The Gazebo Gazette
BAY ST. LOUIS (GG) — Isabella Kerner, a senior at Our Lady Academy in Bay St. Louis, recently won the 2025 Joyce Caracci scholarship from Pro-Life Mississippi, which was open to high-schoolers across the state.
Pro-Life Mississippi (PLM), a nonprofit organization, works to educate and equip all Mississippians to value life through outreach, advocacy, prayer, and service. The scholarship is named in honor of PLM benefactor Joyce Caracci, a Neshoba County native who contributed tirelessly to pro-children causes through her career in health care.
Kerner, who lives in Pass Christian, is enrolled at Mississippi State starting this fall. Showing an appreciation of life in all its forms, not just human, she plans to major in animal sciences at MSU with the goal of becoming a veterinarian.
In her application for the scholarship, Kerner reflected on her experiences at the 2024 March for Life in Washington, DC.
“It is so beautiful that this [pro-life] cause brings so many people together,” she wrote. “I had goosebumps just thinking about the true power we have as Christians to voice for the voiceless.”
PLM presented the scholarship to Kerner as part of the OLA senior awards ceremony on May 6. “I want to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and make positive changes in the world, one small step at a time.”
