Author: Donnie Sewell

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts Quiz Bowl team took first place in the Arkansas Governor’s Quiz Bowl Association Class 7A West Regional Tournament.

The team went undefeated in the regional tournament, which was held March 15 on the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith campus. ASMSA qualified for the Class 7A State Tournament, which will be held April 12.

Junior Jacob Lewis of Clinton was the second-highest scorer in the regional tournament followed by junior Ridgely Bond of Marion who was third. Both qualified for the State All-Star Tournament that will be held in April.

For more information about the tournaments, visit the association’s website at https://arquizbowl.org/.

Several Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts students earned recognition at the 2025 Arkansas High School Model Arab League Conference.

Model Arab League is the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations’ flagship youth leadership development program. It is similar to the Model United Nations program. This year’s Arkansas high school conference was held March 7-8 at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Twenty-nine ASMSA students participated in the conference. Five students earned recognition for their participation, including:

• Tristan Henson, a junior from Maumelle, Outstanding Delegation Award, representing Libya on the Special Council on Technology and Development;
  • Nathan Harbut, a junior from Hot Springs, Distinguished Delegation Award, representing Libya on the Economic Affairs Council;
  • Maddox Jessup, a senior from Stuttgart, Distinguished Delegation Award, for representing Syria on the Special Council on Technology and Development;
  • Lycci Pan, a senior from Jonesboro, Distinguished Delegation Award, for representing Syria on the Political Affairs Council; and
  • Nakoa Beattie, a junior from Eureka Springs, Honorable Mention Award, for representing Libya on the Political Affairs Council.

Twenty-four Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students earned recognition at the 2025 District IV Spring Conference competition, and a record number of 36 students will be eligible to compete at the state competition.

The District IV conference was held Feb. 5 at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope/Texarkana in Hope. The students participated in competitive events that were either an objective subject test, performance or presentation, or a combination of an objective test and a performance component.

Students who placed in the top six in objective test competitions or top five in a performance or presentation event at the district qualified to compete in the state competition, which will be held April 7-8 in Little Rock. In addition to the 24 students who qualified at the district competition, 12 students also are set to compete in the state competition in categories that are only held at the state conference.

Students who earned recognition at the District IV competition and are eligible to compete at the state competition include:

• Accounting: Jena Brown of Hope, second place;
  • Advertising: Katherine Sedgwick of Arkadelphia, first place;
  • Cyber Security: April Adams of Clinton, first place;
  • Economics: Carlie Smith of Hot Springs Village, first place;
  • Future Business Leader: Tristan Henson of Maumelle, first place;
  • Graphic Design: team of Bailey Bray of Greenbrier and Dahlia Cortez-Woodard of Plainview, fourth place;
  • Hospitality and Event Management: team of Aarush Goyal of Little Rock, Kaitleen Toh of White Hall and Luis Vidal of Fort Smith, second place;
  • Introduction to Public Speaking: Alexa Louden of Camden, fifth place;
  • Personal Finance: Lilly Gray of Rison, third place;
  • Public Policy and Advocacy: Katherine Quintanilla of Nashville, first place;
  • Public Speaking: Sephorah Faiq of Arkadelphia, first place;
  • Sales Presentation: Miranda Lee of Conway, first place;
  • Securities and Investment: Emma Sedgwick of Arkadelphia, third place;
  • Social Media Strategies: Jordan Gauldin of Foreman, second place;
  • Sports and Entertainment Management: team of Cassie Davis of Marion and Lakaylah Hall of Little Rock;
  • Visual Design: Katelynn Cavin of Mount Vernon, fifth place; and
  • Website Design: team of Hailey Judkins of Benton and Sophie Milton of Jonesboro.

Students who are eligible to compete at the state competition in state-only events are Winston Wang of Hope, Madeline Lee of Maumelle, Mackenzie Curl of Crossett, Jun Park of Maumelle, Michelle Li of Sherwood, Jeremiah Chen of North Little Rock, Nathan Grady of Blytheville, Kaiyan Yu of Benton, Justin Nicholson of Pine Bluff, Norberto Garcia of Nashville, Isabella Dunkley of Little Rock and Benjamin Dong of Arkadelphia.

At the state competition, students will have the opportunity to qualify to compete at FBLA Nationals, which will be held Anaheim, Calif, on June 29-July 2.

Twenty-two Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts students earned recognition in the 2025 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards regional competitions.

Micaela Collver, Priya James, Lola Tate, Andy Kneebone and Preston Lowe each earned Gold Keys and advanced to the national competition for their writing and art awards. National key winners will be announced in March. Four students earned Silver Keys for their submissions.

The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is sponsored by the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers. It is among the nation’s most prestigious program for creative teens. Previous award-winners during the competition’s history include Andy Warhol, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Tschabalala Self and others.

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All students who earned recognition include:

Southern Region Writing Awards

• April Adams, a junior from Clinton — Silver Key, Poetry and an Honorable Mention, Poetry
• Micaela Collver, a junior from Greenbrier — Gold Key, Short Story
• Halie Cook, a junior from Pine Bluff — Honorable Mention, Poetry
• Phoenix Dunkley, a junior from Little Rock — Honorable Mention, Personal Essay & Memoir
• Priya James, a junior from Decatur — Gold Key, Personal Essay & Memoir
• Preston Lowe, a senior from Mayflower — Silver Key, Personal Essay & Memoir
• Robert Mohr, a junior from Judsonia — Honorable Mention, Personal Essay & Memoir
• Lola Tate, a senior from Benton — Gold Key, Short Story
• Malee Vang, a junior from Lincoln — Honorable Mention, Poetry

Heartland Region Art Awards

• Andy Kneebone, a sophomore from Arkadelphia, — Gold Key, Digital Art
• Preston Lowe, a senior from Mayflower — Gold Key, Portfolio Category (Art)
• Olivia Busby, a senior from Heber Springs — Honorable Mention, Portfolio Category (Art
• Coley Rogers, a junior from Cherokee Village — Honorable Mention, Drawing & Illustration
• Jaime Hernandez, a senior from Decatur — Silver Key, Portfolio Category (Art)
• Leah Fouste, a senior from Eureka Springs — Honorable Mention, Portfolio Category (Art)
• Laney Caldwell, a senior from Cabot — Silver Key, Portfolio Category (Art)
• Hannah Dalencourt-King, a senior from Poplar Grove — Honorable Mention, Portfolio Category (Art)
• AB Maness, a senior from Benton — Honorable Mention, Portfolio Category (Art)
• Sephorah Faiq, a junior from Arkadelphia — Honorable Mention, Drawing & Illustration
• Cotton Foyt, a sophomore from Blytheville — Honorable Mention, Drawing & Illustration
• Kendyl Gorman, a senior from Little Rock — Honorable Mention, Portfolio (Art)
• Priya James, a junior from Decatur — Honorable Mention, Film & Animation
• Kira Marshall, a junior from Benton — Honorable Mention, Photography
• Divi O’Dell, a sophomore from Cabot — Honorable Mention, Drawing & Illustration
• Malee Vang, a junior from Lincoln — Honorable Mention, Digital Art

To learn more about the competition, visit www.artandwriting.org.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts recognized winners of the 2025 West Central Regional Science Fair during an awards ceremony on Feb. 28.

The team of senior Kolten Shook of North Little Rock and Lukas Bowler of Hot Springs won first place overall for their project in the Animal Science category. Senior Carmella Lewis of Alma won second place for her Cellular and Molecular Biology project. Senior Avagail Christine Dunning of Clarksville won third for her project in the Microbiology category.

The three overall winners were awarded a trip to participate in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, which will be held May 10-16 in Columbus, Ohio. The event is the world’s largest pre-college STEM competition. Students from around the world are expected to compete for awards, prizes and scholarships.

Individual awards were also announced in various categories. The top three projects and some high-placing honorable mentions in each category earned entry into the Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair that will be held at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway on April 4-5.

Individual category winners included:

Animal Science: 1. Team of Kolten Shook of North Little Rock and Lukas Bowler of Hot Springs 2. Team of Plinio Tola of Little Rock and Mason Meenen of Gravette 3. Reagan Smith of Marion Honorable Mention: Team of Evan Fowlkes of Mountain View and Kendra Grant of Bismarck

Behavioral and Social Science: 1. Sindia Michael of Jonesboro 2. Alice Dong of Arkadelphia 3. Team of Lydia Robertson of Pea Ridge and Claira Hartig of Greenbrier

Cellular and Molecular Biology: 1. Carmella Lewis of Alma 2. Team of Graydon Anderson of Little Rock and Syed Imam of Little Rock 3. Kayleigh Murphy of Alexander

Chemistry: 1. Shelby Norris of Alma 2. Kalyn You of Everton 3. Lycci Pan of Jonesboro Honorable Mentions: Lane de Foor of Hot Springs, Morgan Broadway of Mabelvale

Computer Science: 1. Team of Kelvin Orduna of Huntsville, Cody Schulist of Russell and Evan Quirk of West Fork 2. Team of Paul Murphy of Conway, Kavan Patel of Sherwood and Titus Reynolds of Camden 3. Team of Berto Garcia of Nashville, Jack Russenberger of Bigelow and Riley Raymick of Sheridan Honorable Mentions: Zaelyn Horton of Little Rock, the team of Therese Ella Ambos of Greenbrier, Madeline Liachenko of Benton and Sarah Pham of Hot Springs

Earth Science: 1. Team of Riley Richardson of Belleville and Drayton Makepeace of Hagarville

Engineering: Electrical and Mechanical: 1. Karilynn Arellano of Mineral Springs 2. Damian Biggs of Washington County 3. Jonathan Matul of Decatur

Engineering: Materials and Bioengineering: 1. Miranda Lee of Conway 2. Team of Alan Ye of Conway and Justin Nicholson of Pine Bluff 3. Riley Hart of Mountain View Honorable Mention: Ava Beck of Hot Springs

Environmental Management: 1. Kaiyan Yu of Benton 2. Team of Finneas Salazar of Searcy and Ezekiel Summers of Paragould 3. Team of Daymond Franklin of Lexa and Haven Herring of Benton

Environmental Science: 1. Kira Burnett of Farmington 2. Aarush Goyal of Little Rock 3. Team of Addison Nance of Delight, Jade Espinoza of Corning and Maxine Uriarte of Sparkman Honorable Mention: Edame Egar of Helena

Mathematics: 1. Jackson Whittaker of Benton 2. Anna Le of Fort Smith Honorable Mention Hiro Linker of Little Rock

Medicine and Health Sciences: 1. Meera Patel of Hot Springs 2. Team of Emily Lin of Little Rock, Kaitleen Toh of White Hall and Nathan Grady of Blytheville 3. Charlotte Young of Paragould

Physics/Astronomy: 1. Team of Titan Dinwiddie of Sherwood, Levi Fason of Conway and Ty Carmichael of Hot Springs Village Honorable Mention: Cassie Davis of Marion

Plant Science: 1. Team of Nora Medlock of Dyer and Bianca Navarro of Hot Springs 2. Jeremiah Chen of North Little Rock 3. Nathan Alam of White Hall

Several special awards and recognition were also announced during the awards ceremony. They include:

Regeneron Science Talent Search Entrants Recognition: Olivia Judkins of Benton, Kira Burnett of Farmington, Meera Patell of Hot Springs and Kalyn You of Everton

Soybean Science Challenge award that recognizes a student for their project as well as their project adviser for an outstanding project in soybean science or agriculture: Team of Nora Medlock of Dyer and Bianca Navarro of Hot Springs, advised by Dr. Lindsey Waddell

Missouri University of Science and Technology Kummer Center for STEM Education for outstanding junior research students: Miranda Lee of Conway, the team of Graydon Anderson of Little Rock and Syed Imam of Little Rock, Anna Le of Fort Smith and the team of Emily Lin of Little Rock, Kaitleen Toh of White Hall and Nathan Grady of Blytheville

Trinity Environmental Consultants award recognizes a project that best develops a solution for an environmental problem with preference given to an outstanding junior: Kaiyan Yu of Benton

Association of Women Geoscientists for outstanding geoscience project by female or non-binary student(s): Riley Richardson of Belleville

NASA Earth Systems Award for outstanding earth science project: Team of Addison Nance of Delight, Jade Espinoza of Corning and Maxine Uriarte of Sparkman

NOAA Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award for project that emphasizes science, service and stewardship in addressing issues related to climate, weather, oceans and coasts: Edame Egar of Helena

Ricoh USA, Inc. award: Team of Finneas Salazar of Searcy and Ezekiel Summers of Paragould

Society for In-vitro Biology award for outstanding 11^th-grad life science project: Team of Graydon Anderson of Little Rock and Syed Imam of Little Rock

Stockholm Junior Water Prize to the top project related to water quality and water resource management: Kira Burnett of Farmington

United States Air Force award: Cassie Davis of Marion, Karilynn Arellano of Mineral Springs, Lycci Pan of Jonesboro and Maya Allen of Harrison

U.S. Metric Association for the best use of International System of Units: Riley Hart of Mountain View

Yale Science and Engineering Association award for best 11^th-grade exhibit in computer science, physics, chemistry or engineering: Miranda Lee of Conway

Regeneron Biomedical Science Award for outstanding project in translational medical science, microbiology or medical science: Team of Emily Lin of Little Rock, Kaitleen Toh of White Hall and Nathan Grady of Blytheville

The 97th Academy Awards will have an ASMSA connection at this year’s ceremony. A film produced by Class of 2009 alumna Tara Sheffer is nominated for Best Live Action Short Film.

Sheffer is the producer of “A Lien,” a short film about a family that finds itself in a dire situation that develops when a couple along with their daughter arrives at a federal immigration office for an American woman’s husband to begin the interview process to obtain a green card. The film is directed by brothers Sam and David Cutler-Kreutz.

Sheffer has served as producer for 29 short films and written and directed four other films. Films she has been associated have been nominated for awards or selected to appear in the SXSW, Clermont Ferrand, New Orleans Film Festival, Rhode Island International Flickers Film Festival and NYU Tisch King festivals and competitions. Sheffer served as a line producer for the 2020 film “The Letter Room,” which was also nominated for an Academy Award.

She began seriously thinking about filmmaking in a documentary film class taught by James Katowich, a Humanities Instructor of Excellence at ASMSA. Her family was also in the filmmaking business. She later took classes at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., and then earned a master’s in fine arts from the New York University School of the Arts.

The Oscars will be shown live beginning at 6 p.m. Central time on Sunday, March 2, on ABC and streaming on Hulu.

Four students at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts have been named National Merit Scholarship Finalists.

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. recently announced the names of Finalists in the 70^th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The students, all members of the Class of 2025, will have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 6,870 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million.

The ASMSA seniors named Finalists are:

• Eva Cummings of Fayetteville;
• Evan Fowlkes of Mountain View;
• Madeline Liachenko of Benton; and
• Kalyn You of Everton.

To be considered for the National Merit Scholarship Program, students take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as a junior. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The National Merit Scholarship Corp. is a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance. It was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced in batches beginning in late Spring 2025 and early summer 2025.

Public viewing for the West Central Regional Science Fair at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 28. The event will be held in the Creativity and Innovation on the ASMSA campus, which is located at 200 Whittington Ave. in Hot Springs. The event is free and open to the public. It will feature research conducted by ASMSA students. An awards ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. that afternoon in the CIC. The top overall winners will earn a trip to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair that will be held May 10-16 in Columbus, Ohio.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts is accepting applications for 2025 Summer@ASMSA camps.

Summer@ASMSA is free, one-week summer camps for current eighth- and ninth-grade students in all Arkansas schools as well as seventh-graders participating in ASMSA-TIP.  All camp activities — including tuition, housing, meals and class supplies — are free. The camps will be held on ASMSA’s campus in Hot Springs on Sunday, June 8, through Friday, June 13.

Students may apply to participate in one of six different camps that will provide a fun and challenging atmosphere. The camps include:

• Arkansas Goes Global: World Languages & Cultures (Sponsored by AEGIS): Campers will explore the rich connections between global languages and Arkansas’ own cultural and economic landscape. Through a focus on Spanish, French, Japanese, and Marshallese, campers will discover how each language leaves its mark on the state’s history, community and industries.
• Chamber Music (Sponsored by AEGIS): Campers will expand their instrumental musical experience through ensemble performances, receive personalized instruction from experienced educators, and attend workshops on topics such as music theory and history.
• Computer Science: Campers will learn the basics of physical computing, participate in a variety of coding activities, and try their hand at both solo and cooperative game design.
• Environmental Science and Biotechnology (Sponsored by AEGIS): Campers will conduct fieldwork, find a crystal at a quartz mine in the Ouachita Mountains and learn how to evaluate the health of our ecosystems in Hot Springs National Park with immersive experiences. Preference will be given to ninth-graders.
• Engineering Camp (Sponsored by xCelle Americas): Campers will learn about all types of engineering, from nuclear to electrical, in this hands-on camp. In the lab, campers will have the chance to learn how to work with soldering and circuits, graphing calculators and other tools of the trade.
• Ignite Camp: Campers will explore the physical and life sciences, digital and studio arts, literature and more through engaging activities led by ASMSA faculty and community partners. Preference will be given to seventh-graders.

Housing and meals will be provided in ASMSA’s Student Center, where nightly fun activities will be planned by members of the school’s Residential Life staff.

To apply for Summer@ASMSA, visit https://asmsa.me/summer25. For more information, email outreach@asmsa.org, call (501) 622-5116 or visit www.asmsa.org/outreach/summer-at-asmsa.

Kelvin Orduna, a senior from Huntsville at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, has been selected as a Coca-Cola Scholars-Select.

The Coca-Cola Scholars Program is sponsored by the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, a joint effort by The Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola bottlers across the country to create the largest corporate-sponsored, achievement-based scholarship program in the United States, according to a release announcing the 2025 recipients. This is the 37^th year of program.

This year’s program recognized 150 high school seniors nationwide who each will receive a $20,000 college scholarship. This year’s recipients were selected from a pool of more than 105,000 applications. Coca-Cola Scholars-Select will attend a Coca-Cola Scholars Weekend in Atlanta in early April where they will participate in the Coca-Cola Scholars Leadership Development Institute.

“Being selected as a Coca-Cola Scholar is an incredible recognition of the service I have done to create positive change in my community,” Orduna said. “I am excited to join a network or leaders and visionaries who are just as committed to transformative change in their communities.

“The Coke Scholars Program is much more than a scholarship — it’s a lifelong membership in a community of trailblazers. I’m eager to learn from diverse experiences and perspectives of my fellow scholars, who are spearheading advancements in research, policy, advocacy and entrepreneurship.”

Orduna said he felt a mix of excitement and nervousness when he received an email from the Coca-Cola Scholar Foundation with an update.

“It took a moment for the ‘You are a 2025 Coca-Cola Scholar!’ message to sink in, but all I said was, ‘I just won $20,000.’ Out of 105,000 applicants, only 0.14 percent were chosen, and to be chosen from Arkansas was a reminder of the incredible talent that exists within our state,” Orduna said.