Honoring the legacy of the late Honorable P. Luevonda Ross, an endowed scholarship has been established — with the first grant to be awarded in May.
Judge Ross grew up in Monticello and excelled in numerous areas. An honor graduate and class president of the 1982 class of Monticello High School, she participated in many school, church and community activities.
She then received her bachelor’s degree from Hendrix College in Conway, where she was a participant in the university’s study abroad program at the University of London.
She received a Rotary International fellowship through the Monticello Rotary Club that enabled her to study at the University of Madrid.
Her Juris Doctorate of Law was earned at Temple University in Philadelphia.
In 2013, she received the NAACP Leadership Award and, in 2014, she was recognized by the Monticello-Drew County Chamber of Commerce/Monticello Economic Development Commission as Woman of the Year.
Her professional experience included private law practice in Monticello, staff attorney at Central Arkansas Legal Services, attorney in the Arkansas Attorney General’s office, professor at the Faulkner University School of Law and Drew County District Court Judge.
Ross was raised by a single mother after her father died when she was a small child. Finances were difficult but she and her siblings were encouraged to study and do well in school, and they were active in their church.
Her hard work and high achievement enabled her to receive numerous scholarships and grants that helped make it possible for her to reach many of her goals.
One of her last requests was that if possible a scholarship fund be established so that others might receive similar assistance. Family and friends have joined this effort, setting up the P. Luevonda Ross Scholarship managed by Arkansas Community Foundation.
The first P. Luevonda Ross scholarship, in the amount of $1,000, will be awarded to an African-American MHS female senior in May for the academic year 2018-19.
Scholarship applications and complete criteria are available in the counselor’s office at MHS. The deadline to apply is April 25.
