Five Coastal Carolina University freshmen and sophomores have been selected to be Jackson Scholars, a student leadership program sponsored by Coastal's Jackson Family Center for Ethics and Values.

The Jackson Scholars program entails two years of ethical leadership studies in the classroom, two summers of counselorship in the Summer Ethics Academy, creating and performing an ethics-focused internship in the local community, and the preparation of an annual report to the Jackson family. The Jackson Scholars also help organize and present all the Jackson Center seminars, including Tea and Ethics and the Visiting Ethicist lecture.

The scholarship recipients are Harry Cramer, a math major of Portland, Pa.; Sarah Heishman, a marine science and biology major of Brogue, Pa.; Perry Helton, a sociology major of Stafford, Va.; Rachel Koehler, a biology major of Virginia Beach, Va.; and Sonila Merkouris, an accounting major of Myrtle Beach. The students each receive a $500 stipend each semester.

The purpose of the Jackson Family Center is to cultivate and promote awareness in members of the campus and surrounding communities of the importance of personal and professional integrity. The center sponsors scholarships and visiting scholars as well as public discussion forums on ethical issues in science, business, education, and the arts and humanities. The center also houses an extension of Kimbel Library holdings of ethics-based texts.

The family of area business and civic leaders Nelson and Mary Emily Platt Jackson founded the center in 2004.