Helping the Delta

Chelsea Caveny, a Public Policy major, is just a normal student at The University of Mississippi she goes to class, studies, works and socializes on the square-but what makes her different from every other student at Ole Miss?

When Caveny was a freshman she went to meet with her advisor at the Lott Institute. Her advisor told her about a philanthropy that they work with called the Sunflower County Freedom Project. It is an organization that helps teach children in the poverty-stricken Mississippi Delta. The Sunflower County Freedom Project helps children with reading, history and public speaking. Caveny agreed to help her advisor and decided to go to Sunflower County the next weekend.

Caveny had an interest for helping Mississippi since she was born and raised in Hattiesburg. She had heard of the Mississippi Delta but didn’t know it on the level in which she would eventually learn real quickly. She drove there every weekend and worked with the children on Saturday mornings. Caveny said, “The first time I drove through the town I thought to myself-What am I doing here? The people knew I didn’t belong there as they all walked in the streets and stared at me through the windows of the car. Caveny said, “I was brought to the Delta by the Sunflower County Freedom Project and kept going back because of the sense of “village” I felt on my first visit, a sense of community that felt natural because I had grown up at the center of a village of aunts and grandparents.”

“I took on different roles at the SCFP--fundraiser, friend and speech teacher--but I quickly became primarily a student of the community. I would always stop at Ms. Downey’s house for a cup of lemonade and it was on her couch that I learned the history of the Civil Rights Movement in Sunflower County. Other stops ranged from dinner with Primus and his grandmother to a quick trip to Ms. Russell’s store with Mykia. It was during these times that I learned about modern Sunflower County and the harsh reality of life in a poor and still segregated Mississippi town” Caveny said. Crystal Gardner heard about what Caveny was doing and wanted to help her and the Sunflower County children. Gardner said, “When Chelsea took me to meet to her students their faces would just light up every time they saw her. They looked up to her, trusted her and confided in her.” Caveny decided to move to Cleveland for the next summer where she would commute to Sunflower County every day and be the first intern.

With Caveny’s help and hard work in the Delta, she has gone on to win some of the most prestigious awards. She is the first person at the University of Mississippi to win the Mitchell Scholar, and she is also a Truman Scholar. The Mitchell Scholarship is sending Caveny to Ireland to earn her Master’s of Arts in Community Education, Equality and Social Activism. Caroline Campbell, Caveny’s college roommate, said, “Chelsea is the most outstanding, well-rounded person I have ever been around. She is a best friend to these children and will always go back to visit them. The Delta has changed her output on life dramatically and now holds a very special place in Chelsea’s heart.”