Wake Forest Magazine December 2002 - Past Issues - Wake Forest ...

Reaching out
Inspired by personal loss, Omari
Simmons (’96) gives hope to others.
Omari Simmons (’96) is the
kind of man who would be successful
in any endeavor. He’s a
bright, articulate attorney who
graduated from Wake Forest
magna cum laude in three and
a half years. He racked up honors
while on scholarship at the
University of Pennsylvania Law
School, and he recently completed
study abroad as a
Thouron fellow at the
University of Cambridge. But
that’s only half the story.
Simmons’ life is about more
than academic and professional
success; it is about overcoming
loss and living the University’s
motto, Pro Humanitate.
Tragically, Simmons’ mother
and brother both died during
the fall of 1995, his senior year
at Wake Forest. He not only
survived the loss by staying
focused and graduating with a
scholarship to law school, he
celebrated the memory of his
mother and brother by starting
a non-profit foundation to help
underprivileged youth gain
admission to the nation’s top
universities.
Simmons’ mother, Cynthia,
a career elementary science
teacher, died in a highway accident.
Then, after a failed kidney
transplant, his brother
Nathaniel graduated from
Pennsylvania State University
before dying of heart failure
that same year. “My mother and
brother were ordinary people
doing extraordinary things, and
their inspiration gives the
Simmons Memorial Foundation
its grassroots emphasis,” says
Simmons. His father, a former
Naval officer, is a board member
and advisor to the foundation.
His idea for the Simmons
Memorial Foundation sprang
from his Wake Forest experience.
As a sophomore, Simmons
became involved in Big
Brothers/Big Sisters. When his
“little brother” took him to his
classroom for show and tell,
Simmons spoke to the sixthgraders
about working hard and
taking advantage of opportunities
for college. The teacher
asked him to come back and
speak to more students.
Simmons was surprised by the
number of middle school students
whose parents had already
told them that they could not
go to college because there was
no money to pay for it. “I roped
in my roommate (DeAndrei
Drummond ’96) and a few
other Wake Forest students,”
Simmons explains, “and we
started a mentoring program
called Target at Atkins Middle
School.”
Simmons knew that a similar
program encouraging youth
toward college would benefit
students from his home community
where, he points out,
“many students from historically
disenfranchised groups and
vulnerable backgrounds fail to
attend college, are grossly
underrepresented at top colleges
or have limited success
rates at four-year institutions.”
C l a s s N o t e s
Omari Simmons (center) and colleagues.
Today the Simmons
Memorial Foundation provides
educational support services to
vulnerable youth in rural southern
Delaware, the area where
Simmons and his brother grew
up, and where his mother
taught. SMF encourages middle
and high school students to
look beyond their current situation
and to develop academic
and non-academic skills for life
success. It does this by providing
scholarship aid, SAT preparation
and college consulting
by alumni from a wide range of
colleges and universities.
“At SMF we recognize that
no one person succeeds alone,”
says Simmons, who is an international
trade associate at
Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, a
Washington, DC, law firm. The
foundation’s mentoring program
serves 50 to 60 students
annually in grades eight
through 12. Mentors are young
professionals, graduate students
and SMF alumni. Wake Forest
alumni Irvin DeAndrei
Drummond (’96), Kwasi Asare
(’99), Telli Meadows (’98), and
Adrain Bryant (’99) are currently
serving as mentors.
The program extends
beyond high school by continuing
to advise students as they
navigate college. There are currently
32 students in college
who have participated in the
SMF mentoring program. Two
of these students attend Wake
Forest. “At one time we were
just trying to get kids to college,”
Simmons explains.
“Now that they are in college, I
call or e-mail to see if they need
help or advice.” Two years ago,
SMF’s annual college trip
included Wake Forest and other
North Carolina schools. In
2001, fourteen SMF seniors
garnered 47 acceptances from
32 different colleges and universities
and over $750,000 in
financial assistance.
SMF helps students attain
necessary financial aid and
scholarships, and provides
scholarship aid to deserving
students. The foundation is
supported by gifts and grants.
When he’s not working,
Simmons runs, lifts weights,
and tries to take his own
advice: look for opportunities
and stay motivated. “So many
things were given to me freely,”
he says, “that I just try to give
to others.”
-- Molly Lineberger (’82)
December 2002 51