The Hot Springs Area Community Foundation recently awarded $1,000 scholarships to local high school graduates Eli Kalen Evans and Kash Aaron Pearce from the Chitwood, Johnson, Steinman Endowment fund, as well as to Robert Lewis Neilsen, as the first recipient of the Ann Carrithers Hot Springs Advisory Youth Council Memorial Scholarship.
The late Joseph Russell Chitwood, a longtime Hot Springs resident and postal worker, established the fund in 1997, and following his death in 2001, his heirs continued to honor his wishes by awarding an annual scholarship or donating half of the spendable funds to the Garland County Historical Society.
Chitwood was a history enthusiast, and according to a news release, graduating seniors must be from Garland County and planning to major in social sciences or a related field to be eligible for the scholarship. Other criteria include a grade point average of 3.0, financial need, community leadership, and the potential to succeed in college.
Evans, a graduate of Hot Springs World Class High School, will attend National Park College this fall while Pearce, a Lakeside High School graduate, will attend the University of Arkansas. Both students, in their essays, expressed the desire to make a difference in people's lives and give back to the community.
"We have a grant committee and that struck a chord with all of them," HSACF Executive Director Joyce Whitfield said.
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"Because they're all on the foundation board of directors here and that's what we're here for, is to give back to the community. So that's always a good thing to see that youth are interested in coming back, or even if they don't come back here, but they're interested in helping others and giving back for some of the services that they received and they've been able to enjoy. That was a big factor," she said.
Graduating in the top 35% of his class with a 3.33 GPA, Evans plans to major in social sciences with a focus on social work, noting in his essay, "Not only did my family experience hard times, but also the majority of our friends and people I grew up with lived in poverty alongside me."
Whitfield lauded Evans' determination and ability to maintain his grades and seek scholarship applications while dealing with the recent loss of his mother.
"He kept right on going. He wanted to show his mom, and he mentioned that in his essay -- he wanted to show her and show the family that he was going to make good of himself and charge forward with his plans," she said.
Pearce graduated with a 3.51 GPA and plans to pursue the areas of criminology and psychology to "better understand the many factors that affect how people respond to situations."
"I hope to take this newfound knowledge to law school and assist in the betterment/adaption of our nation's legal system," he said in his essay.
Whitfield noted that Pearce somewhat lost interest in his future during the COVID-19 pandemic, but soon regained his drive for success.
"He really didn't know where he wanted to go to college and he looked at several others and it just wasn't a fit," she said. "But his essay was about how he finally found out where he needed to go and where he needed to be was when he stepped foot on the campus of the University of Arkansas."
Nielson, who was awarded the inaugural AYC memorial scholarship in memory of Carrithers, graduated from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, and walked at the Lakeside High School graduation. He plans to attend Arkansas State University this fall and enter its aviation program.
With a goal of becoming a commercial pilot, Whitfield said he also wants to return home to Hot Springs to live and give back to the community for all it has done for him.
Carrithers, who died in February, served as executive director of HSACF from 1995-2017 and played a major role in establishing the council in 2001 to teach youth the art of philanthropy and service to their community.
"It feels wonderful to me because Ann and I had become really, really close friends," said Whitfield, who followed Carrithers as executive director. "I think we all remember Ann not only for being involved with the community foundation, but she was so involved with the entire community.
"And philanthropy and giving back was all she did all her life and she cared more about how things were going to affect others than herself and she just had a servant's heart and was a wonderful person," she said.
In addition to the scholarship, 16 grant checks totaling $14,325 were distributed to area nonprofits in Garland County whose grant proposals had been selected for funding by the members of the Youth Advisory Council.
Eli Kalen Evans - Submitted photo
Kash Aaron Pierce - Submitted photo