Friday, October 28, 2016

[148] True Blue Tour reveals Tri-Cities students sold on MTSU


JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — Leigh De Ball is 99 percent certain her daughter Margaret will attend MTSU starting in fall 2017.

Based on the passion exhibited by father-and-son Scott and Caleb Hamilton in front of the large crowd attending the MTSU True Blue Tour Oct. 18 at The Millennium Centre, they may have pushed it beyond the 100 percent level if that’s possible.

Johnson City served as the fifth stopover for the True Blue Tour, MTSU’s annual trek across Tennessee and also to Atlanta, Huntsville, Alabama, and in November, to Bowling Green and Louisville, Kentucky, to recruit prospective students.

Having spoken to both the De Ball and Hamilton families before taking the stage, university President Sidney A. McPhee asked them to share their feelings about MTSU, which is more than 250 miles from their hometowns. 

Scott and Caleb Hamilton and Margaret De Ball obliged, and they came away owing $1,000 less for college as McPhee presented them a $1,000 scholarship.

“MTSU is just amazing. There’s no other way to describe it,” said Caleb Hamilton, 17, a senior at Sullivan South High School in Kingsport who expressed an interest in studying health science or forensics. “I love how personal the staff is for me as a student. They call you by your name.”

The Hamiltons praised MTSU’s buildings, both old and new, and how beautiful the campus is to the eye. They spoke volumes about a female member of the Blue Elite campus tour team — a “true ambassador” for MTSU.

Margaret De Ball’s dream is to own a bookstore and she believes MTSU’s business entrepreneurship program is exactly what she is looking for to make it a reality.


“I love everything about it,” said De Ball, 17, a senior from Greeneville High School who has applied and been accepted to MTSU. “They have the major I want and the campus is gorgeous. … I visited another school, but when I stepped on the MTSU campus, I knew that was where I wanted to go. It felt like home to me.”

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