Simmons Bank officials have presented a $10,000 check to the University of Arkansas at Monticello. The contribution will be added to the Simmons Bank Scholarship at UAM, according to a news release.
Tommy Jarrett, regional community president of Simmons Bank, and Brian Hargis, Monticello community president of Simmons, presented the check to UAM Chancellor Peggy Doss; Jeff Weaver, vice chancellor for advancement and chief of staff at UAM; and Roxanne Smith, accounting specialist for the UAM Foundation.
Doss thanked Simmons for its commitment to the university.
"Simmons Bank is a tremendous supporter of UAM, and we thank its leadership for continued support of the Simmons Bank Scholarship," Doss said. "The private scholarships in the UAM Foundation are incredibly important for maintaining affordable education for our students, and we hope that Simmons Bank's generosity inspires additional support for the UAM Foundation."
Hargis said the bank has proudly supported the communities it serves for more than 100 years.
"It's an honor for us to add $10,000 to the existing Simmons Bank Endowed Scholarship to benefit a student from our region. We believe investing in our students and their education provides a bright future full of opportunity," Hargis said.
Tommy Jarrett explained the origin of the donation.
"Our South Arkansas team recently won an internal contest throughout all the Simmons Bank community divisions," Jarrett said. "Our region ranked the highest in a number of bank metrics including customer satisfaction. To celebrate our team's success in 2021, Simmons Bank gave this donation for our associates to allocate to the organization of our choice. We agreed to provide this gift to UAM to increase our current endowed scholarship."
The Simmons First Bank of South Arkansas Scholarship was established at UAM in 2001 and became fully endowed in November 2002. In 2015, the bank's name was changed to Simmons Bank. To reflect this, the scholarship was changed to the Simmons Bank Scholarship.
The scholarship can be for any major. Recipients must be from Ashley, Chicot, Desha, or Drew County, and have a strong academic background, a grade point average of 2.5 or better, a strong work ethic, good personality traits and display excellent professional potential, according to the news release.
In 2021, the UAM Foundation awarded 1,400 privately funded scholarships totaling more than $500,000, enabling many students to obtain college educations.
For details on the Simmons Bank Scholarship or the UAM Foundation, contact Jeff Weaver at (870) 460-1127.