This fall, one of the incoming students at Jarvis Christian University is attending the institution that her great-grandfather founded over a century ago. Jade DeMelody Jackson is studying to receive an MBA. She is the great-granddaughter of Thomas Buchanan Frost, one of the HBCU’s co-founders and first-ever superintendent.

“I’m an official MBA candidate doing Jarvis Christian University’s program this fall semester. So, it’s back to school for me at the same HBCU my great-grandfather, Thomas Buchanan Frost, founded in 1912,” Jackson captioned her Instagram post on Sept. 10. “It’s truly an honor to continue my family’s heritage of excellence and greatness at the same place we’re proud to contribute to.”

She added, “For me to be a student myself now is truly humbling.”

Jackson also shared that her family created the Frost-Briggs Legacy Fund last year, to award scholarships to undergrad students at Jarvis Christian University.

Originally named the Jarvis Christian Institute, the school was modeled after the Southern Christian Institute in Edwards, MS, according to the school’s website. Community members, including Mary Alphin, launched a fundraiser with the Christian Woman’s Board of Missions to open a school for Black youth. The HBCU originally had 12 students upon its January 1913 opening. Frost and Charles Albert Berry, the school’s first principal, were its co-founders.

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