By JONATHAN FELDMAN
Leader editor
The Jacksonville Promise program, which provides Jacksonville high school students with UALR scholarships and mentorship to help them attend college, held a reception Monday at the university to welcome the initiative’s first group of students.
It is funded by the Wilson Family Charitable Trust. Larry Wilson, chief executive and president of First Arkansas Bank and Trust, told the students to study hard and make their hometown proud.
UALR staff members provide students at Jacksonville High School and Lighthouse Charter School College Preparatory Academy with guidance, starting as early as their freshman year in high school, on the college-application process.
Its Pathway to College Checklist, a month-by-month guide that prompts students to advance the application process by helping them pick colleges, fields of study, prepare for SATS and ACTs and more.
The process, led by UALR staff based at Jacksonville High School, can help students be admitted to colleges across the country. The students must attend UALR to receive Jacksonville Promise money.
The program is likely to increase the number of students who attend college, a key indicator of a quality school system.
Several of the students it is helping attended the eventMonday in the Donaghey Student Center.
Trent Palsa, who graduated from Jacksonville High last May, gets $1,000 per semester from the Jacksonville Promise scholarship and plans to major in business administration.
Palsa learned about the program at an assembly in November last year at Jacksonville High announcing the program.
“If people didn’t have the right ACT scores or if they were struggling financially, if you came to UALR they were going to help you with that, you got the $1,000, all you had to do was write a thank-you letter to the family who donated, explain what you wanted to major in and how your high school experience was,” Palsa said.
“They will work with you. They help you apply for college,” he said of the Jacksonville Promise program.
UALR Chancellor Andrew Rogerson introduced Larry Wilson to the group.
“We are a university that prides itself on affordability and quality. One of the reasons you are here is we went out there and connected with as many high schools as possible to show students and families there is an affordable path to education in Little Rock,” said Rogerson, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, who holds a Ph.D. in protozoan ecology from the University of Stirling in Scotland.
“Concerned individuals like Larry Wilson want to help individual students in Jacksonville get that higher education. He’s part of the Wilson Family Charitable Trust that he has with his sister Kathy and his brother Mike, and they’re great supporters of education, particularly for individuals like yourselves in Jacksonville,” the chancellor told the students.
“I really appreciate all you do for these students, and everyone in your community, and we’re going to take care of them now and get them that four-year degree. You’ll graduate in 2021,” Rogerson said.
Wilson explained the origins of the Jacksonville Promise program. “It is indeed a pleasure to see these smiling faces from Jacksonville and looking forward to getting a great education here at UA Little Rock. Our family has been very interested in education in both the high school and junior high and elementary schools in Jacksonville, but also UA Little Rock with three members of our family having served on the board of visitors over the past 30-something years. We understand the importance of education. Fortunately, my parents left some money in a foundation that my dad wanted to earmark for education.
“Rogerson and others talked about the possibility of getting some money to add to the already-existing scholarship funds to basically make it a free education for students from Jacksonville. We couldn’t say no. It was just a great package. It is so important that folks like you all get that opportunity and take advantage of that opportunity to get that education,” Wilson said.
He emphasized the importance of the program to Jacksonville.
“You all are going to be pacesetters and pave the way for a lot of great young people coming behind you. So I want you to be successful. I want you to work hard and prove that you are worthy and can do the college work and be successful beyond that, and do something special like come back to Jacksonville and work,” Wilson said.
His three keys to success in college are “Go to class, go to class, go to class.”
After Wilson spoke, some Jacksonville Promise students, about 10 or so, introduced themselves.
Chelsea Taylor, who graduated from Jacksonville High in 2016, is majoring in psychology with a minor in criminal justice. “I want to be a forensic psychologist, hopefully with the FBI,” she said.
Amia Evans, a sophomore majoring in chemistry with a minor in biology, said, “I really do like the advantages we have on campus. The staff is very open and welcoming. I’ve had many opportunities while being on campus – it’s endless, it’s fun so take advantage while you can.”
Kaitlin Parker, a sophomore who graduated from North Pulaski High in 2016, is majoring in nursing. “We have so many opportunities on this campus and being in the middle of Little Rock. The nursing building is really great. There’s a lot of great new technology there.”
Precious Scott is a sophomore and a mass-communications major. “I’m going into public relations, probably have my own firm,” she said.
Jocelyn Gaynor, who graduated from North Pulaski in 2015, is a junior. “My major is innovation and entrepreneurship. I want to own my own gym and coach gymnastics.”
Christian O’Neal, vice chancellor for university advancement, said the Jacksonville scholarships are $1,000 per semester. Combined with Pell grants and Arkansas Challenge money, which are typical ways Arkansans pay for college, Jacksonville Promise can help pay for students’ entire college educations so they can graduate debt free.
The program is unlike any other in the state. “It’s Larry’s idea. He felt strongly about doing this, and it’s actually helped lead us to try and replicate this in other communities,” O’Neal said.
“The students are fully embracing it,” said Jacksonville High Assistant Principal Mary Jane Brockinton. “Last year, when the program was first introduced, 59 juniors signed up,” she said. Those juniors became seniors Monday.
Whitney Calliotte, who helps run the program for UALR, and has an office at Jacksonville High, said, “We’re really going to be rolling out those programs at the end of September.”
Calliotte said the high school students would be able to earn concurrent credits by taking some classes at Jacksonville High taught by UALR staff and arrive on campus with a head start.
UALR freshman Darryl Kimble-Brooks, last year at Jacksonville High, was the first to sign up for the program, Calliotte said he is among those featured in a promotional video that can be viewed on YouTube at “Discover Your Pathway to UALR Little Rock.”
In the video, Kimble-Brooks wears a Jacksonville Titans T-shirt then turns around and is wearing a UALR T-shirt.
The Jacksonville Promise program administrators have a whole schedule to communicate with current students, Brockinton said. “It’s a very exact plan.”
There is a schedule of workshops for the Jacksonville students this year, beginning with a financial planning night Oct. 4. Representatives of Jacksonville’s First Arkansas Bank and Trust will be presenters and parents can learn about the unique Arkansas 529 GIFT plan.
There are 18 students from Jacksonville in the program, though only 12 have received the scholarship.
Four students are from Lighthouse, which had two students receive scholarships.
The program is expected to have more students participate every year as UALR has more time to connect with students.
“We’ve had a 146 percent increase in the number of applications from Jacksonville because of this program.
Unfortunately, they were not all college ready because we didn’t get them in time, but it shows when you actually try to make connections and show them there’s a pathway then they get interested and they apply. The problem was by the time we went in there, the grades were what they were,” Rogerson said.
Students who weren’t admitted to UALR likely went on to attend college at Pulaski Tech, Rogerson said.