Author: Donnie Sewell

Tracy Watson spent the past seven years teaching mathematics to high school students, most recently at Benton High School. Now she is ready to share her knowledge and experience not only with high school students across the state but educators as well.

Watson is the newest educator to join the STEM Pathways faculty at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts. Her primary focus will be to prepare high school educators across the state to offer AP Statistics at their school.

She started at ASMSA on July 1. She is spending this academic year working with educators to find out what they need in order to offer AP Statistics to their students and helping them broaden their current curriculum. From that, she will develop learning modules covering the AP Statistics course content.

“I will officially begin offering the curriculum next year with a kickoff boot camp during Summer of 2022,” Watson said. “I have a few teachers I’ve connected with this year and have helped them get started with things like pacing guides and homework assignment selection. I hope to continue to do the little things to help them this year.”

ASMSA’s STEM Pathways program began in 2015 with the creation of the Coding Arkansas’ Future initiative. That program offered high schools across the state the opportunity to expand its computer science curriculum while receiving guidance and professional development from ASMSA staff members. While ASMSA instructors taught some computer science courses for schools through digital learning, the main emphasis was preparing educators to become computer science teachers.

That included offering summer boot camps to introduce teachers to computer science. Those teachers received guidance throughout the school year from ASMSA, including continuing professional development through weekly video meetings and a follow-up camp at the conclusion of the academic year. The goal not only to prepare those educators to earn their license to teach computer science while also being the primary computer science teacher at their school.

The program expanded in recent years to offer a middle school coding block and the Advanced Biology program. In the Advanced Biology program, instructors around the state receive professional development from ASMSA’s life science instructors in the instruction of AP Biology. ASMSA’s biology teachers guide camps prior to the beginning of the school year. They then help educators prepare their curriculum for the year and provide unique lab learning activities that the individual schools may not be able to offer otherwise.

The success of those programs led ASMSA to consider adding AP Statistics to the STEM Pathways program. Watson said now is an appropriate time to add the course to the program’s offerings as statistics becomes more integrated into various courses.

“For the past seven years, I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching AP Statistics to high school students,” Watson said. “During that time, it became clear how important it is for everyone to have a basic understanding of statistics. When I heard that the STEM Pathways program was expanding to Statistics, I knew this would be a way I could share my passion for the class and its importance and to help students and teachers alike see its value.”

In addition to her past several years in a high school classroom, Watson has also taught on the college level, including 13 years at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She also spent three years as a teacher in ASMSA’s former Office of Distance Education. She was part of a start-up team for the program in 1998 and taught calculus for three years.

Her AP Statistics class will rely on some video distance education as well, but the methods and the reliability of such education has greatly improved since those early days in ODE, she said.

During her time with ODE, educators connected visually with classes through the Internet, but they still had to rely on the phone for audio.

“I remember getting on a conference phone call with several school and then keeping my fingers crossed trying to connect my computer with theirs,” she said. “When we did get a connection, there was always a delay that we had to manage, but we made it work. It was really neat because the students were able to interact with students in a different part of the state. We had to send out weekly mailings of handouts to ensure schools had the materials for the following week.

“Now, even though we are still impatient when there is a lag, we can see students in a video and share our computer screen and hear their voices almost immediately! No more mailing handouts or waiting to receive papers to grade. It’s all done on the computer. Students can still do their math by hand, but then they just snap a picture and send it or they can even use a table to write their work electronically.”

Watson said her experience will be valuable in constructing the course so that both students and educators get the most benefit from it. She said she understands the expectation of quality learning outcomes from a course from her college experience while appreciating the challenges high school teachers face every day to balance classroom time, duty time, prep time, grading time and meeting time.

“Efficiency has to be the primary goal to get it all done,” she said.

Included in that is not wasting time in training workshops that don’t result in a beneficial learning experience.

“I understand that teachers want to walk away with knowledge that applies to their classroom,” Watson said.

What makes a leader a good leader is a question that has many different answers. Perhaps it’s good decision making. Maybe it’s being a good listener. Or it could be the ability to have a vision for an organization and following through on it.

ASMSA seniors Danielle Luyet, Blake Smith and Joshua Stallings along with residential experience coordinator Liz Carrel participated in the Clinton Presidential Center Student Presidential Leaders Series, a year-long program that sought the answer that question in part. The program consisted of five sessions that helped the participants build meaningful relationships across identity lines, challenged them to discover how their core values impact how they make a difference in their communities, participated in a special service-learning program in celebration of Global Youth Service Day and other activities.

The ASMSA Foundation’s permanent endowment crossed a major milestone over the past year by reaching $500,000 in total assets for the first time since the fund was created in March 2007.

The endowment’s milestone was reached thanks to the generous support of the ASMSA Foundation Fund donors. During the fiscal year that ended June 30, $268,596 in new gifts and endowment revenue were added to the Fund. The Foundation is a subsidiary of the University of Arkansas Foundation, Inc., and serves as the philanthropic arm for the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts. ASMSA is a public residential school and campus of the University of Arkansas System.

Students as the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts had an opportunity to have questions answered by astronauts currently participating in a mission on the International Space Station during a special NASA Downlink on Aug. 18.

NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Mark Vande Hei, who are serving as flight engineers as part of Expedition 65 on the International Space Station,  answered prerecorded questions from ASMSA students. The educational downlink event aired live on NASA TV. ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice provided the opening and closing remarks for the event. To view the downlink event, visit https://asmsa.me/nasadownlinkvideo21.

ASMSA held an assembly to allow all students the opportunity to watch the downlink event live. While the students’ questions were prerecorded, the astronauts’ answers were presented live from the International Space Station. One of the highlights of the event was Vande Hei performing a triple backflip in response to a question about the most surprising physical feat they have accomplished on the space station that they couldn’t do on Earth.

“I had a moment where the reality of the astronauts talking to us really sank in, which was when Mark Vande Hei did a triple backflip in response to a question,” said Amy Brown-Westmoreland, ASMSA’s outreach coordinator who helped organized the school’s application to participate in a NASA Downlink. “Hearing the students cheer him on through his backflips and applause at the end of the event made all the hard work to get the NASA Downlink to ASMSA worthwhile. I am very grateful to everyone who made this event a success.”

Prior to live event, students participated in a space trivia challenge. There were also several activity stations provided by Mid-America Science Museum staff members including how to use a star map to find constellations, a scale model of the Milky Way, what the Big Dipper looks like from space and techniques used for discovering planets around other stars as well as how to differentiate between stars and planets.

Dr. Jack Waddell, a physics instructor at ASMSA, helped organize the event, including gathering the prerecorded questions to send to NASA. He said it was a wonderful opportunity to bring the whole school together for an inspiring event.

“It was amazing to experience this event with our whole community of learning together,” Waddell said. “When else do you get the chance to see and hear people flying through space talk directly to you, your friend, your classmate, or your teacher?

“The astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Shane Kimbrough shared some of their extensive knowledge of the station and what it was like working and living within it. They also provided guidance to students who hope to one day work at NASA. This generation of students will likely be entering their future careers just as the first humans walk on Mars; I think this experience gave them a taste of what it might be like to be a part of that mission.”

This was the second time Director Alderdice has participated in a NASA event. The first was during a NASA Social event at Johnson Space Center in 2017. Space exploration has been an inspiration to many young scientists, he said.

“For more than a half century, one of the primary points of entry to STEM disciplines for young people has been America's fascination with space,” Alderdice said. “For ASMSA students aspiring to careers in science, technology, and engineering, this was an opportunity to see the relevancy of their interests as they pertain to the work on board the International Space Station.

“ Seeing the creativity and ingenuity that goes into supporting the work of NASA and other space agencies across the globe (at the Johnson Space Center) was truly special.  Being able to connect ASMSA students directly through today's experience was even more incredible.”

Kimbrough and Vande Hei are members of  Expedition 65, which began in April 2021 and will end in October 2021. This expedition will include research investigations focused on biology, Earth science, human research, physical sciences and technology development, providing the foundation for continuing human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars, according to NASA’s website.

Kimbrough is a retired U.S. Army colonel who served as an Army aviator during his career, including during Operation Desert Storm. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and Master of Science degree in Operations Research from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He also served as a professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the U.S. Military Academy as well as several other military schools during his military career.

He was selected to join NASA in 2004 as an astronaut candidate, completed his astronaut candidate training in 2006, took his first space flight in 2008 and has conducted six spacewalks during his NASA career. He previously served as Commander of the International Space Station during Expedition 49/50 in 2016-17.

Vande Hei is a retired U.S. Army colonel who served as a combat engineer, including during Operation Provide Comfort in Iraq. He earned a Bachelor of Science in physics from Saint John’s University and a Master of Science in Applied Physics from Stanford University. He also served as an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at the U.S. Military Academy and an Army space support team leader in the Army’s 1^st Space Battalion at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.

Beginning in July 2006, he served as a Capsule Communicator in NASA Mission Control Center in Houston, including for International Space Station Expeditions 15 to 20 and several Space Shuttle missions. He was selected to join NASA as a member of the 2009 astronaut class and completed astronaut candidate training in 2011. He previously served as a member of Expedition 53 and 54 and has participated in four spacewalks.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts will implement a campus-wide mask mandate, effective immediately. 

The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees approved a resolution during its annual retreat today that directs “each campus, division and unit to implement face covering policies for students, faculty, staff and guests, regardless of vaccination status, in indoor public settings where physical distancing cannot be assured in accordance with CDC guidance regarding the COVID-19 Delta variant.” 

Three members of the Class of 2020 have had research they conducted while students at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts published in the Journal of Student Research High School Edition. 

They are the first Arkansas students to have their research published in the journal, said Dr. Whitney Holden, a Life Science Specialist at ASMSA who served as their research advisor. 

Ethan Talley of Conway, Alexx Weaver of Lonoke and Sophia McClain of Van Buren conducted their research as part of the Life Science Capstone course at ASMSA. Weaver and McClain worked as a team, studying a link between an individual’s susceptibility to influenza and their nasal microbiome. Talley’s research explored the applications of a compound that could combat harmful algal blooms in freshwater systems. 

Holden served as the main research advisor for the students, working with them over three semesters to conduct their initial research. That led to her deciding to try to help them get their research published. 

“These are some of the strongest projects I have ever mentored at ASMSA, and these students impressed me every week with their motivation and maturity,” Holden said. “I felt these students deserved recognition for all their hard work and creativity, particularly when they had earned the right to compete at the International Science and Engineering Fair and then missed that opportunity when the competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

The students had earned the opportunity to compete in the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) through the Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair in the spring of 2020. ISEF is the largest and most prestigious international undergraduate science and engineering fair. It annually brings students from around the world together to compete. The 2020 international competition was cancelled because of the pandemic. 

The Journal of Student Research High School Edition is an academic, multidisciplinary and faculty-reviewed journal devoted to the rapid dissemination of current research published by high school students. Preparing their research for publication wasn’t a rapid process, however. 

“Publishing this research required a great deal of extra work stretching out over a year,” Holden said. “Alexx and Ethan were updating their manuscripts during their first semester in college, and we all went back and forth through several additional drafts during the Christmas holidays to bring both manuscripts up to publication quality. Then we submitted in January and crossed our fingers for months waiting for a decision.” 

Both Weaver and Talley said that it took many hours of work to get their research reports ready for publication while being unsure if they would even be published. 

“The idea of being a published author almost felt too big, like it was something out of my wheelhouse,” Weaver said. “Dr. Holden encouraged me and really pushed me to this great achievement. Dr. Holden and I spent many hours revising and emailing back and forth in order to shape my paper into a beautiful article.” 

Talley said he had already been thinking about the possibility of publishing his research. 

“I already had a complete paper when we started thinking about publication, but it had to be the subject of endless reformatting and revision before I was really happy about actually publishing it. Dr. Holden helped enormously with that by picking out things that I might have otherwise missed,” he said. 

To view Weaver and McClain’s research, visit https://asmsa.me/weavermcclainjournal21. To view Talley’s research, visit https://asmsa.me/talleyjournal21.  

Weaver said it was an honor to be able to represent the state in such a unique way by being one of the first Arkansas students to be published in the journal. 

“I have been a lifelong resident of a small town in central Arkansas and could never have imagined that I could be publicly recognized in this way. I hope that my publication can encourage other Arkansas students,” Weaver said. 

“ASMSA was the gateway to this accomplishment. Without the wonderful and dedicated teachers, I would not have been able to publish this paper. I am forever thankful for the mentorship I received from Dr. (Patrycja) Krakowiak (a Life Science Specialist at ASMSA) and Dr. Holden, who truly pushed me to this accomplishment.” 

Weaver is currently an undergraduate student and research assistant at the Arkansas Biosciences Institute located at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro where she is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in pre-professional biology. 

Talley is an honors fellow at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville where he is majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry, mathematics, computer science and data analytics. 

Director Corey Alderdice shared the following message with the campus community via email on Monday, July 12.

Students, Colleagues, and Families:

Today, we are releasing the DolphinReady 2.0 Plan as part of ASMSA's ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When ASMSA students and faculty returned to campus last August, there remained a significant amount of uncertainty about the year ahead.  We were the only one of our peer institutions slated to fully resume the residential experience, which made the task seem even more daunting.  In the end, we completed the year with zero cases of COVID-19 among students on campus.  This incredible feat speaks to the willingness of our students, employees, and families to make the necessary sacrifices on a daily basis that ensure the safety and continuity of the ASMSA experience.

As we prepare for the fall semester, there is both good news and bad news when surveying the current landscape.  The good news is two-fold: first, we now know this can be done; second, FDA-approved vaccines are widely and readily available that are both safe and effective at preventing the transmission of COVID-19.  However, there is also cause for concern.  Recent trends in statewide case numbers are higher today than they were last summer due to the emergence of the Delta variant as well as Arkansas’ lagging numbers in vaccine adoption.

Moreover, the Arkansas General Assembly passed two laws earlier this year that limits schools’ ability to adopt proactive policies in response to COVID-19.  Act 977 of 2021 prohibits state agencies and other public entities from requiring the COVID-19 vaccine.  Act 1002 of 2021 prohibits public entities (including both K-12 schools as well as colleges and universities) from enforcing campus mask mandates after July 27, 2021.

ASMSA’s COVID-19 Workgroup, which recommends policies and responses for the pandemic, has set forward the following framework for the year that intends, in large measure, a return to normal conditions.  This includes sign-off from campus, weekend visits home, and additional time for family members to visit campus.  However, our comfort with the policies as outlined in this FAQ is predicated on two factors.

1. We anticipate that 85% or more of students will be fully vaccinated upon arrival to campus in August.  Approximately 85% of all employees have already been fully vaccinated to date.
2. Wearing masks or other appropriate face coverings should continue to be a part of ASMSA’s campus culture of shared responsibility.  Consistent use of masks by both students and employees has been proven to reduce transmission of the virus and is the simplest step that we can take to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

To be clear: ASMSA cannot require these two actions based on the aforementioned state laws; however, the rest of our policies and responses will be adapted based on either the presence or absence of masks and a high rate of vaccination.  This includes reactivating restrictions on time away from campus. While every effort will be made to ensure the safety of students and employees, our planning for the year ahead assumes scenarios in which the virus is present and could lead to temporary disruptions to the residential experience.

I am grateful for the ways our faculty, staff, students, and families have risen to the challenges of the past year with patience, understanding, and resilience.  Challenges remain ahead, but I am confident that we will continue to work together to ensure continuity of learning and student growth.

Be safe. Be well.  We’re all in this together.

For a history of campus COVID-19 updates, visit https://www.asmsa.org/asmsa-covid-19-updates/.

Since its inception in 2015, the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts’ Coding Arkansas’ Future initiative has provided hundreds of educators from across the state with the professional development they have needed to prepare to teach computer science.

While that has mostly taken place either in person or through live video sessions, educators preparing for the computer science Praxis test in the near future will have an opportunity to do so through a web-based, self-paced version of the initiative’s Computer Science Praxis Prep Course.

Two Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students proved their financial prowess in The Stock Market Game during the 2020-21 academic school year.

Alec Gatewood, a member of the Class of 2021, and Connor Bailey, a junior, took top honors in this year’s Afterschool semester and yearlong sessions. The contest is sponsored by Economics Arkansas and is a national program of the SIFMA Foundation. It allows students and teachers the opportunity to invest a virtual $100,000 in stocks, bonds and mutual funds throughout a 13-week simulation each school semester. The yearlong session begins in September and ends in April.