Scholarship program reaches new milestones

■ Simmons program has given $1.1 million to more than 1,000 students.

Since 1979, the M.H. “Bill” Simmons Scholarship Program has been providing financial educational assistance to the children of Simmons Foods team members.

The program has reached several milestones in its 40th year, providing a combined total of more than $1.1 million in college and vocational scholarships to over 1,000 students, according to a press release from the company. In 2019, the scholarship program awarded $134,000 in scholarships to 72 recipients.

Mark Simmons, board chairman, established the scholarship program in honor of his father and the company’s founder, M.H. “Bill” Simmons.

“Simmons team members are encouraged to be curious and take action, just as my father did in founding and growing our organization,” he said. “This scholarship program recognizes that high school students pursuing higher education are also demonstrating these values and laying a foundation for future success by being curious about new opportunities and taking action to pursue their education.”

The idea for the program originated from the example set by the Siloam Springs High School’s annual scholarship night, according to Simmons.

“We are very grateful to the Siloam High School because they actually got us started giving scholarships back when Nancy Van Poucke and Leah Houston

started the scholarship program in cooperation with the Siloam Springs school system,” Simmons said.

The company started participating during the high school program’s third year, he said. It has continued ever since and grown to serve all Simmons team members in the various communities where they live.

The children of Simmons team members — employees and growers — as well as a handful of employees who are graduating seniors are eligible to apply for the scholarship program, according to Simmons. Overall, the company has about 7,600 employees in locations such as Northwest Arkansas, Van Buren and Fort Smith, Emporia, Kan., Pennsauken, N.J., and Toronto, Canada, and works with around 350 farm families, he said.

The company sends out notifications about the program to employees each year. The resulting applications are evaluated by a scholarship committee based upon academic merit, financial need and field of study, the press release states. Applicants who are considering a field of study that aligns with Simmons’ needs may also find opportunities for internships, summer programs and even a future career with the company, it states.

In recent years, the company has become more intentional about following up with scholarship recipients and encouraging them to apply for internships, Simmons said. Simmons Foods is a family company and many interns and new employees have parents or grandparents who work for the organization, he said.

The scholarship program isn’t the only way Simmons Foods supports education. The company has shown a pattern of contributing to education in the local community, including in the Siloam Springs School District and John Brown University.

One example is the Career Academy of Siloam Springs (CASS) at the Siloam Springs High School. The company issued a challenge grant and with the help of other manufacturers in the community established a manufacturing trade school, which prepares students for careers in industrial maintenance, welding and electrical services. CASS opened in 2015 and the first cohort of students graduated in 2017.

For a number of years, education has focused on sending high school students to college, which left out a number of young people, Simmons said. Vocational training gives young people a significant step up as they begin their careers and fills a need for skilled employees, he said.

The company supports education with the future of the organization and the community in mind, according to Simmons. The scholarship program also demonstrates the company’s value of “people first,” he said.

“The future of our company and our community is really based on the people we have available to work with us, so we want the best and the brightest and (we want to) help them get an education so they can come back and contribute,” Simmons said.