A Minute with Marissa "Mars" Ramsey ('17)

Mars started their career at LSMSA in the Summer of 2019 and 2018 as a teacher’s assistant for LSMSA’s EXCEL program. However, Mars’ history with LSMSA goes back to 2015, as a rising junior at this very school.

As a current SLA, Mars is in charge of a hall of students and hosts programs for them, as well as the entire student body. One of their favorite programs to host is game nights. For example, last year, they hosted a “Can You Name the Student?” and for Spring Fling, a Family Feud event. Mars also co-sponsors the Junior Class Student Government Organization, who have been going all out this year trying to raise enough money to host an amazing Prom and Senior Class Breakfast. Through fun events like Junior Class Casino Night and Mars’ personal favorite, Junior Class Auction, they have been able to raise over $4,000.

In addition, Mars helps facilitate students’ lives by driving them to in-town appointments or to Walmart. In their words, Mars “ensure[s] the academic, personal, and emotional well-being of students.”

They love working at LSMSA because according to them, “My current position and the people that work here are what I desperately needed when I was a kid.” 

When asked about their most interesting experiences in life, Mars shares about doing French immersion for 13 years and leaving home at the age of 15 to attend LSMSA. One of Mars’ favorite memories as a student at LSMSA was going to Belize with Dr. Hodge for a Special Project to study jaguars and tarantulas. Mars also associates LSMSA with many fond memories while on campus. They say that LSMSA was the first time they had a real support system -- from teachers, to making Black friends, and just feeling like they belong.

They also thank LSMSA for helping them develop life skills, learning to communicate effectively, expanding understanding of different cultures, and pursuing academic interests, all of which are things that “people are still benefiting from now.”

However, Mars also understands the rigors and stress that comes with being in such an environment and advises, “Just because life gets uncomfortable and messy, it doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. It just means that you’re figuring yourself out and that you’re making decisions for yourself that are painful, but will ultimately serve you in the long run.” 

Mars is also currently a student on the Student Affairs in the Higher Education track at Northwestern State University, and through completing an 80-20 internship with LSMSA and NSU for her studies, they are also actively working to improve our school.

They spend 80% of their time working at LSMSA, from Student Services to Enrollment Services, where their main goal is to develop a first-year experience for incoming students that will help them better transition into LSMSA. They dream for LSMSA to function like a college for those students who are ready for that during their high school years. They would eventually like to become a dean of students. 

Mars is grateful for LSMSA’s donors’ support.

“There are so many students in Louisiana who have not been given the resources and opportunities to be successful, and for many of us LSMSA is the first place where we’re able to have those opportunities and resources at our disposal,” says Mars.

Further, they believe that by continuing to provide support, donors are “investing into the future of a state that can do real damage to students, in terms of leaving them behind in some aspects.” 

Given their personal experience in being a POC surrounded by white students during their French immersion years, Mars feels passionately about the fact that LSMSA has the ability to open doors for its students. 

“My position at LSMSA right now is my love letter to a place that did so much good for me, and I just want to return that,” says Mars. 

LSMSA’s residential life is indeed an aspect of LSMSA that students love as it makes this high school so unique, and Mars plays a huge role in that.