A local funeral home director and an educator will be recognized for their contributions to the community during the 18th annual Jimmy Reed Jr. Memorial Scholarship Banquet.
Presented by the El Dorado Pride and Progress Club, the banquet is set for 6:30 p.m. Sept. 20 at the ELKS Lodge, No. 560, 1525 E. 19th St.
The theme for the 2025 banquet is “Education remains essential to our development and progress.”
“Western Style” is a secondary theme for the event. Attendees are asked to wear western attire, including blue jeans, cowboy boots and hats, etc.
The Pride and Progress Club “strives to acknowledge and honor the integrity of individuals who have made and are making great contributions to the community.”
Each year, club members keep those tenets in mind when selecting honorees for the Jimmy Reed Jr. Memorial Scholarship Banquet.
They said Reed, himself, exemplified the club’s mission.
A founding member of the PPC, Reed was the first Black person to serve on the El Dorado School Board.
He was also a member of Gusher ELKS No. 560.
He was in the midst of serving a term on the El Dorado City Council, representing Ward 3, Position 2, when he took ill and passed away in January of 2009.
Honorees for the 2025 JRJMSB are Roger “R.J.” Hicks Jr., — funeral director, office manager and embalmer for Andrews Funeral Home — and Kasey Porchia, director of alternative education at Murmil Education Center,
Hicks
Over the past four-plus decades, Hicks has become “the face” of Andrews Funeral Home, Inc., 1211 E. Main.
The Hope native graduated from Hope High School in 1970 and enrolled in Texas Southern University in Houston — and, later, Henderson State University in Arkadelphia — before enlisting in the U.S. armed forces in 1972.
After completing his military service in 1975,
Hicks doubled back to Houston, where he completed studies to obtain his mortuary license at what is now Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service.
He got his professional start in the family business, Hicks Funeral Home in Hope.
The business was founded in the early 1930s by Hicks’s uncle, Roland Hicks, Sr., a native of Norphlet.
Hicks’s brothers, Roger, Sr., Curtis and Frank, all came aboard to help operate, manage and grow the business.
After a few years of working at Hicks Funeral Home, Roger Jr. made his way to South Arkansas and joined the staff of Andrews Funeral Home, where he has remained for more than 40 years.
He also previously served on the El Dorado Planning and Zoning Commission.
Porchia
In keeping with the theme of the 2025 JRJMSB, PPC members said Porchia works to ensure that not only the educational goals, but also the life goals are met for area students.
Porchia, who comes from a long line of educators — several family members, including her parents, have served as teachers, coaches, paraprofessionals, school bus drivers, etc. –, has been the director of alternative education at the Murmil Education Center for seven years.
An educator for nearly 20 years, Porchia has worked in several capacities within the school system, including as a teacher, coach and administrator.
Not surprisingly, Porchia has said that with a lineage that is largely made of educators, she has witnessed firsthand the role an educator plays in helping to shape a child’s life and that perspective influenced her choice of career.
She has also said her family instilled in her “a strong work ethic and sense of selflessness”, both of which are critical to students’ success in the classroom and in life.
Murmil Education Center provides a number of alternative learning services for to K – 12 students in the El Dorado School District.
The program employs real-world, hands-on experience to assist students who are referred for academic, behavioral or social issues in their home school.
Students remain at Murmil for a minimum of nine weeks and their respective learning plans continue after they leave.
In addition to traditional subjects, interventions that are used in the program incorporate instruction in coping and life skills, character-building and community service.
Under Porchia’s leadership, Murmil students have formed and elected their first student council (2024); hosted college and career fairs and community events; provided college tours and other field trips; and more.
Also in 2024, Murmil was recognized by the Arkansas Association of Alternative Educators (AAAE), in partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education – Division of Elementary and Secondary Education – Alternative Education Office, for the Diamond Award, which is presented each year to students in ALE programs.
Former Murmil student Keaton Nixon was named the 2024 Diamond Award winner, edging out several other nominees around the state.
Nominations are submitted by teachers and administrators for a student’s display “of diligence, perseverance, sensitivity and resiliency.”
Complementing the award presentation was the announcement of a grant that had been awarded to Murmil from the AAAE’s Ray of Hope mini-grant program.
Ray of Hope awards grants of up to $500 to help with classroom materials.
The same year, Porchia and Kenneth Clemons, vice president of the El Dorado School Board, were guest speakers during a session of the Arkansas School Boards Association annual conference.
Their topic was “Effective Project-Based Learning and Community Partnerships in an Alternative Environment.”
Porchia has said that she attributes the successes of the Murmil Education Center to the school’s staff and support from the school district and the community.
Banquet
The JRJMSB is a fundraiser for scholarships that are awarded to college-bound high school seniors on the area.
The PPC has awarded more than 40 scholarships to high school students over the past 20 years, offering one-time, $1,000 funding awards.
Tickets for the banquet are $30 and may be purchased in advance from any PPC member.
A meal will be catered by Abe’s Old Feed House.
For more information or to purchase tickets, call Wm. Jerome Robinson at 870-918-1512 or LaQuita Rainey at 870-866-6795.
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