Author: Donnie Sewell

It probably wouldn’t be too surprising to hear that students chose to spend part of their summer break playing video games. For members of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts League of Legends Esports team, where they spent time playing video games might be.

ASMSA placed second in the ‘Iolani Esports Invitational hosted by the ‘Iolani School in Honolulu, Hawaii. The contest featured high school esports teams from Hawaii and the mainland United States in a League of Legends exhibition contest on July 26-28. League of Legends is an online multiplayer fantasy battle game that uses team-based strategies.

Members of the ASMSA team included junior Tristan Henson of Maumelle, senior Gage Carr of Paris, senior Thor Seay of Hot Springs, senior Jonathan Tucker of Batesville, senior Lane De Foor of Hot Springs and 2024 graduate Andrew Nguyen of Sherwood.

The ‘Iolani Esports Invitational is a student-led tournament. Its goals include emphasizing community, fostering regional connections and nurturing teamwork, strategy and critical thinking skills while also promoting physical well-being.

The ‘Iolani School is a college preparatory school for students in kindergarten through 12^th grade in Honolulu. Teams who competed in the event were provided room and board on campus.

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

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. announced the names of more than 16,000 Semifinalists in the 70^th annual National Merit Scholarship Program on Sept. 11. 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 that will be offered next spring.

The ASMSA seniors named Semifinalists 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. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of anticipated graduating seniors.

Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist standing, including a detailed scholarship application that includes information about a Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.

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.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts Talent Identification Program will expand to include students from the sixth, seventh and eighth grades in its second year.

ASMSA-TIP provides gifted students, parents and educators with resources and guidance that are tailored to support a child’s educational, social and emotional development. Such programs empower students to reach their full potential while helping parents and educators make the best educational decisions for their students.

Seventh- and eighth-grade participants will receive a voucher to take the ACT as an “above-level” test, a standardized assessment that is designed for a higher grade level, as well as support leading up to taking the ACT, help interpreting ACT scores and identifying activities for talent development. All participants will receive monthly e-newsletters with specific content for gifted and talented students and their parents, access to webinar sessions with Gifted and Talented (GT) professionals, and access to a variety of in-person and virtual programming designed to enrich students’ learning and develop their talents.

This is the second year of the program. For the 2023-24 academic year, the program only included seventh-graders, but strong interest in it led ASMSA-TIP to accept sixth- and eighth-graders for the 2024-25 cohort. Registration for this year’s program is open at https://asmsa.me/asmsa-tipregistration24.

When Dr. Nathan Groot joined ASMSA’s music faculty as a string instructor and director of the school’s String Ensemble in August 2022, All-Region auditions were about two months away.

That’s not much time to prepare extensively for auditions with a new group of students who were as unfamiliar with his teaching methods as he was with their individual talents and abilities. Rehearsal and instruction time was a precious resource as well.

“Some of these excerpts are quite challenging and require a lot of explanation and guidance,” Groot said about the pieces chosen for junior and senior high All-Region and All-State auditions. “Most of the string students I have spoken with in Arkansas, at our school and elsewhere, have not had the opportunity to take weekly private lessons. Music lessons typically cost anywhere from $250-$400 per month if a student takes them each week, and many families just can’t afford it.”

The following is a message from ASMSA Executive Director Corey Alderdice shared with the campus community and institutional stakeholders.

August 23rd holds special meaning for ASMSA.  On August 23, 1993, students in the Charter Class began their first day of coursework and set this wonderful experiment into motion.  This time last year, we looked back at the legacy of so many who fought to shape this institution.  Today, I think it's essential that we use this occasion to look at what’s ahead for ASMSA.

Earlier this month, Hot Springs City Manager Bill Burrough shared that he expects next year's budget to include $4 million the Hot Springs Board of Directors reserved to bring down the former St. Joseph's Hospital per a 2010 agreement between the City and University of Arkansas System.  This agreement stemmed from a request by then-Gov. Mike Beebe for the community to reaffirm its commitment to the school’s success.  Both the decision in 2010 and the investment beginning in 2025 reinforces the city's commitment to the school and demonstrates the mutual benefits of having Arkansas’ premier public high school in downtown Hot Springs.

When it became clear in the mid-2000s that the hospital complex could no longer sustain the needs of students as a residential space, at no time did ASMSA consider relocating from Hot Springs. Instead, campus leadership began work on a facilities plan that would establish ASMSA as a cornerstone of Central Avenue with an eye to the future.  In the time since, ASMSA has invested more than $35 million in the redevelopment of the campus.  The opening of the new Campus Administration Building this month completed the first phase of our physical transformation.  On December 31st, we will officially return the hospital complex to the full ownership of the City of Hot Springs.

The recent news that demolition is expected to begin in 2025 has, understandably, left some members of the community upset about the hospital’s fate.  School officials studied the long term viability of the hospital across its first twenty years.  In 2015, we conducted a feasibility study to assess the potential of retaining the Cedar Street Wing which concluded such an effort was both logistically and cost prohibitive.  In 2019, ASMSA sought approval to restore the former Chapel and Convent into living and gathering spaces that conformed to the original vision for how they could fit into campus life.  While saving the full hospital was impractical, campus leadership believed it was necessary to preserve a portion of the structures that was within our capacity to do so.

Now that ASMSA has entered its fourth decade of educational excellence, it is critical that we begin taking active steps to redevelop the hospital’s footprint once the demolition and site rehabilitation are completed over the next few years. I’ve noted regularly that if ASMSA’s needs result in the loss of this small portion of Hot Springs’ history, then we must certainly ensure that something meaningful both to our school and the community at large takes its place.

Over the past year, we began discussions in earnest about what’s ahead.  The consensus among our internal and external stakeholders is that spaces that fulfill ASMSA’s legislated visual and performing arts mission along with additional housing that rises to the General Assembly’s vision of expanded school choice throughout Arkansas are both urgently needed and highly-deserving of further investment by the State.

By 2033 and ASMSA’s 40th anniversary celebration, our vision is that we will achieve at least another $25 million in capital investment in both the campus and a thriving downtown Hot Springs.  Doing so will require institutional, legislative, and private support; however, we will build on the last fifteen years of success to ensure our students, colleagues, and community have the resources they need to achieve their full potential.  Combining ASMSA’s efforts with the ongoing work by the City as well as Hot Springs Metro Partnership to redevelop the former Majestic Hotel site across Cedar Street provides a truly generational opportunity to define these spaces as showpieces at the end of one of the most iconic streets in America.

Hot Springs has a storied past. My sincere hope is that both our city and ASMSA’s future will be even brighter.  Let’s work together to make that possibility a reality.

Serving as dean of students at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts has given Dr. Rheo Morris the opportunity to interact with students and their families from many different regions of Arkansas.

ASMSA has students from 53 Arkansas counties during the 2024-25 academic year. Many of the students come from smaller, rural communities that most Arkansans might not be able to locate on the state map. For Morris, that may be a bit easier this year after she recently completed the Leadership Arkansas program sponsored by the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas.

Morris was a member of the program’s Class XVIII, which graduated earlier this year. The nine-month program consists of nine multi-day sessions held in different locations throughout the state. The sessions feature Arkansas leaders who represents a wide geographic base and who have diverse backgrounds and vocations. Class XVIII included 53 participants.

“While traveling the state and learning about its industries, I also had a chance to identify some of the communities where my students reside,” Morris said. “Now, I get so excited when I can actually tell a student that I know where somewhere like Waldo is located. It also gives me an opportunity to share with them an industry near their hometown so they have more incentives to return to Arkansas if they leave for college.”

The experience allowed the Arkansas transplant to learn more about the state she now calls home. The program provided her and her cohort-mates the chance to learn facts about the state and its industries of which they were unaware.

“I had no idea I would graduate nine months later and be amazed at the number of industries within our state and the numerous opportunities for native Arkansans and transplants alike,’ she said. “For example, my favorite day included visiting Nucor-Yamato (a steel company in Blytheville) where I was astonished to learn of Arkansas’ massive footprint in the nation’s steel production.”

The Leadership Arkansas class is a great way to network with incredible individuals from across the state, Morris said. Participants were able to learn different approaches to problem-solving from different kinds of stakeholders and experiences.

Morris will use the knowledge and connections she gained through the program to help ASMSA students “plug into their local communities and have a reason to return to or stay in Arkansas after college because of all the opportunities available” within the state.

Five faculty members at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts have earned promotions through the school’s Faculty Advancement Plan.

Faculty members who were promoted beginning in the upcoming academic year, including their highest degree and department, are:

• Elizabeth Brown, Master of Arts, Arts and Humanities, Instructor of Excellence;
• Mary Leigh, Ph.D., Arts and Humanities, Instructor of Excellence;
• Brian Isbell, Master of Fine Arts, Arts and Humanities, Instructor of Excellence;
• Allyn Dodd, Ph.D., Science, Instructor of Distinction; and
• Burt Hollandsworth, Ph.D., Science, Instructor of Distinction.

The Faculty Advancement Plan includes three faculty ranks — Instructor, Instructor of Distinction and Instructor of Excellence. Instructor is the entry-level rank for all new full-time faculty members. Instructors may apply for the higher ranks by attaining points based on a rubric that takes into account the faculty members’ campus involvement and accomplishments both within and outside of the classroom.

The plan is designed to empower faculty members to reach their full potential through goal-setting and recognition of excellence. In addition to developing depth within their content area, the plan emphasized breadth and balance across three domains — academic, service and professional achievements. It provides a financial benefit for those who complete the process.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts has earned Cognia Accreditation. Cognia is a nonprofit organization that provides quality assurance for schools, school districts and education service providers.

Cognia, formerly AdvancED, recognizes districts that meet rigorous standards focused on productive learning environments, equitable resource allocation that meets the needs of learners and effective leadership. Accreditation is determined by the Cognia Global Accreditation Commission based on the school meeting the organization’s performance standards.

ASMSA conducted its Cognia Accreditation renewal process earlier this year. To earn Cognia Accreditation, a school must implement a continuous process of improvement and submit to internal and external review. Schools in good standing can maintain their accreditation for a six-year term.

Cognia is the parent organization of the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI). To learn more about Cognia Accreditation, visit cognia.org.

A piece by Dr. Thomas Dempster, associate dean for Arts and Humanities and director of bands at ASMSA, was featured during a session at the 53^rd annual International Double Reed Society conference.

“Zugzwang,” a piece for horn in F and bassoon, was performed by Allison Nicotera, a bassoonist and assistant professor of bassoon at the University of Kentucky, and Bert Hill, a horn in F musician, at the conference on July 22. The performance was included in Nicotera’s conference session, “The Brass Tacks of Bassoon: Exploring Brass Influence in Bassoon Writing.” The conference was held at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Dempster said the piece “explores various colors and possibilities of the uncommon pairing of bassoon and horn.” He said the bassoon has horn-like moments while the horn may occasionally sound more bassoon-like using techniques such as muting, stopping and playing in lower registers.

The piece’s title is related to a term in chess and game theory, Dempster said. A Zugzwang is a situation where one player is placed at a disadvantage through being forced or obligated to make a move. He said the Zugzwang is a pursuit or a chase before an endgame scenario.

“I imagined the piece as a series of melodic moves that bounce between the instruments and a long sequence of chases,” Dempster said. “While it sounds somewhat serious, the piece has many moments of humor and silliness, and unlike a turn-based games, both players end up in a harmonious draw at the end.”

Dempster said he feels very fortunate and thankful to have a piece reach an audience such as the one at the conference, which is a peer-reviewed, prestigious international conference for double-reed instruments such as oboe and bassoon as well as double-reed auxiliary instruments such as the English horn and contrabassoon. He also appreciates the work of the performers to bring the piece to life.

This performance marked the first appearance of “Zugzwang” at an IDRS conference, Dempster said. He has had several other works performed at pervious IDRS conferences, generally for bassoon alone or chamber music featuring the bassoon.

To learn more about IDRS, visit https://www.idrs.org/.