Simmons played for the McLennan Community College Highlassies from 2000 to 2002. As a freshman, she placed third at the NJCAA Region V Tournament and fifth at the NJCAA National Tournament and was a first-team All-American selection.

Simmons won two NCAA Division I tournaments as a sophomore and was the NJCAA National Champion, receiving first-team All-American honors. She was named the NJCAA Player of the Year and MCC’s Outstanding Women’s Golfer. She was a two-time NCJAA Academic Team of the Year member.

While at MCC, Simmons was named to Who’s Who Among Students in American Junior College and Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, and she was on the MCC Dean’s List every semester.

She was an MCC Presidential Scholar and graduated with Highest Honors. Simmons was named an NJCAA Distinguished All-American as a sophomore and received the MCC Foundation J.D. Flippen Scholarship.

Simmons continued her college career at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC), where she set all the individual women’s golf school records, including low 18-hole score, low 54-hole score, low third-round score, lowest scoring average for the year, sub-80 rounds in a year, low first- and second-round score and low 36-hole score. She recorded three tournament wins, two top-three finishes, two top-five finishes and four top-10 finishes.

At TAMU-CC, she was a member of the Dean’s List, Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation Club and worked with the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network. Simmons was awarded the Tarpon Foundation Fifth-Year Athlete Scholarship and was a graduate assistant for the women’s golf team. She also worked as an assistant to Assistant Athletic Director Brian DeAngelis.

Simmons graduated magna cum laude from TAMU-CC with a bachelor’s degree in science-biology-field and marine science with a 3.819 overall GPA. She received her master’s degree in science-mariculture in 2007, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA.

Simmons graduated from Big Spring High School in May of 2000.