Samuel Devon Richardson

Samuel Devon Richardson graduated from Victory Christian Academy (Columbus, Mississippi) in class of 2020. He was also dual enrolled at East Mississippi Community College. Samuel’s final GPA at Victory Christian is 4.04 and GPA at EMCC was 3.5. At Victory Christian, Samuel was blessed to be a member of the National Beta Club during all four years of high school and served as Beta Club Treasurer during his senior year. He was also on the All “A” Honor Roll during his entire high school career, a member of the National Duke TIP 7th – 12th Grade Talent Search, and a member of the Honor Society. Samuel played on the Junior Varsity Basketball team during his freshman year and the Varsity Basketball team during his senior year without compromising his beliefs. The Varsity Basketball team made it to the State Playoffs.

Samuel has been a baptized member of the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church in Birmingham, Alabama since April 24, 2010, and he has been very active. Over the years, Samuel was also a member of the Ephesus Adventurer Club, Ephesus Youth Choir, Central Alabama Youth Choir, the Audio/Visual team, and Jesus Crave, the South Central Conference Youth Choir. He also participated in the Ephesus Children’s Program in the Smithfield community in 2019, played for the Ephesus Basketball team during the 2019-2020 season, and sang with the 2019 OU Live Choir during a college days visit to Oakwood University.

Samuel’s community service as a high school student totaled over 60 hours, and he has been fortunate to do such things as help out with food pantries, annually serve Thanksgiving Dinner to inmates in the West Point Correctional Facility, assist his mother with Women’s Ministry projects, and serve as a host of “Listen 2 Our Teens”.

“Listen 2 Our Teens“, a nonprofit television program for teenagers ages 13 to 19, airs on PEG-TV Channel 18 COMCAST in Jackson, MS.  It is also aired on 3ABN Station, WFNH 95.1FM, in Jackson, MS and YouTube.  Ms. Deborah Gant, the director of the show and founder of Focus on Natural Health Education (FONHE), gave him creative freedom to come up with topics, show titles, and interviews that would be of interest to young people.

In 2019, Samuel was honored to receive the Academic Achievement Award from the Alabama Veterans for Christ Ministry and the G. Halbert Uplift Scholarship. He was also offered various academic scholarships from around the country but ultimately decided to accept the Presidential Award from Mississippi University for Women, which is known locally as ‘The W’.  ‘The W’, which has been admitting men since 1982, is the Alma mater of both his father and mother.  Samuel is currently majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in Management Information Systems.