Let me begin by mentioning that I lost a half day earlier this week because I was under the weather, but I was able to shake the crud that seems to be going around! Hopefully all you readers out there are keeping healthy through these last few weeks of winter.
The annual Arkansas Bar Foundation Scholarship Dinner was held February 15 at The Little Rock Club in Little Rock. For the foodies, the dinner was a delicious surf and turf-shrimp and steak-with green beans and twice baked potatoes. The event was extremely nice, and we had an opportunity to visit with a number of our alums-who are 
also members of the Bar Association-during the cocktail hour.
The event itself was a wonderful opportunity for the scholarship donors to meet some of the students whose lives have been profoundly changed through their gifts. That might sound cliché, but I really do believe that’s true. What makes this event work is the fact that the donors get to see and hear about the wonderful things that scholarship recipients are achieving with the help of the donors’ financial support.
The scholarship award winners are doing wonderful things for our community. The list of scholarship winners is long, but each student is deserving of mention:
- Stacia Alvarez (Donald J. Adams Scholarship)
- Phillip Brick (Guy Amsler, Jr. Scholarship)
- Clark Donat (Arkansas Bar Foundation Merit Scholarship)
- Baxter Drennon (David Solomon Scholarship)
- Sam Eastman (Harry P. Warner Scholarship) (Vincent W. Foster, Jr. Scholarship)
- Kristen Freeman (Arkansas Bar Foundation Merit Scholarship)
- Blake Glasgow (Justice J. Frank Holt Scholarship)
- David Gonzales (Arkansas Bar Foundation Scholarship, in honor of the Sebastian County Bar, U.M. Rose, Mike Gorman and Edward L. Wright)
- Grace Johnson (Judge John E. Miller Scholarship)
- April Kersten (Paul B. Young Scholarship)
- Talley Parker (Horace and James McKenzie Scholarship)
- Pamela Roberts (R.A. Eilbott, Jr. Scholarship)
- Trevin Ware (Rather, Beyer & Harper Scholarship)
- Taylor White (Judge J. Smith Henley Scholarship)
- Anisha Woodard (Edward Lester Scholarship)
- Ryan Younger (Wilson and Associates Ethics Scholarship)
Congratulations again to all of these outstanding law students! We are all very proud of your accomplishments.
For me, the best part of the event was that Dean Chuck Goldner and I had an opportunity to highlight each of the students
who received scholarships. It was a bittersweet event in the sense that it was Dean Goldner’s last time to participate as a dean. As you know from reading my blog, he is stepping down as dean of UALR‘s law program at the end of this school year. He will certainly be missed, but it was a real joy to shar
e this event with him.
Thanks again to Ann Pyle, the executive director of the Arkansas Bar Association, for organizing such a lovely evening. It was a fantastic event! This was my first time attending, and I’m already looking forward next year. Thanks to all the students for making the drive to Little Rock so that our supporters were able to see what special people you all are. We all braved unpredictable weather to be there and perhaps more of our students will be able to attend in the future. I think we all agree that it was certainly a wonderful occasion, and worth the trip.
Nancecy 