Arkadelphia school board hears update on Promise scholarship -

**Jason Jones, executive director of the Arkadelphia Promise Scholarship, delivers a report to the Board of Education.**

By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com

On the west side of the old Honeycomb restaurant is an Arkadelphia landmark mural. The 2012 project, titled “Journey from a Dream to the Promise”, depicts the many facets of the community, with a focus on education.

A closer study of the mural surfaces an arch of balloons over what appears to be skyward fireworks. It’s a little known fact, but this portion of the mural is documentation of an historic pep rally held on an autumn evening in 2010 at Badger Stadium: the announcement of the Arkadelphia Promise Scholarship.

It was then that Southern Bancorp and the Ross Foundation pledged that, for the next 18 years, every Arkadelphia High School graduate would be offered a scholarship to attend the college of their choice.

Between 2011 and 2024, some $6.5 million in scholarships has paid the way for 625 AHS grads to attend college thanks to the Arkadelphia Promise Scholarship, executive director Jason Jones told members of the Arkadelphia Board of Education during its regular meeting Monday, May 20, 2024.

Jones offered statistics related to the scholarship and hinted at its future.

The top six colleges AHS students choose are, ranked in order, Henderson State University, Ouachita Baptist University, University of Central Arkansas, Southern Arkansas University, University of Arkansas, and Arkansas State University. Highlighted in a lengthy list of other colleges where AHS students have attended were Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Oxford and the University of Chicago.

The average freshman semester scholarship, to date, is $2,447, Jones said, noting the average seems low because the Promise fills the financial gap left after offerings of other scholarships and Pell grants. In its fourth year, the average Promise Scholarship was $3,342.

Jones reported that most recipients of the Promise Scholarship, since its inception, have stayed in college past their freshman year. AHS graduates have about a 75% retention rate between their first and second years of college; the average retention rate in Arkansas is 69.9%.

Promising future?

The Class of 2025 was set to be the final group of students to be given scholarships throughout their four years of collegiate studies; however, Jones said, “the reality is that for now, I’m comfortable saying that our students who will be at the high school next year will all be able to count on the Arkadelphia Promise Scholarship.”

Though he didn’t specify what factors will allow the Promise’s continuation for the foreseeable future, Jones chalked it up to “some good things.” Jones said to expect more promising news in the next year or two: “We’ll have more to say about the future of the Arkadelphia Promise later.”

Other school board business

With a bare quorum of four members present, the school board heard an FBLA presentation and a Rosenwald School Resolution by the Arkansas General Assembly, ready by Peake High School alumna Dr. Patricia Wright. Fourteen Peake alumni were present for the resolution.

The school board made quick work of 11 action items, giving unanimous approval for each. Board president Blake Bell noted fellow board members had two weeks to study the items, which were presented at the agenda meeting earlier this month.

Asphalt at the new Peake Elementary School should be going down “any day now,” said Jimmy King, director of support services. A ribbon cutting and community open house is set for June 20 at 4 p.m. at the new campus.

Pest control services were used to curb a problem with bats at the bus shop, King said. The past few years bats have gotten under the eaves on the outside of the shop but recently found a way to get inside the shop. Cicadas, too, have been “dive-bombing” bus drivers at the shop, as they invited themselves in through the cracks above and below the garage bay doors. King said pool noodles were put on the doors to alleviate the locust invasion.

Superintendent Nikki Thomas reported enrollment at the end of the 2023-34 school year was 1,761 students.