Everyone is invited to attend the Upward Bound graduation and awards ceremony to be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 3, on the stage of Harton Theater located on the campus of Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia.
Ann Keese Thomas, Ph.D., one of the first Upward Bound directors, will be the keynote speaker.
The graduation and awards ceremony is free and open to the public.
While working as a secondary school counselor at Taylor, Thomas implemented the first counseling programs for elementary schools in that school district.
She accepted the position of counselor and assistant director of the Upward Bound project in June 1966, making her the first female administrator at SAU. Thomas became director of Upward Bound in June 1970 and remained in that position until 1983 when she became director of TRIO programs at SAU.
In addition to her work with the federal programs, Thomas developed and served as director of the SAU Testing and Research Department, taught graduate and undergraduate courses and served as director of the graduate Counselor Education Department. In September 1985, she became director of the SAU Counseling Center and combined the testing and counseling departments. She also taught graduate courses in counseling at night. In September 1987, she was appointed director of the graduate programs and became the first associate dean for graduate studies at SAU and the first female dean in higher education in Arkansas.
Thomas is the only Arkansas educator who has served on the National Board for Certifying Counselors and has received many honors.
She received her Ph.D. from Michigan State University in counselor education, personal counseling, and research and appraisal; a master in counseling from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville; did graduate work in special education at Auburn University; did graduate work in testing and appraisal at North Texas State University; and earned her bachelor of science from Texas Woman’s University.
Students to be honored include the following:
From Bradley High School, Adrian Cornell, Sheneiqua Hawthorne, and Shantel Noble.
From Camden Fairview High School, ShaTarra Ainsworth, Curtis Box, Jessica McKenzie, Allanna Henton, Kendra Patterson, and Brittney Smith.
From El Dorado High School, Ciara Hicks.
From Emerson High School, Avery Howell, James Vaughan, and Fredrick Willis.
From Lafayette County High School, Eugene Biddle, Ranneshia Callahan, James Chase, Brian Gwin, Adriana King, Nicholas Sanders, Brandi Soils, Courtney Strayhan, and Alvin Willis.
From Magnolia High School, Sharnita Blake, Dominick Carrington, Ashley Easter, Jalisa Easter, javia Jacobs, Tavon Lowe, Bridget Paschal, Shakenya Strickland, Danielle Watson, and Torri Weatherspoon.
From Stephens-McNeil High School, Alyson Adair, Katrina Christopher, LaKeidra Curry, Robert Miller II, and Christina Peterson.
From Taylor High School, Kristen Fields and Yamicci Griffin.
From Waldo High School, Ashatoria Hardiman and Ashley Randolph.
For more information call 870-235-4160.
