Author: Donnie Sewell

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts held commencement for its Class of 2021 on Saturday, May 22, at Bank OZK Arena at the Hot Springs Convention Center.

The ceremony honored 96 graduates from 39 Arkansas counties. Heather R. Nelson, cofounder and president of Seal Solar, served as the keynote speaker for the event. The ceremony also featured several student speakers.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts held its annual Honors Convocation and Academic Awards ceremony on May 17.

The annual Honors Convocation is an opportunity to recognize the students’ academic achievements for the school year. Special awards and fellowships are announced, and seniors are selected to speak during the event.

Bryson Austin, a senior from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, has been named a recipient of the 2021 Gates Scholarship.

The Gates Scholarship is a highly selective, last-dollar scholarship for outstanding minority high school seniors from low-income households. Each year, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awards the scholarship to 300 students nationwide with the intent of helping them realize their maximum potential. Scholars will receive funding for the full cost of attendance that is not covered by other financial aid and the expected family contribution. That includes tuition, fees, room, board, books and transportation.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts recognized students and their works of arts and literature during the annual Arts and Humanities Research Capstone Symposium Awards ceremony on May 10.

The Arts and Humanities Research Capstone Symposium was held May 7. During the symposium, students presented and discussed the works of art and literature they created for their capstone projects. Every ASMSA student is required to complete a capstone project during their academic career at the school. Students may choose topics throughout the mathematics, sciences, and arts and humanities spectrum.

Two Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts alumni who turned an idea developed at a startup business competition into a successful company have taken the next step — selling their business to a larger company that will help them expand their audience.

Canon Reeves and Rex Hearn, both members of the Class of 2016, created MORE Technologies with two fellow University of Arkansas classmates in 2018. MORE, which stands for Modular Open-Source Robotics Ecosystem, developed programmable robots and educational tools using items that could be inexpensively 3D printed or found in store aisles.

Public performances are a staple of any school music program. It’s an opportunity for young musicians to display their talents and demonstrate what they have learned throughout the school year. But for more than a year, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented ASMSA’s musicians many opportunities to rehearse together much less perform publicly.

But over the next two weeks, ASMSA music students will hold several spring concerts. The performances will be open to small audiences of performers’ immediate family members, students and ASMSA staff — about 100 people for each indoor performance. The concerts will also be streamed live on the school’s Facebook page — facebook.com/armathsciarts — for those who can’t attend in person.

Fifteen Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students earned the Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy by demonstrating proficiency in English and at least one other language before graduating high school.

The Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy is awarded each spring and fall to students in ninth through 12th grades and is sponsored by the Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association and the Arkansas Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. The Arkansas Department of Education officially endorsed the seal in June 2018.

There were 456 high school students from 27 Arkansas school districts and charter, private or virtual schools and home schoolers who earned the recognition in the spring.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts won its ninth consecutive school title in the recent Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair.

Three ASMSA students also qualified as finalists for the 2021 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair based on state science fair results. Chloe Kirk of Eureka Springs, Soumya Chauhan of Bentonville and Lawson Smith of Jonesboro qualified for the international competition that will be held virtually in May. They join three other ASMSA students who earned ISEF eligibility at the West Central Regional Science Fair that was held in February at ASMSA.

Two teams from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts earned recognition in the 2021 Arkansas Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan competition, including being the first high school team to place in the top three in a division.

Apollo, a team comprised of juniors Andreas Bradley of Jacksonville and Isaiah Jellenik of Conway, won third place overall in the Small Business Division. This was the first time that a high school team placed in one of the top three spots of the competition. ASMSA has had teams qualify for the finals in the previous three years, but none of them placed in the top three.

A team from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts won the David Ricardo Division of the Arkansas Economics Challenge held April 8.

The team of seniors Alec Gatewood of Smackover and Bryson Austin of Little Rock and junior Pierce Hickey of Sherwood competed in a division named for the famous British economist. The division is for first-time competitors who have taken no more than one economics course.