Big 7 Association Awards 16 Scholarships, Honors Community Leaders at Annual Banquet

Michael Jackson stood before 16 scholarship recipients at the Big 7 Association's 32nd annual Scholarship Banquet on Feb. 28 and built his keynote around a single, direct instruction. "You belong in every room you walk into," the Barnwell native and South Carolina State Ports Authority government strategy advisor told the students. "Walk in with humility, and with confidence, with your chin always up and your shoulders back."

The banquet, which serves high school students from Barnwell, Allendale, Bamberg, and Orangeburg counties, distributed 16 scholarships and honored eight community leaders for public service and impact. For Bamberg County students, it is one of the few regional scholarship programs explicitly oriented toward rural communities in the lower part of the state, where outside funding sources and professional networks are harder to access.

Jackson, whose career now spans federal and state government strategy at the SC State Ports Authority, grounded his address in the community that shaped him. "When I look around this room this evening, I can say with complete certainty: I am standing here because this community carried me," he said. "You showed up for me. You invested in me. You extended grace when I needed it. And you helped keep me on the right path."

Among the eight community leaders publicly recognized, Rev. Danny Singleton received a Community Service Award and Barnwell County Sheriff Steve Griffith received a Humanitarian Award. The recognition program pairs financial support with civic accountability, publicly crediting the mentors and institutions that invest in the region's students each year.

The 32nd banquet arrived as many Bamberg-area seniors are weighing postsecondary decisions ahead of spring acceptance deadlines. Beyond the scholarship dollars, the event serves a structural function in rural counties like Bamberg: it maps which students are emerging as leaders and which institutions, from congregations to county sheriff's offices, are putting resources behind the next generation.