Casting a wider net for future students: McBrides endow scholarship for broad future

Jim McBride’s dedication and drive helped him build a beautiful life. Along the way, this has positioned him to walk through many doors held open for him by others. Today, he and his wife have created the Jim and Pinet McBride Endowed Scholarship at Mississippi State University to open doors for students across majors and educational paths. The scholarship rewards hardworking students, and its criteria provide life and career guidance similar to that McBride received throughout his youth.

“I’ve had so many people help me over the years, we felt we needed to try to help other people,” McBride, of Houston, Texas, said, “even people we have never met and may never meet.”

The Jim and Pinet McBride Endowed Scholarship is open to entering freshmen and students transferring to MSU from a Mississippi community college. To remain eligible for renewal, recipients must complete an experiential learning opportunity—such as a co-op, internship, research project or similar accomplishment—which is designed to help test how their studies connect with the careers they hope to pursue.

McBride began his education at Mississippi State in the mid-1970s, having transferred in from Southwest Mississippi Community College, where he had earned his way along through a football scholarship. His drive to earn his way guided him throughout his years as a student, and his purpose from high school graduation on was to lay a firm foundation for his life.

Growing up in the Mississippi town of Summit, then with a population of 2,700, he had never met an engineer, but his aptitude in math led to teachers encouraging him to think about it. Watching the bridges of I-55 come into being across the landscape of his childhood struck a spark, and so he studied to become a civil engineer.

“I wanted to make sure students who had chosen to go to community college first would still have an opportunity to receive the scholarship if they transferred to Mississippi State,” McBride said. “Working along the way in your chosen field of study helps a student know they’re learning to do something they actually want to do.”

Working along the way not only confirmed McBride’s chosen field, it facilitated his education. He worked in a hardware store and helped drill freshwater wells during high school, and he served as a roustabout on oil platforms offshore in summers during college. The hands-on hard labor supported his education. His personal determination to improve put him in front of a recruiter not seeking to hire a civil engineer and led directly to his first offer of a postgraduation job.

His work as an engineer in the oil business led to work with Texas Commerce Bank, now part of JPMorgan Chase, evaluating oil wells the bank held as collateral for loans. His eventual transition from engineering to banking helped inform his goals for the Jim and Pinet McBride Endowed Scholarship, which is open to students pursuing any major at Mississippi State.

“We felt like it was important to cast as wide a net as possible,” he said. “I started out as an engineer and wound up as a banker. I know several engineers who have become lawyers. Engineering is a great way to segue into other channels. There are other very capable people out there who have chosen different fields and have made a significant impact on many lives.”

Jim’s wife, Pinet, shares his appreciation for education. After graduating with a degree in English from Tulane University, Pinet dedicated her life to mentoring students by working as a dyslexia therapist and preschool teacher. Her passion for supporting students with dyslexia grew from her own son’s experiences navigating the same challenges.

“Education is key,” Pinet said. “It can open doors and allow children to pursue fields where they can really thrive in life, no matter what challenges they may face.”

One goal of the scholarship is to carry out the McBrides’ desire to inspire generosity that impacts the lives of others. Recipients of the Jim and Pinet McBride Endowed Scholarship acknowledge a statement of intent to someday provide financial support for other scholars as their circumstances allow, paying the gift forward to future students yet unknown.

“There’s not a requirement that they someday give to MSU per se, but I wanted to plant the seed in their minds that they would someday consider it,” McBride said.

Through his continued hard work and determination, he and his wife together built a wonderful life. Through their dedicated mission to return the many kindnesses that helped them along the way, they’ve established a scholarship built to help others do the same.