Americans owe $1.2 trillion in student-loan debt, and that number is growing, according to a U.S. News & World Report article published in June. In Arkadelphia, the Ross Foundation and Southern Bancorp have funded the Arkadelphia Promise to help offset the cost of college tuition for Arkadelphia High School students. This year, the program reached  [ Read More ]

Since its inception in the fall of 2010, the Arkadelphia Promise has awarded $1,175,000.00 in scholarship money to Arkadelphia High School graduates in hopes of making college a reality for all local students. Executive Director Jason Jones is pleased to announce that the Arkadelphia Promise, funded by Southern Bancorp and the Ross Foundation, has provided  [ Read More ]

Arkadelphia, Ark.-The percent of Arkadelphia High School graduates enrolling in college reached an all-time high since the creation of the Arkadelphia Promise. Promise Executive Director Jason Jones recently announced that the AHS college-going rate for 2014 graduates is 75.4 percent, the highest percent since the scholarhip program was announced in 2011, and the third consecutive  [ Read More ]

It’s been more than three weeks since the announcement that the Arkadelphia Promise had been established to guarantee aspiring Clark County college hopefuls the funding to attend a university.

Now, Arkadelphia Superintendent Donnie Whitten says he and the rest of the faculty and staff with the school system are working hard to make sure the high standards set by the new program are met.

Spurred by the Clark County Strategic Plan, the school has worked over recent years to improve Advance Placement classes and to begin a college predatory program.

According to Whitten, these programs prompted a desire to go a step farther. Planning for the Arkadelphia Promise began 18 months ago, and it took the sponsorship of the Ross Foundation and Southern Bancorp to make it all come together.