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Ashley Louis

Ashley Louis of Jackson says she “grew up in nursing.” Her mom is a nurse, and so are some of her relatives.

But it was the birth of her premature son, who is now 12, that made her truly want to be a nurse.

“He was very low birth weight. He had to stay in ICU (intensive care unit) for over a year,” she said. “When I saw how those nurses were, how they could care for him, that upped my appreciation for nursing.”

Louis, 34, a second semester Associate Degree Nursing student at ��������’s Jackson Campus-Nursing/Allied Health Center, is the

Ashley Louis of Jackson is the winner of the annual Carla McCulloch Scholarship for nursing students at ��������. From left are Rosalind Ratcliff, �������� clinical instructor; Dene Bass-Cook, retired �������� instructor who presented the scholarship; Louis’ mother, Margie Davis; Ashley Louis, her husband Charles Buck; and Dr. Irish Patrick-Williams, �������� instructor.

The scholarship was created by Larry and Carol McCulloch, formerly of Magee but now residents of Roanoke, Va., in memory of their daughter Carla, a Simpson Academy graduate who was a �������� nursing student at the time of her death in an April 1991 accident.

The award is made annually to a second semester nursing student who demonstrates the caring and enthusiasm for nursing that Carla embodied. She was a dedicated nursing student who took care of loved ones but also had a fun-loving streak.

Dene Bass-Cook, retired nursing clinical instructor, made the presentation on behalf of the McCulloch family, which was unable to be present. Bass-Cook said Carla McCulloch was an ardent advocate for her fellow classmates and her patients.“She was never hesitant in defending her peers and defending her patients. She was a mentor to her peers. She was a coach to those who felt like they were falling off the edge of the earth and there was no place to go. She was a definitely a role model,” she said.

Louis has been accepted into the dual enrollment program at the University of Southern Mississippi, which will allow her to complete her bachelor’s degree in nursing quicker.  She plans to continue her education with a master’s degree as a nurse practitioner either in critical care or nurse anesthetist.

For more about the �������� nursing program, see /programs-of-study/nursing-allied-health.

As Mississippi’s largest community college, �������� is a comprehensive institution offering quality, affordable educational opportunities with more than 170 academic, career and technical programs. With six locations in central Mississippi, �������� enrolled nearly 12,000 credit students in fall 2014. To learn more, visit or call 1.800.��������CC