Featured
Graduate
December of 2005
Vicksburg is located on the Mississippi
River in west-central Mississippi, about 45 miles
west of Jackson. It was built on loess bluffs that
extend as much as 200 feet above the river. At the
beginning of the Civil War, Vicksburg, which was among
the largest cities in the state at the time, was the
commercial, financial, and social center for the region.
The city supplied products and services to people
in nearby towns and on plantations in western Mississippi,
northeastern Louisiana, and southeastern Arkansas.
Vicksburg was a major landing for steamboats traveling
between Memphis and New Orleans and other cities north
of Memphis in the Mississippi River drainage basin.
During the Civil War, Vicksburg was the site of
the Battle of Vicksburg, an important battle in which
the Union defeated the Confederacy and gained control
of the entire Mississippi River. The battle, also
known as the Siege of Vicksburg, consisted of a long
siege brought about by the fact that the city is located
on a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi River
and thus was largely impregnable to invaders. Because
the city fell on July 4, 1863, the people of the city
did not celebrate Independence Day for the next eighty-one
years, until 1944.
On 12 March 1894, the popular soft drink Coca-Cola
was bottled for the first time in Vicksburg by Joseph
Biedenharn, a local druggist. Today, surviving nineteenth-
century Biedenharn soda bottles are prized by collectors
of Coca-Cola memorabilia.
One of the most unusual weather occurrences in Mississippi
history occurred on May 11, 1894 at Bovina, MS, just
outside of Vicksburg. On that day, a gopher turtle
totally encased in ice fell with the hail.
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Vicksburg
on the bluffs as viewed from across the Mississippi
River. |
Another unusual occurrence and celebrating her independence
is Miss Stephanie Neese. What makes her unusual is
she is self-taught. Stephanie gave up on the public
school system in Vicksburg. She had attended some
public high schools in the past that she liked, but
Vicksburg high schools were not meeting her thirst
for knowledge. With the blessing of her parents, Stephanie
contacted Citizens’ High School for help. We
provided her with her senior year’s courses.
Because Stephanie is smart and motivated, she finished
an entire year’s worth of courses in a little
over two months. Stephanie graduated and was awarded
her diploma last December. She also maintained an
impressive 3.75 GPA!
Stephanie shared with us how she feels after completing
such an enormous goal. “I feel, in a word, accomplished.
After moving here I had all but given up every shred
of hope of ever graduating high school, until I found
Citizens’.” With her diploma in hand Stephanie
is off to college. She has designs on being a teacher.
We wonder if she will stay in Vicksburg and try to
raise the current standard. When not academically
involved, Stephanie likes swimming, sewing, walking,
and writing.
Stephanie Neese has made all of us here at Citizens’
High School very proud. It is difficult for young
people today to stay focused on the goal with all
the distractions. With our Nation’s government
run schools in academic and moral decline, Citizens’
High School is humbly grateful we could offer Stephanie
a challenging and drug free alternative.
Stephanie Neese is Citizens’ High School’s
Graduate of the Month for December 2004.
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