LITTLE ROCK — More than 100 members of the Class of 2012 at Arkadelphia High School came into the school’s gym May 17 to became the second class to sign up for Arkadelphia Promise scholarships.
Wearing T-shirts from the colleges and universities they wish to attend, the seniors took their seats on the floor of the gym and were greeted with applause and cheers from fellow students, teachers and parents.
The Arkadelphia Promise program offers scholarship eligibility to any student who graduates from the Arkadelphia School District and achieves at least a 2.5 grade-point average or a minimum score of 19 on the ACT college entrance exam. There are no family-income restrictions for the scholarship.
Students can use the money at in-state or out-of-state schools - at public or private universities. Students must also receive an ArkansasScholarship Lottery scholarship and can apply for any other scholarship or grants they are eligible to receive. The Promise scholarship will make up the difference for the students’ college education.
Earlier in the week, Jason Jones, executive director of the Arkadelphia Promise program, said it appeared that 105 of the high school’s 110 seniors could qualify for the scholarship. He said final grades and lottery scholarship awards could change thenumbers slightly, up or down.
Southern Bancorp and the Ross Foundation, both based in Arkadelphia, partnered to fund the scholarship program, designed as part of the Clark County Strategic Plan. The scholarships will help students pay the cost of tuition and mandatory fees up to the highest rate charged by a public university in Arkansas.
The partners did not put a cap on the amount of money they wouldmake available, but when the plan was first announced in November 2010, Southern Bancorp and The Ross Foundation said the program will last for at least 18 years.
John Olaimey, president and CEO of Southern Bancorp, spoke to the class as part of the scholarship-application signing ceremonies.
He said members of the class of 2011, the first to receive the scholarships, are doing well in college.
As of the end of the first semester, 95 percent of the Promise students were still in school, Olaimey said.
Of those, 72 were still in Arkadelphia attending either Henderson State University or Ouachita Baptist University.
“We are excited for the students and the community,” he said. “Before the Promise was created, we were disturbed to hear that only 19 percent of Arkansans have college degrees.
“We felt that if we could change the economic and educational opportunities of this state, we could change things for the better in Arkansas. This is a step in that change.”
The keynote speaker was Fitzgerald Hill, president of Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock and a 1981graduate of Arkadelphia High School.
“I am thrilled to be back in the gym where I dunked once,” the former Badger basketball player said.
The academic administrator and former football coach said he wanted to give the students “three decades of advice,” so that in 2042, they can return to the school to pass along advice to that year’s seniors.
Hill told the students: “Graduation is not an end, but a new beginning. What you do in the next five years will dictate what happens to you the rest of your life.
“Show me your friends, and I’ll tell you how you will turn out. Pick friends who succeed and who want to go places.
“Victory is a journey. No one here is going to hit the lottery. It is obtained in small steps - by the inch it is a cinch, by the yard it is hard.
“Setbacks are made for comebacks. Setbacks teach you what to do to succeed.”
Mostly importantly, he said, that success is defined by the difference one can make in the lives of others.
“I can’t tell you who won the Super Bowl five years ago,” Hill said, “but I can tell you the name of the teacher who had the biggest impression on me.”
As the students were called up to sign their Promise scholarship applications, Hill accompanied Arkadelphia senior Cornelius Gregory, who plans on attending Arkansas Baptist College.
Students were called to sign up grouped by the colleges they wanted to attend. The largest group of 46 wore the burgundyof Henderson State University and were greeted by Glendell Jones Jr., who was recently selected as president of HSU.
Wearing Razorback shirts, 14 students signed up to attend the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. Two students signed up to attend College of the Ouachitas in Malvern.
A dozen seniors stepped up dressed in T-shirts from Ouachita Baptist University and signed their applications as OBU President Rex Horne shook hands with his future students.
One of those in purple was Fair Ledbetter, who said she wanted to major in graphic design and mass communications.
“Its the best school for me,”she said. “I would like to become a news anchor.”
The Arkadelphia senior said that without the Promise scholarship, she could not attend OBU.
Other students who signed up for the Promise have pledged to attend the University of Arkansas campuses in Little Rock, Fort Smith and Pine Bluff, the University of Central Arkansas, Arkansas State University, Hendrix College, Harding University and other schools, including the University of Houston and the University of Louisiana-Monroe.
Staff writer Wayne Bryan can be reached at (501) 244-4460 or wbryan@arkansasonline.com.
Tri-Lakes, Pages 55 on 05/24/2012