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NATCHEZ — Fayette resident Sharon Turner graduated from Jefferson County High School in 2001 and Alcorn State in 2006. She makes a 25-mile drive from her home in Fayette to Co-Lin Natchez to work close to where The Dart landed Thursday.

Turner is Copiah-Lincoln Community College Natchez’s director of student services. Her duties include overseeing the counseling, financial aid, admissions and records services for students. It is a position she has held since 2015. She started working at Co-Lin in 2011. 

“I studied child development and family studies. At the time I was interested in working with small kids,” Turner said. “After working here I changed the aspect of what I wanted to do. I found I enjoy working in higher education. I enjoy making a difference in the lives of students here at the Natchez campus,” she said.

A typical day in the enrollment services office is busy. Students or visitors may need assistance and she is there ready to help. Busy days do help the work day go by quicker, she said. 

In her time away from work, Turner is at home with her husband Selwyn Turner and their two kids. She said they were from the same area and knew of each other but did not hit it off until 2016. Dec. 26 will be their one year anniversary. 

“I’m looking forward to more years to come,” she said. 

She continues to make the 25-mile drive to Natchez because most of her family lives in Fayette. 

Any free time she has after work and family is taken up by crafts. Recently, she has gotten into making praline candies. She has made wreaths for the last eight years as a way to relieve stress. One of her wreaths decorates the wall around the office’s lobby window with red bells, red and golden ribbons. 

“It was just something I decided to do. I enjoyed it,” Turner said. “Over the last few years I have taught a wreath making class here on the Natchez campus as a special interest class. With making a wreath you have to think about all of the details. You have to think about what colors you would like to use. There are a lot of things which come with it but the color is the main one.”