lot out.

“I remember when I was in high school, we’d want to do service projects and didn’t have any idea what projects could be done,” she says. “I thought if the groups came here and presented projects that were already set up, it wouldn’t be hard for the students to volunteer, and it would be a better motivation.

“It’s a continuing project—you can’t just introduce it to them and leave. Our PTK members continue to contact and encourage them.”

PTK Advisor Jody Spooner says there have been other 4.0 intellectuals and occasionally other service-minded leaders at the college, but never before has there been one who excels at both. This semester alone, Prichard won PTK’s top award, was named a first-team All-USA Academic Team member, and took home the New Century Scholar Award as the top student in the state from the community college system’s All Academic Team nominees. “It will be the ‘Chrissie world tour,’” says Spooner, who also works with Prichard as coordinator of the honors program. “As a culture, we harp so much on the negatives and don’t recognize so many of the things that students do that are right. This recognition for her is going to be spread throughout this area. It’ll show kids from our area that they can go on to achieve. No one compares to her, absolutely no one does.

As Spooner says, “She’s brilliant, but you wouldn’t know it to meet her. You wouldn’t immediately see the academic prowess she possesses. She’s our only 4.0 student on campus in a very difficult discipline. She’s the kind of person who blends in anywhere, adapts so instantly. She’s a leader, a pure leader. She’s very purposeful in the way she goes about putting people together. She makes it look simple. So many people admire and respect her. We can’t imagine how she does what she does.”

Dean of Students Joan Miller says Prichard possesses a combination of strong qualities. “We’ve had a lot of students with great intellectual abilities, with excellent leadership qualities, and then we’ve had some with drive,” Miller says. “She takes all of these and rolls them into one extremely delightful young woman. I haven’t seen that from a student. She just has that intellectual ability, has the leadership, and demonstrates it so well to other students.”

Spooner says Prichard works harder as a leader than anyone who follows her. “She does the nuts and bolts behind the scenes. She’s on the front lines with her troops. She’s willing to do everything they’re willing to do,” he says. “She’s clearly the most effective student leader that I’ve ever worked with in 15 years. I’ve worked with some outstanding students around the country, but I’ve never worked with someone like her. Someone who has her intelligence, a genuine soul, is caring, and is devoted to causes.

“You can’t imagine someone like her being as humble as she is,” Spooner says. “She could flaunt the incredible gifts that she has, but she doesn’t. People simply can’t ignore the fact that she’s just as grounded and humble as the student who’s struggling to get by. The impact on our organization has been phenomenal. The people on this campus, students in particular, are going to embrace her. She’s a remarkable human being.”

Spooner says he’s excited to think about the leader that Prichard could become at 25 or 30 years old. “When she really starts to comprehend what’s she’s capable of, it’s going to be amazing,” he says. “The best is still ahead of her. I’ve never seen anyone like her before, but I doubt I’ll ever see it again.”

Prichard credits her mother, a local high school chemistry teacher, as her biggest influence and role model. “She’s just as busy as I am, and all of my brothers and sisters are just as involved as I am. My mother has been taking us to ball practice, games, and dance practice forever. She’s the busiest person I know. But she does a really good job of having time for herself, my father, and her children,” Prichard says. “I’m taking after her.

“My mom has been good at keeping me humble,” she says. “Even when I was little, I would get the highest grade. She reminded me that I studied hard, that I worked hard for it. It wasn’t that I was naturally smarter. She said ‘You did such a good job, but you only could have done it with those people helping you.”

As Prichard says, she’s not a “Martin Luther King, Jr.-type” leader.” “I’m more behind the scenes,” she says. “I’m really not the type that can stand up in a group and lead by an incredibly motivating speech. I’m not the type of person who you would see as a great leader in the first few minutes after you met me. I would rather not be the center of attention the whole time.”

Miller says Prichard is an “encourager,” a leader who draws students to help her with projects. “She’s provided the leadership and motivation that was needed to get the other students engaged. She’s not a paper member,” Miller says. “I don’t know quite how she does everything she does. She has the leadership and drive and intellectual ability. She’s genuine. I would think that she’s the finest leader we’ve ever had at Chipola. We’ve had students who were really strong in some areas, but she’s probably the best in all of the areas. I’ve not had one like her before.”

“I’ve seen a lot of honors students that automatically wanted to be like Chrissie,” says Dr. Gene Prough, CJC president. “When you can get your peers to follow you like that, that’s a leadership attribute that’s not learned. You have to develop it.

“She’s like E.F. Hutton—when she talks, people listen,” he says. “But she’s not over the top, loud, boisterous, or dominant like some people. If she were in a group, she would emerge as a leader but wouldn’t start her own campaign.”

It’s clearly Prichard’s humility that endears her to the college community. “I’m still normal,” she says. “When I got the first-team USA Today award, some of my friends sent me flowers and took me out to dinner. They were happy for me instead of jealous. Even others who applied for the same awards were excited for me. I surround myself with good people.

After graduating this spring, Prichard says she plans to transfer to the University of Florida, the Georgia Institute of Technology, or Mississippi State University. “But I don’t want to place a financial burden on my family,” she says. “I want my brothers and sisters to not have to give up anything. A lot will depend on who offers me the most scholarships."

Prichard originally planned to go to MSU, but her father’s health problems meant leaving home would’ve been a large financial burden on her family. “I have three younger brothers and sisters. I wanted my parents to be able to provide for them too. Now, I’m really glad that I didn’t go to Mississippi State,” she says. “I don’t ask my parents for anything; I feel strongly about that. I feel like it’s my responsibility to work. If I want to buy a new shirt, I’m not going to ask my parents. We’re not poor, but they can’t pay for things hand-over-fist. My brothers also work—we don’t expect my parents to give us money for clothes. It’s my responsibility to pay for myself. I really want to be able to do this without placing a burden on my family.”

“For so many students it’s all about ‘me,’ and some wouldn’t think twice about what happens to their siblings,” Miller says. “But Chrissie delayed her dream to come to community college, and she says it’s the greatest opportunity. It has turned into a real blessing for her and for us.”

Prichard works as a computer lab assistant, which she says lets her do quite a bit of studying while there. She also works for the vice president of administrative affairs and is in charge of parking programs. Prichard hesitantly admits she’s the one who sends parking tickets to students and staff.  “I try to keep it quiet that it’s what I do,” she laughs. “I don’t want them to get mad at me.”

Prichard says her biggest weakness, and one that she’s worked diligently to overcome, is that she’s a perfectionist, very organized and detail-oriented. “It’s hard to delegate responsibility. I’m the type to take it all on myself because I kind of feel guilty about asking others to help out,” she says. “But if you surround yourself with positive and good people, you’re bound to succeed. You pick responsible people and they’ll get it done. I’m still working to overcome this. If I ever work on anything large and detailed, I’ll put that skill to work again.”

As she readies for graduation and new challenges at UF or elsewhere, Prichard hopes she has left a legacy. “I’d like to think that I’m best known for getting students involved,” she says. “Administrators appreciate my work with high school students, which is basically recruiting for Chipola in an indirect way. I hope they view me as positive and dependable, a hard-worker who wants to make a difference. I think they do. I think the things I’ve done speak for themselves. I do work hard.

“I know I couldn’t have done all of this without the support of staff at Chipola,” Prichard says. “They have really helped me so much, believing in me and supporting me and allowing me to reach my full potential.”

President Prough reiterates that Prichard exemplifies everything that a model student should possess. “Everyone likes a winner, but in this case it’s a deserving winner,” he says. “I’m just proud she’s one of my students.” -WHO

Contact Prichard at chrissiep111@msn.com.