Students, Parents Buoy MC Business Admin Assistant to November DBT’s MVP Award

With her parents at her side, Harley Bush, second from right, administrative assistant and student coordinator in the Mississippi College School of Business, displays the MVP Award presented to her by Dr. Blake Thompson, right.

The students with whom she works and serves in the School of Business at Mississippi College may bear some responsibility for Harley Bush’s selection as Dr. Blake Thompson’s MVP Award winner for November, but her parents provided much of the support.

In fact, Bush’s mother and father were the main contributors to an emotional scene at the conclusion of what had been a fairly routine staff meeting in Swor Auditorium on Nov. 8. Tears mixed with smiles when Thompson surprised the MC Business administrative assistant and student coordinator with the award as the meeting drew to a close.

“When they announced (the award), they had my parents come from the back and walk down and surprise me,” Bush said. Both had been hospitalized in June with COVID-19 and, while her mother had recovered soon afterward, her father had just recently been sent home and was still on oxygen. “When they brought them out, it was very overwhelming, to say the least.

“A lot of people here at MC had been helping me out, bringing us food and praying for them. The people here had a lot to do with getting them home.”

Countless business students at MC say Bush has had a lot to do with their success as well. Several of them nominated her for Thompson’s coveted monthly “Most Valuable Person” prize.

In recommending Bush for the award, Seth Albritton, a junior business administration major from Chesapeake, Virginia, and a student worker in the school, said Bush truly cares about everyone she comes in contact with – faculty, staff, and students alike.

“She’s a real ‘people person,’” Albritton said. “Her personality is bright, kind and charming. Everybody in the school interacts with her, and they all see how encouraging she is and how helpful she is.

“She knows what she’s doing. Professors come in asking questions all the time, and she seems to always know what they’re looking for. There’s rarely a time when someone asks her a question and she doesn’t know the answer to it.”

When members of the Think Tank Entrepreneurship Club on campus needed MC nametags, Carter Zatechka, marketing officer for the club and a senior business administration major from Memphis, Tennessee, praised Bush for deftly providing them.

In his nomination, Zatechka also spoke of her helpfulness in correcting a course registration error.

“Harley takes her job seriously and is a professional and intelligent asset to MC Business faculty and students,” Zatechka said. “She’s an effective communicator and outstanding listener as well.

“She’s an extremely diligent individual. Whenever I stop by the office, she’s always willing to provide assistance.”

For her part, Bush credits the MC Business students for providing the spark that helps her keep the office running.

“I spend a large majority of time with my student workers, and we just like to help students in any way we can,” she said. “They keep everybody focused on why we’re doing what we’re doing at MC. They’re the most fun part of the job.”