By Natalie Bell                                                                                                                                                      Special to the Prentiss Headlight

Andre Heath, a rising leader on the educational front in Mississippi, and advisor of graduate students at the University of Southern Mississippi, will be the featured speaker at the Jefferson Davis County NAACP program honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Monday, January 20, 2014.

The program will begin at approximately 11:00 a.m at the Prentiss High School gymnasium. Prior to the program, a parade will start at 10:00 a.m. in front of the Jeffersonian Motor Inn on Columbia Avenue traveling north.

A native of Crystal Springs, Heath serves as assistant to the Dean for Strategic Initiatives in the College of Science and Technology at USM, a position where for the past ten years he has mentored and counseled both undergraduate and graduate students in their pursuit of enrollment and job placement. Heath is currently completing a Ph.D. in Human Capital Development.

Heath speaks to groups and organizations statewide on leadership, personal empowerment, and civic engagement. In 2011 he was one of 82 contestants from a pool of 30,000 participants from 116 countries to advance to the semifinals of Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking.

In 2012, the Mississippi Business Journal selected Heath to its Top 40 “Under 40” Class. He is president of the Hattiesburg Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, and is a member of the Petal School District Board of Trustees. Petal city officials have recognized Heath as a trailblazer in that community. He and his wife, Amy, have two children, Austin and Alyssa.