Pulaski Technical College’s commencement will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 10, at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.

 More than 2,400 students are completing associate degrees, technical certificates and certificates of proficiency this academic year. Of those, nearly 600 students plan to participate in commencement exercises.

Toby Daughtery, a 2009 graduate of Pulaski Technical College and graduating senior at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will deliver the commencement address. Daughtery delivered the first student address at the Achieving the Dream Strategy Institute conference last year and has become a sought-after speaker at colleges and universities throughout the nation. He grew up in North Little Rock and happily shares his story of how his troubled youth was transformed by his pursuit of education.

More than 300 elementary school students from three Arkansas counties are expected to participate in activities at the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) commemorating the annual Earth Week observance later this month. This year, the events will actually be spaced over a two-week period, with third- and fourth-graders from Cabot, El Dorado, and the Pulaski County Special School District spending about two and a half hours at the ADEQ Headquarters Building in North Little Rock April 16, 17, 23, and 24.

ADEQ employees will conduct a variety of interactive presentations for the students, beginning at approximately 9:15 a.m. each day. The students also have the option of bringing their own lunches to eat at the patio area of the ADEQ office, and then hiking on the Arkansas River Trail, a portion of which is adjacent to the building.

Applications are once again being accepted for this year’s September Fund scholarships.

Any first-year college-bound student who is the son or daughter of an Arkansas Firefighter, Law Enforcement Officer or Emergency Medical Technician and who lives in Arkansas may apply.

Since the fund’s inception in 2003, it has raised and awarded over $65,000 in scholarships.  Last year eighteen Arkansas high school seniors were each awarded $1,000 for their first year of college. The fund has even more money to award this year.

Radio personalities and hosts of “The Corey and Jay Show”;  Corey Deitz and Jay Hamilton from Clear Channel’s 100.3 The Edge (KDJE/Little Rock), created the September Fund on the second anniversary of September 11, 2001 as a living memorial to the brave first-responder civil servants who died and sacrificed on that day. The fund is registered with the state of Arkansas and has been granted tax-free status by the IRS.