Ayers Foundation Trust highlights staff expertise and Senior Signing Day plans

Ayers Foundation Trust is pairing financial discipline with the student celebrations that move Decatur County teens toward college and careers. A June 11 post highlighted Marcia Rhodes, the trust’s director of accounting, and a June 12 update pointed to Senior Signing Day, the recognition program for seniors bound for college, community college, TCAT, the military or apprenticeships.

Rhodes joined the trust in February 2023 and brings more than 30 years of public accounting experience. She is a certified public accountant licensed in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, with a background in nonprofit auditing, accounting services leadership and small-business taxation. The trust said her work helps protect the financial strength and integrity behind its mission to remove barriers to education and help rural Tennesseans earn credentials that lead to better careers.

That mission has been visible in Parsons for more than two decades. The Ayers Scholars program began at Riverside High School in 1999, and Decatur County Schools says every graduating Riverside student can receive up to $4,000 annually for up to four years, depending on need. Students must complete FAFSA, community service, stay drug-free and meet other requirements to participate. The Decatur County Chamber of Commerce says all graduating seniors receive scholarships to post-secondary education through the Ayers Foundation, giving the program a broad footprint in both Parsons and Decaturville.

The trust says the Ayers Scholars Program now serves nearly 30,000 Tennessee students, starting in eighth grade and continuing through college completion. It operates in 40 rural Tennessee high schools across 28 counties and is a designated partner organization for Tennessee Promise. That reach gives the program a measurable scale beyond Decatur County, even as its local roots remain tied to Riverside and the Parsons area.

Founder Jim Ayers, a Parsons banker and businessman, started the foundation in 1999 after becoming one of the first in his family to graduate from college. The trust’s broader work also includes conservation and social welfare, but in Decatur County the clearest result is educational access: seniors receive financial support, and the community gets a structured pathway from high school into credentials, degrees and service.

Recent Senior Signing Day events at Warren County High School, Scott High School and White County High School show the celebration is part of a recurring annual cycle across the Ayers network. For Decatur County students weighing the next step after graduation, the message is straightforward: the support does not end at the diploma, and the pipeline from Riverside keeps running long after signing day.