Author: Donnie Sewell

The team from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts won the Governor’s All-State Coding Competition held April 30 at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

ASMSA took top honors among the 17 teams participating in this year’s state competition. The team—comprised of seniors Trey Clark of Harrison and Joshua Stallings of Little Rock and junior Robert Boerwinkle of El Dorado— qualified for the competition earlier this year through a regional competition.

Courtney “C.J.” Woods, an alumnus of the Class of 1997, will serve as one of the featured speakers at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts sixth annual Community of Learning Luncheon.

The luncheon will be held at 11:30 a.m. Friday, April 29, in the Creativity and Innovation Complex on the ASMSA campus. The event is being held in conjunction with the school’s online Day of Giving. More information about the Day of Giving may be found at https://asmsa.salsalabs.org/invest/index.html.

Five Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students earned honors at the Arkansas Future Business Leader of America State Conference and qualified to compete in the national competition this summer.

ASMSA had 16 students compete at the 2022 FBLA State Conference that was held April 4-5. Ten of those students earned recognition in their individual categories. Students who placed in the top four of their category qualified to compete at the FBLA National Conference that will be held in Chicago on June 27-July 3.

A team from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts won two first place awards in the recent Arkansas Economics Challenge.

The ASMSA team won first place in the Team Presentation and test portions of the contest co-hosted by the Arkansas Center for Research in Economics at the University of Central Arkansas and Economics Arkansas, a private, nonprofit, non-partisan, educational organization that promotes economic literacy in Arkansas. The competition was held virtually on April 7.

ASMSA’s team members included juniors Talana Small of White Hall, Bethany Catron of Peel, Kiley Barton of Sims and Madison Arenaz of Piggott. The team earned a $100 prize for their win in the Team Presentation component. They won an additional $500 prize for the team for their win in the testing component.

Four Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students received recognition in the National Center for Women and Information Technology Award for Aspirations in Computing.

Amy Hoang, a senior from Hartman, earned a National Certificate of Distinction in addition to being recognized on the regional level in this year’s program. Three other students — senior Ash Hong from North Little Rock, junior Vicky Zhu from El Dorado as well as sophomore Nasya Choy of Conway — received recognition as Regional Affiliate Winners for Arkansas.

Two Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts computer science instructors are finalists for the 2022 Arkansas Computer Science Educator of the Year award.

Carl Frank and Nicholas Seward are among the five finalists nominated for the award that recognizes computer science educators in public schools across the state. It is the fourth year that the Arkansas Department of Education’s Office of Computer Science is recognizing computer science educators.

Five students from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts earned eligibility for the 2022 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair at the Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair held April 1-2 at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

The team of seniors Sheridan Dethrow of Jonesboro and Gwen Keith-Powell of North Little Rock won fourth place in the ISEF Finalists category. Senior Emma Cavaneau of Benton won fifth place while the team of seniors Spencer Lile of Benton and Paul Massey of Conway finished sixth in the category, all qualifying for international fair.

A team from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts was named a finalist in the Sixth Annual All-State Coding Competition.

ASMSA’s team is comprised of seniors Trey Clark of Harrison and Josh Stallings of Little Rock and junior Robert Boerwinkle of El Dorado.  The team is sponsored by computer science instructor Nicholas Seward. It will be one of 17 teams competing for the state title.

The teams qualified for the state final by participating in the All-Region Coding Competition that was held as a digital even on Feb. 25. More than 150 teams participated in the regional event and were scored by the Arkansas Department of Education Office of Computer Science team using a common rubric and process. That process determined the top 16 teams to be invited to participate in the state-level event. The school that produced the first place team in the state competition in 2021 — Don Tyson School of Innovation in Springdale — received an automatic invitation to send a team to this year’s state competition.

Other schools chosen to compete for the state title are Arkansas High School in Texarkana, Bentonville High School, Bentonville West High School, Cabot High School, Conway High School, Fayetteville High School, Haas Hall Academy in Fayetteville, Haas Hall Academy in Rogers, Har-Ber High School in Springdale, Hot Springs World Class High School, Lisa Academy West High School in Little Rock, Little Rock Central High School, Mountain Home High School, Rogers High School and Star City High School.

Each member of the first-place team will receive a $2,000 award that will be deposited into a 529 College Savings Plan. Each member of the second-place team will receive a $1,000 award deposited into a 529 College Savings Plan, with each member of the third-place team receiving a $500 award deposited into a 529 College Savings Plan. In addition, the schools that register/sponsor the first-place, second-place, and third-place teams will receive $10,000, $6,000, and $4,000, respectively, to support their computer science programs. The prizes and competition expenses are provided by a grant from ARCodeKids.

Included among the Special Awards at the recent West Central Regional Science Fair was a new award that recognize a student who conducted outstanding research in microbiology.

The inaugural award for “An Outstanding Microbiology Project that Seeks to Improve Human Health” was sponsored by Precision Analytical Laboratories of Northwest Arkansas. Lauralee Jarrett, a senior from Brinkley, was the recipient of the new award, which included a $100 prize.

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra recently debuted a new work by Dr. Thomas Dempster, a music instructor at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts.

Members of the ASO performed “Canticle of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini” during the March 1 River Rhapsodies concert at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock. The series presents collections of chamber pieces that demonstrate the versatility of the performers beyond the orchestral stage. The piece was composed for a septet consisting of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, violin, viola and cello, Dempster said.