National Park College student Tikima Simpkins was recently awarded a $1,000 grant from Honors Arkansas and the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance to be used toward the college's Helping Hawks food pantry.
Simpkins, an admissions specialist at NPC while also seeking her associate of liberal studies, serves as president of the pantry and presented its data at the first statewide college hunger summit on April 14 at the Heifer International Pavilion in Little Rock. The summit is meant to raise awareness of food insecurity amongst colleges in the state.
An honors program student, she became involved in the campus food pantry to learn more about how it serves the campus community through an internship offered by the program. She said the funds will be used to assist with purchasing shelving and much more. She said it was eye-opening hearing groups of students from around the state talk about their pantries.
"It was very interesting to see because of their innovative ways that they've come up with in how to feed their campuses," she said. "I can see the grant helping us be able to fulfill the needs of our students here on campus with more items, because before we were doing perishable and nonperishable items, but now we're able to implement toiletries -- especially for those students in the dorms that are like over 5,000 miles away from home. We want to alleviate the need as much as we can here on campus so they don't stress about sending for parents to send them things and things like that."
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Honors program director Christopher Thrasher praised Simpkins' presentation of her research at the summit.
"The students that we feed today will become the police officer that will protect us, the business owner that will employ us, or the doctor that will heal us tomorrow," he said in a news release. "By helping feed the hungry, Simpkins helps National Park College improve the lives of all Arkansans."
Originally from North Little Rock, Simpkins started off as an education major before deciding to pursue a degree in organizational leadership.
"I changed my major because I got this full-time position here at National Park College and it wouldn't allow me to do the internship," she said of her position as admissions specialist, for which she is responsible for the intake of transcripts and scores as well as campus tours. "But I felt like my appointment here was a lot more beneficial for me and my family, so I did change my degree."
Although her initial choice was to be in the classroom, she said she really enjoys this side of education.
"I'm a nontraditional student so it's really been rewarding to have my own experience, and then encourage other students, like my older students: 'You can do this,' 'You can be involved,' 'You can be in this club,' 'You can be in this club.' That's actually what my capstone (project) is going to be about for honors (society)," she said.
It serves as a "nontraditional brochure" for students who choose to come back to school later in life, she said, and lets them know they can still be involved and have many resources available to them on campus. She said her sole goal after receiving her degree is to stay at NPC and learn more about the inner workings of higher education.
"I've lived here in Hot Springs for five years and I'm still a tourist," she said. "I'm still learning where things are but I love it here. It's home, just like this campus is home. National Park College is growing and it's going to continue to grow. And as it grows, I'm growing with it."
NPC admissions specialist and Helping Hawks president, Tikima Simpkins, talks with The Sentinel-Record about the recent grant award for the Helping Hawks food pantry on campus. - Photo by Andrew Mobley of The Sentinel-Record
The National Park College Student Commons building, which opened in 2019. - Photo by Andrew Mobley of The Sentinel-Record