Scholarships cultivate Auburn experience for 2024 Miss Auburn University

Mary-Coker Green nearly missed the Auburn experience. The agricultural economics major, public relations minor and 2024 Miss Auburn University will graduate this spring, but her orange and blue story could’ve taken a very different turn.
 
“I grew up in a University of Alabama home,” Green said. “My dad was head cheerleader for Alabama and my cousin was the quarterback of the 2015 national championship team. So, I never said, ‘War Eagle,’ and certainly never wore orange and blue.”

Until she did.

Auburn was not the obvious choice for Green. But there’s really nothing conventional about this daughter and granddaughter of flower, cattle and fish farmers from Citronelle, Alabama, so it’s no surprise that her path to the Plains was unique, too.

She has already won beauty pageants, created a nonprofit foundation, published a children’s book and learned about the powerful gift of philanthropy. She could’ve gone anywhere and pursued any dream, but she chose Auburn and has become one of the university’s greatest ambassadors.

Green credits the support she received through scholarships, friendships and opportunities from her first day at Auburn with shaping her student experience. That’s because she didn’t just fall in love with the Plains, she fell in love with the Auburn Family.

“The Auburn Family met me with welcoming arms,” she said. “It wasn’t just them telling me to find my place here. They told me they already had a place for me here.”

Planting an extraordinary Auburn experience

Green knows what it means to “Believe in Auburn and love it.”

“During campus tours, I often ask potential students, ‘Who do you want to be in five years and which university is going to teach you those skills and develop the young person within you to reach that goal?’ For me, it was easy,” she said.

From her first steps on campus during her junior year of high school, she knew. But, in late 2020, her life took a drastic turn. She was involved in a head-on collision while driving home from church. Although Green walked away from the accident with minor injuries, the man who hit her did not survive.

The tragedy and mental and emotional trauma — including post-traumatic stress disorder and survivor’s guilt — after the accident changed her life forever. While her peers went on college visits and planned décor for their freshman dorm rooms, she attended counseling appointments and learned to drive again. It wasn’t until a friend who had also experienced trauma shared a fresh perspective with her that something new begin to sprout amid the devastation.

“She told me that I would now see life through a lens of experiences and opportunities that I wouldn’t have had if not for the accident. She was right and, in that moment, I knew that God chose for me to still be here,” Green said. “That changed my experience coming to Auburn because I saw every person that I met as someone I might not have been able to meet or a conversation I might not have had if things had gone differently.”

She found healing through helping others. Creating a nonprofit organization, Engage: Building Healthy and Resilient Minds, Green provides support and resources for others who have experienced trauma. She also wrote a children’s book, “The Girl Who Grew a Garden,” as a resource for children facing difficult changes and experiences.

“Throughout this process, I’ve learned that we can hold grief and gratitude at the same time and that together, they are how we see trauma in our lives,” she said. “Auburn taught me that I could grieve the loss of this person, grieve the loss of who I used to be but also be so grateful for the life I have and the entirety of my story.”

Nourishing a rewarding Auburn dream

Green has been part of many high-profile leadership activities, including competing in the Miss Alabama organization, serving as Miss Auburn University, participating in a sorority and holding senior roles in the Student Government Association. She’s found great purpose and meaning in every position but her favorite Auburn activity is not what people might expect.

“I love being part of the student recruiters,” she said. “As a student recruiter, the focus isn’t on me. I’m just one of 80 people who love Auburn and want nothing more than to simply give to others a bit of what Auburn has given to me.”

Although many of her peers cite football or basketball games, rolling Toomer’s Corner or watching the eagle fly over Jordan-Hare Stadium as their most-loved Auburn traditions, Green has a different favorite.

“Hey Day is my favorite day of the year. It should really be a national holiday,” she said. “Hey Day demonstrates the reason Auburn University is such an intentional place. Hey Day is when we can stop and say that you are more than a student or employee; you’re special and part of a family at Auburn.”

Purpose, relationships, service – these tenets have defined much of Green’s Auburn experience. But gratitude is the principle she holds most dear. She’s thankful for those who shaped her time at Auburn and for the generosity of the Auburn Family in making it all possible.

“My father lost his job right before I came to college,” she said. “And I know my parents would’ve done everything they could to help me still come here but because of the scholarships I received, I could take that burden from them. I could focus on being a student and experiencing Auburn. Scholarships made my college experience possible.”

After graduation, Green plans to continue pouring into the Auburn Family by working in the fundraising and alumni-focused arm of the university called Advancement. She is determined to see the generosity and dedication of so many alumni, faculty and staff, students and friends who fueled and enriched her Auburn experience do the same for future generations of students.