When Olivia Adams was 12 years old, she watched her grandmother succumb to Alzheimer’s. Now a Mississippi State University-Meridian Master of Science in Nursing student, Adams and her cohort sprang into action when a call rang out to help fund a cure for the chronic neurodegenerative disease that causes dementia.

Mississippi State University-Meridian’s School of Nursing is equipping the Magnolia State’s next generation of caregivers with the tools they’ll need to support those suffering from ailments, illnesses and diseases affecting mental health.