UALR Social Work Student Named ASPSF September Student of the Month

Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund’s Student of the Month for September 2024 is Holly Irons, a single mom from Garland County.

Holly first attempted college in 2015 while recovering from substance abuse. She visited an adult education center and took a job aptitude test. The two highest scores she received were for an actress and a social worker. But after taking that test, she became restless and scared. She relapsed and stopped going to classes.

This cycle repeated itself — get clean, go back to school, relapse — for years until Holly “decided to take a chance and do something different,” she said. “The last and final time I used a substance was in August 2020.” Holly credits her Christian faith as the foundation of her sobriety journey.

Once sober, Holly started working at Lake Hamilton Health and Rehab as a laundry attendant. Supporting Holly’s dream to go back to school, the nursing home sponsored her to study at Arkansas Career Training of the Ozarks to become a certified nursing assistant (CNA).

Holly attended National Park College from 2021-23, where she earned her associate degree. In 2023, Holly started her bachelor’s degree in social work at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Holly has been an ASPSF scholarship recipient since Fall 2023.

Holly Irons graduated with her associate degree from National Park College in 2023. 

“I knew I wanted to give back to the community and inspire my children,” she said. “If someone like me could go to school and do the things, they could, too.”

Holly has seen her life transform through her hard work. She earned her associate degree and immediately began working on her bachelor’s. She made the Chancellor’s List in Fall 2023 and the Dean’s List in Spring 2024. She even earned a promotion at work by becoming the social director for the nursing home.

But most importantly, Holly has seen her relationships with her children heal. Holly has a 14-year-old daughter and an adult son. Since going back to school, Holly has noticed her daughter applying herself more to schoolwork and exhibiting better behavior overall. Holly uses her flexible scholarship from ASPSF to pay her rent and spend more time with her daughter.

“Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund has helped me to see that there are people in our community who want to see others succeed and are willing to help,” she said. “The donors of this fund help break generational curses and create a different reality for not only the parents but the children.”

Holly Irons (third row, third from right) receives her Fall 2023 scholarship from Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund. 

Holly expects to graduate with a bachelor’s next fall and hopes to enroll in a master’s program after graduation and become a licensed social worker. Her long-term goal is to open a nonprofit in Hot Springs to help children whose parents are in a facility, jail, or prison. She is determined to use her experience with addiction for the good of her community with these degrees.

Congratulations, Holly, for being ASPSF’s September Student of the Month! ASPSF recognizes your hard work and admires your academic and recovery journey.