Category: News

Four high school seniors at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts were among 76 students statewide recently named candidates for the 2020 United States Presidential Scholars program, considered one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students.

The U.S. Presidential Scholars was established in 1964, by executive order of the President, to recognize and honor some of the nation’s most distinguished graduating high school seniors.

The 2020 candidates for the U.S. Presidential Scholar from ASMSA are:

• Tristan Eoff of Little Rock;
• A.J. Navarro of Hot Springs;
• Emily Smith of Cabot; and
• Haven Whitney of Searcy.

The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars’ review committee selects honored scholars annually based on their academic success, personal characteristics, leadership, and service activities, in addition to the quality and content of their essays.

Each year, more than 4,000 candidates are identified for the component of the program that focuses on academic achievement and based on having scored exceptionally well on the SAT or the ACT.  Eligible students are U.S. citizens and legal permanent U.S. residents who will graduate or receive their high school diploma between January and August of the current program year and have taken the ACT or SAT assessment on or before October of the previous year.

“ASMSA candidates for the U.S. Presidential Scholars program are not only exemplary leaders within the classroom but also dynamic members across our community of learning,” said ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice. “These young people excel in scholarly research, global engagement, artistry and entrepreneurship.  They are a clear indicator that the future of our state is exceedingly bright.”

Approximately 800 students will be named semifinalists after the next round of review, and up to 161 students will be recognized in May as Presidential Scholars. The majority of the Scholars will be selected on the basis of broad academic achievement. Approximately 20 students are selected on the basis of their academic and artistic scholarship in the visual arts, the performing arts or creative writing. Additionally, approximately 20 additional students will be selected on the basis of their ability and accomplishment in career and technical education fields.

If a student is selected as a U.S. Presidential Scholar, they will be honored in Washington, D.C., in June.  During this trip, U.S. Presidential Scholars are guests of the U.S. Department of Education and the Commission and enjoy an expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with government officials, educators and other accomplished people.  To commemorate their achievement, the Scholars are awarded the U.S. Presidential Scholars medallion at a ceremony sponsored by the White House.

Amanda Carson, a senior student at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, has named a Horatio Alger National Scholar.

The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., recently announced the 106 recipients of its 2020 Horatio Alger National Scholarship. The National Scholars receive a $25,000 scholarship to apply toward educational costs of the college or university of their choice. They also have access to a variety of Alger Association-provided resources including counseling and referral services, career exploration opportunities and association alumni connections.

The Alger Association — named for Horatio Alger Jr., a renowned century author whose tales of overcoming adversity through unyielding perseverance and basic moral principles were popular — is a nonprofit educational organization honoring the achievements of outstanding individuals and encouraging youth to pursue their dreams through higher education. The 2020 National Scholars are students who come from households with an average income of $17,675 per year while maintaining an average GPA of 3.84.

Carson of Russellville missed the initial call to inform her of her selection. She had slept through the phone call on a weekend morning. When she called the number back later, the person from the Alger Association said he was just checking up with her.

“Then he hit me with ‘Congrats, you’re a National Scholar,” Carson said. “I just thanked him over and over. I had been stalking their page for a long time. I really wasn’t expecting to get National Scholar. There are only 106 of them. I thought that if I got anything it would be State Scholar (who receive $10,000 scholarships).

“It’s amazing. It feels like the association is taking care of me in a sense. It makes me feel freer in my choice of college since I will have a little more cushion to choose the best pick for me and not just worrying about which one will let me go with the least amount of debt.

National Scholars receive an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C., on April 2-4 to attend the Horatio Alger National Scholars Conference. While there, scholars will participate in college preparedness and other educational sessions. They will also have the opportunity learn about the Alger Association, meet association members and other scholars.

Carson said she is excited about the conference because she will get to meet current and previous scholars. She has already made a connection with a previous National Scholarship recipient online. Carson reached out to the 2016 recipient before she had heard any news on her own selection. “I found a hashtag on Instagram. I reached out to her,” Carson said. “She was really friendly. When I told her that I did get my scholarship, she reached out to a couple of association members she grew close to. We are going to meet in April. We’re all going to be very tight-knit. I know that. I feel like I already have a family in the association.”

It will also be the first time she will fly on an airplane and travel farther east than New Orleans, she said.

For more information about the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, visit horatioalger.org.

Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts senior Victoria Hwang has been recognized as a 2020 Regeneron Science Talent Search Scholar.

Hwang of Maumelle was one of 300 national scholars and the only one from Arkansas recognized in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, which is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors. It is sponsored by the Society for Science and the Public. The scholars were selected from 1,993 applications received from 659 high schools in 49 states; Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; Guam; and eight countries.

Hwang’s research focused on inhibiting production of a specific protein to study its effect on the life cycle of cancer cells in a glioblastoma, one of the most malevolent forms of brain cancer. Hwang’s research tested if prohibiting the protein production would send the cancer cells into cell death and kill the tumor. While a good percentage of cancer cells did reach cell death, it was not enough to completely kill the tumor.

“It gave some structure on how to approach this idea,” Hwang said, looking at the positives that came from her study. “It’s something I’d like to continue researching in college if I have the opportunity. I have a better understanding of where I should start this process and what more I should look into,” she said.

To conduct high-level research such as this required access to a medical research lab. During the fall semester of her junior year, she read through the papers and studies of Dr. Robert Eoff, an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. His work focuses on several similar topics, including deepening “the understanding of how DNA damage intolerance impacts genome stability, patient response to treatment and tumor recurrence in certain cancers,” according to his bio page on the UAMS website.

Hwang spent her spring break in Spring 2019 visiting Eoff’s lab, getting a feel of how the lab worked. She followed that by working in the lab every day during the summer. The first part of the summer was used to learn the process and procedures of the lab. She began focusing on her own research the second half of the summer.

Dr. Patryjcja Krakowiak, a biology instructor at ASMSA and Hwang’s project adviser, helped gain access to Eoff’s lab. Krakowiak said, “Victoria was an absolutely perfect candidate for partnering with UAMS because she is one of the most responsible and devoted students I have ever had. Once she decides to do something, nothing seems to be able to stop her.”

Krakowiak added that Hwang was a great representative of ASMSA, never shying away from extremely hard work and doing more than was necessary each day.

“She is a critical thinker and thrives when presented with challenges, which are common in scientific research. By her exemplary behavior, she has paved the way for other ASMSA students to join laboratories at UAMS,” Krakowiak said.

Hwang said she was working on a joint project with another student when Krakowiak first suggested she develop an independent project to enter into the Regeneron Science Talent Search. Hwang was hesitant at first.

“I wasn’t confident that it would be able to compete. There were so many impressive projects nationally. Then I read Mary Jia’s story from last year,” Hwang said.

Jia, a member of the Class of 2019 from Stuttgart, also was named a Regeneron Scholar for her research of blast disease resistance of rice. Jia’s story inspired Hwang to take on the challenge of an individual project.

“By coming to ASMSA, you have an opportunity to do something that not every student in the state gets. I decided that if I had the opportunity to do so and had everything I needed to qualify, nothing could go wrong, even if I didn’t make it,” she said.

Krakowiak said it’s that spirit that made her decide to recommend Hwang enter the contest.

“Victoria worked harder than any student I have ever had on her project by not only spending most of her spring break and after-school hours but also all of her summer at the UAMS lab. The topic she studied of understanding how cancer cells behave under various circumstances is also extremely exciting and crucial in our fight to eradicate it,” Krakowiak said.

As a Regeneron Scholar, Hwang earned a $2,000 award for herself and an additional $2,000 award for ASMSA. The Society for Science and the Public will name 40 finalists on Jan. 22 to compete for more than $1.8 million in additional awards, including the top award of $250,000. Finalists receive an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C., from March 5-11, where they will compete for the awards.

“The next couple of weeks I’ll just cross my fingers and hope to move on to finalist,” Hwang said. “I think it’s already impressive to get to this point. If I don’t make it, I’m tremendously grateful and happy for how far I’ve made it so far.”

The ASMSA Foundation Fund celebrated a strong year of fundraising and community support at the annual Director’s Circle Luncheon on Dec. 17.

The luncheon, held in the school’s new Creativity and Innovation Complex, served to thank groups who had provided capital support for the project as well as donors who have made gifts to a variety of student and faculty initiatives during the past year. More than $700,000 in gifts were made toward the $4.7 million classroom and multi-purpose building.

Capt. Al Carney (Ret.), chair of the ASMSA Foundation Fund Board of Ambassadors, thanked the 70 guests in attendance for their support of the school.

“The Foundation Fund and the Office of Institutional Advancement seek to raise broad-based support for ASMSA while helping alumni and friends of the school achieve their philanthropic goals,” Carney said. “You have all chosen to be a part of this group because of our mutual passion for generating a very high level of educational achievement among students across the state of Arkansas and, more recently, international students from other nations.”

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Sara Brown, director of institutional advancement for the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, praised the foundation’s Board of Ambassadors and other donors for their forward-thinking approaches and investment in young people’s potential.

“Together, we are shaping the future and preparing the leaders of tomorrow by investing in the educational experiences cultivated at ASMSA,” Brown said. “We are helping students gain the knowledge and skills necessary to take their abilities to the next level, and your commitment and support has enabled us to continue to expand these opportunities for even greater success.”

Mary Zunick, executive director of the Hot Springs Sister City Program, was recognized as the recipient of the 2019 Advocate of the Year Award. Through her advocacy for global engagement, the school has received nearly $200,000 in grants and programmatic opportunities for students.

Zunick was one of the first community members to meet with ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice when he started in 2012. During the interview process, Alderdice spoke of interest in creating a global learning program at ASMSA that would help students and faculty study abroad. The two discussed the Sister City relationship between Hot Springs and Hanamaki, Japan, as a natural springboard of the initiative.

That visit led to ASMSA’s selection to participate in the Kakehashi Project in June 2013 by the Laurasian Institution. The program included an all-expenses paid trip to Japan for 25 students and staff. Students visited Hanamaki during the trip, which led the creation of a sister school relationship between ASMSA and Hanamaki Kita High School in 2016.

In 2015, ASMSA received a two-year, $60,000 grant from the Japan Foundation of Los Angeles to begin offering Japanese language courses. ASMSA is the only high school in the state to offer local classes in Japanese. This year, nearly one-quarter of ASMSA students are enrolled in a Japanese language or literature class.

Zunick’s leadership and network of connections with organizations committed to Japanese partnerships created opportunities for ASMSA to engage and build on existing relationships to create new and dynamic opportunities for students.

“Mary Zunick is our community’s leading advocate for the power that cultural exchange creates between communities across the globe,” Alderdice noted in remarks. “Her friendship, commitment and advocacy has helped ASMSA create a signature program in the humanities that defines the school’s leadership in cultural awareness, global engagement and the power of friendship between countries.”

Zunick, who was appointed an honorary consul of Japan by the Japanese government in 2018, spoke of the importance that cultural exchanges have for both students and communities.

“There are differences between the people who live across the street from you as well as on the other side of the world, but we have so much more in common than we have different. Hopefully these opportunities will not only provide precious memories but change how they see the world and see each other as a result of the trip [to Japan].”

The Arkansas for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts recently upgraded its Internet bandwidth to a gigabit service. The investment in the school’s digital infrastructure ensures ASMSA will have a robust and reliable Internet connection to serve as an important tool for academics while also providing students use of communication and entertainment services.

A gigabit allows up to 1 billion bits of data per second to be downloaded by the user. Faster download speeds and larger bandwidth permissions will allow students to access great amounts of information in a shorter period of time.

That is critical for institutions of learning who want to be able to offer its students the best learning resources, including one-to-one education institutions where each student brings or is assigned a laptop for classroom use. ASMSA is a 1:1 BYOD (one-to-one, bring your own device) campus. Through the upwARd Promise program, students who cannot afford a laptop of their own are loaned one for the semester.

The new bandwidth connection will provide each ASMSA student roughly 4.35 Mbps. That’s the highest per-pupil allocation in Arkansas, according to the most recent statistics from the state.

The State Education Technology Director’s Association recommended a minimum bandwidth of 100 Kbps per student as a minimum with a bandwidth-intensive institution providing 1.5 Mbps per device in 2016. ASMSA’s new connection far surpasses that recommendation.

In 2014, the Federal Communications Commission adopted a connectivity goal of 1 Mbps per student for schools to meet in 2017-18. Almost 99 percent of Arkansas public schools have met that goal. The national median bandwidth in 2019 is 776 Kbps, according to the FCC.

While having Internet access for classroom and other learning experiences are important for every school, having the same reliable access for students outside the classroom is just as important for a residential campus such as ASMSA. Students live both online and offline, and ASMSA is their “home away from home” for the better part of the year. This includes email, streaming video and music services, gaming and other uses.

The campus has made great strides in increasing the bandwidth provided to campus. In 2012, the campus bandwidth provided to students was 28 Mbps. Those speeds were too slow to allow video streaming — even from YouTube or other short-video sits — or music streaming much less interactive gaming and social media sites.

Investments have also been made in specialized labs throughout campus for both academic and social purposes. One lab serves as the home court of sorts for the school’s esports team. The Arkansas Activities Association has officially recognized esports, allowing high schools to form teams to compete against each other. For as many students are members of the esports teams, there are likely many more playing games online from their rooms.

Upgrading the Internet connection helps ASMSA provide the best learning and residential experience it can for its students

“As ASMSA continues to make investments in its digital infrastructure, we are always mindful of the role that technology serves not only for instruction but also communication and entertainment within the residential experience,” said Corey Alderdice, ASMSA’s director. “With students living on campus for much of the year, we want them to enjoy reasonable access to all parts of the Internet.”

Three Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts seniors have been selected to receive a QuestBridge National College Match Scholarship.

Ghailan Fadah of Pine Bluff, Riasat Omar of Little Rock and Haven Whitney of Searcy were selected to receive scholarships through the program. QuestBridge is a nonprofit organization that connects exceptional low-income youth with leading institutions of higher education. QuestBridge works with top universities across the country to offer four-year, full scholarships to deserving students who may otherwise be unable to afford to attend those institutions.

QuestBridge partnered this year with 40 colleges and universities to offer scholarships at institutions such as Duke University, Rice University, Stanford University and others.

Students apply for the scholarships through the Common Application, which is used by many educational institutions for admission. QuestBridge applicants write an essay to accompany the application. They may list up to eight of the partner schools at which they would like to be considered for admission.

Fadah was matched with Colby College, the 12th-oldest private liberal arts college in the country. It is located in Waterville, Maine. Fadah said he had six schools on his list of schools, all of which he considered equal for the most part. He plans to major in neuroscience.

He said receiving a match reassured him that hard work does pay off, “and that someone believes in me and is willing to bet on it. … [My mom] made sure to remind me to give thanks not only to God but to every single person that helped me throughout my journey at ASMSA, whether it was just showing me around campus on the first day or guiding me through the chaotic college process. That’s a lot of people that I have to thank, and I’m still working on it.”

Omar received a scholarship offer from Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he plans to major in mathematical economics with a computer science minor. Besides the mountainous location, Omar liked the institution’s unique block scheduling plan. He also pointed out that its students are recognized as “some of the hardest working college students in the nation.”

He said the QuestBridge National Match program allowed him to apply to elite colleges without having to worry about financial restrictions. Omar said it was a great relief to not have to worry about college applications for the remainder of the school year. He also got a bonus for his selection from his roommate.

“My roommate bet a Popeye’s chicken sandwich that I was not going to get matched. When the decisions came out, I was in my room while my roommate was losing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. I opened the decision and found out that I got matched to Colorado College. I paused my roommate’s video game and said, ‘You owe me a chicken sandwich,’” he said.

Whitney, who plans to major in computer science, was matched with Yale University. She said while MIT may have been her first choice, the offer from Yale was a relief for her and her family.

“For both me and my family, it is a giant weight off our shoulders,” Whitney said. “Worrying about college has been my primary pastime this year, and to know I’ve been admitted to a fairly prestigious school for free has been incredibly relieving.”

If you have the opportunity to visit the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion this holiday season, be sure to look for several wooden ornaments created by students and faculty from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts on the mansion’s Christmas tree.

ASMSA was invited to participate in creating decorations for the tree that has a multi-national theme. Brad Wreyford, an art instructor at the school, said he quickly accepted the chance to highlight the unique learning experiences ASMSA offers its students.

“When I read the invitation to select a country and custom design multiple ornaments to represent them, I thought our students would excel at this,” Wreyford said. “I also thought this was a perfect opportunity to showcase what we do here.”

Wreyford said the school made a significant investment in its wood fabrication facility about five years ago. To his knowledge, ASMSA is the only school in the state offering wood fabrication under a creative umbrella.

“Multimedia 3D Design, Digital Design and Fabrication, and woodworking are not just tangents of what our department does; they are the emphasis. These are our most popular classes. I assumed most schools who were participating would be making something out of paper or standard 2D materials. I wanted our institution to do something different,” he said.

When it came to what nation to choose, it was natural to pick Japan, Wreyford said. Hot Springs has had a Sister City program with Hanamaki, Japan, for 25 years. ASMSA has sister school partnerships with Hanamaki-Kita in Hanamaki and Tennoji High School in Osaka.

He said he briefly considered having students in the art capstone program to create ornaments with origami as inspiration, but he decided that was a bit cliché. Coincidentally, he had been watching some videos online about Japanese furniture makers around the same time.

“The Japanese have a very rich, unique history of woodworking,” Wreyford said. “Their craft is different in application, purpose and even motivation. Their joints are far more complicated. Their saws and planes work on the pull motion. Ours work on the push.”

He said Japanese craftsmen traditionally take pride in simplicity. Wreyford said one of his early woodworking influences was George Nakashima, an American of Japanese descent. Nakashima’s work “opened the world of Japanese woodworking for me,” he said.

So instead of doing the obvious, Wreyford invited two of his Modern Design students — seniors Reed James of Harrison and Cooper North of Conway — to create simply designed wooden ornaments to contribute to the tree.

Wreyford said he the six ornament designs were inspired by the Japanese concept for life and design of “wabi-sabi.”

“Basically it is a celebration of the simple, or even unfinished,” he said. “What is open or empty is just as important as what is filled. It is a philosophy that heavily influences Japanese architecture and tea culture.”

The trio used scraps, cut-offs and other pieces of wood that might otherwise have been discarded. “Transforming something cast away seemed to embody this philosophy of no waste, no frills, simple,” Wreyford said.

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The forms were based on various stimuli including the Japanese flag, the Imperial Japanese Rising Sun flag, and a pagoda among others. The students were also helped influence the shapes.

“While Cooper and I had the opportunity to offer suggestions, most of the creativity came from Mr. Wreyford,” James said. “The designs were approved and elaborated on by Cooper and me. We were given plenty of creative freedom while working on our respective ornaments. I love all of the designs that we made.”

His favorite design was a dowel. “I like the simplicity paired with the vibrant accent colors on the tops and bottoms,” James said. North said a red gemstone shape was his favorite.

James had taken the Modern Design twice, while North had taken the course once. North had never had the opportunity to take woodworking courses before attending ASMSA. James said he had three years of woodworking experience before going into this project but that the skills he used for this project were learned in class from Wreyford.

While they used the skills they had already learned in class, the project gave both of them the opportunity to expand upon them. Both said learning to use a lathe as well as the proper painting techniques for the wood were new skills they learned on the project.

“The lathe has always been an infamous tool that I felt I was never worthy of getting close to,” James said. “After doing this project, I feel confident with my lathe skills but I have a lot left to learn.”

There will be several opportunities for the public to view the tree at the Governor’s Mansion during December. The first is this Sunday when the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion Association holds a Christmas Open House from 1 to 4 p.m. The mansion will be open to the public and serve as an official Toys for Tots dropoff location. No tickets are required for the event.

A Traditional Christmas Tea for adults will be held on Dec. 17 and a Children’s Christmas Tea will be on Dec. 18. Tickets are required for these events. For more information, visit the association’s website at

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Sara Brown, Ph.D., is the new director of institutional advancement at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts.

Brown started in the position on Nov. 1 and oversees the operation of the institutional advancement office and the ASMSA Foundation. She most recently served as the managing director for the Arkansas 4-H Foundation at the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. She previously served as director of development at National Park College in Hot Springs where she also served as assistant director of financial aid.

She earned an interdisciplinary doctorate in leadership from the University of Central Arkansas in 2017. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Business Administration in accounting from Henderson State University.

Brown said she was excited to return to the Hot Springs community with an opportunity to continue working at an educational institution.

“I love the community, and I love education,” Brown said. “I’m really looking at giving kids better opportunity across the state to reach a higher level of education. When I was working on my doctorate, I spent four years studying student success efforts and what to do to help the students. We are a very low-achieving state in education, and we are very low retention in higher education.

“It’s important having a school like this and opportunities for the kids to go out of country and see more things than just Arkansas but then bring them right back here to see how it affects our state. [To see] how they can start projects in high school and carry that forward into their college education and then into their career to be able to make a difference.”

While she is thankful to return to her home community of four decades, Brown said the experience working for the Arkansas 4-H Foundation was an opportunity to broaden her network of contacts. Just as ASMSA is a school that draws students from all over the state, her 4-H experience allowed her to meet educators from schools statewide. She also participated in chamber of commerce meetings throughout the greater Central Arkansas area that are important channels to share information about the school and its students.

“It just gives me lots more opportunities to support our students,” Brown said.

She said ASMSA has a great road map in place to help find the support it needs, but it is just a start.

“That roadmap is just the first step in creating an actual development plan that can be successful. You have to translate growth into the strategic mission and find funding streams to make a successful program,” Brown said.

Brown said learning to combine what she has learned from her various positions has given her a broad overview of the needs of students and needs of donors who are giving to the school that will give her the opportunity to work with both sides to be able to show the great attributes of the school and its students.

She looking forward to working the ASMSA Foundation Board of Ambassadors, whom she met with recently.

“They are our feet in the community. I appreciate their feedback,” Brown said.

Corey Alderdice, the director of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, was recently added to the National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools Board of Directors.

NCSSS was established in 1988 to provide a forum for specialized secondary schools focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics to exchange information and program ideas. It now includes more than 75 member schools, many “ranked” as the best in the country, along with several associate, affiliate and corporate members comprised of colleges, universities, summer programs, foundations and corporations.

Alderdice’s has served as director of ASMSA since July 2012. He said that serving on the board of an organization such as NCSSS was an important opportunity for him and the institution.

“It is a true honor to have the opportunity to sere alongside national leaders who are committed to STEM education, student research and shared best practices for innovative learning environments,” Alderdice said.

“Since ASMSA’s founding, the school has played an active role in the debates and discussions of this national consortium. ASMSA strives to be a leader not only in Arkansas but also to ensure that the unique courses, experience and programs developed by our dynamic faculty and staff serve as a model for what education can be on a national and global stage.”

Alderdice was inducted onto the board for a two-year term at the organization’s Professional Conference held Nov. 6-9 in Seattle.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts and Tennoji High School in Osaka, Japan, have been education partners for almost a decade, most often sharing research opportunities that explore the water in Hot Springs National Park.

During their most recent visit to Osaka in October, ASMSA students joined with their Tennoji counterparts to share a cultural exchange opportunity through the Japanese Peace Project. The project — created by the two schools — provided students from both schools to learn about the experience of the Japanese people after World War II and the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

ASMSA students began their visit with a trip to Hiroshima Peace Memorial, including the adjacent park and the museum. They were able to see structures that survived the bombing, which was the first use of a nuclear weapon by a nation. They also visited with a survivor of the bombing at the museum.

Dr. Neil Oatsvall, a history and Japanese Studies instructor at ASMSA, said visiting the memorial and listening to the survivor allowed ASMSA’s students to gain a broader understanding of World War II and the conflict with Japan.

“The survivor spoke eloquently about his experiences and the suffering of his family,” Oatsvall said. “There was a lot of human misery as you might expect.”

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What became evident is that both sides are essentially taught they were victims in the war without necessarily taking responsible for their nation’s actions. Oatsvall said American students are often taught only about the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor while Japanese students appear to only be taught about the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“We learn that we were the victims. In Japan, they learn they were. In truth, everyone was a victim. More than 70 million people died in World War II,” Oatsvall said.

Amy Brown-Westmoreland, outreach coordinator for ASMSA, said visiting the memorial “was a very transformative experience for staff and students who went.”

“It was children, old people; it was everybody. The destruction was indiscriminate and horrifying. We were all fairly quiet after going to the peace memorial. There were a lot of conversations about how to have this conversation back home and with future generations,” Brown-Westmoreland said.

Haven Whitney, an ASMSA senior, said having the opportunity to personally experience the memorial and the park was shocking but important.

“To that point, we had enjoyed the sights and the sounds, but then there was just this stillness,” Whitney said. “There’s only so much you can get out of textbooks. In the museum, there was an entire room filled with burnt and tattered clothes of children who were outside and killed by the bomb. You were able to connect with actual lives.”

The students returned to Osaka after visiting the memorial to participate in an event at Tennoji High. Students at Tennoji prepared presentations about both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, examining the immediate and long-term effects of the bombings on Japanese society.

Oatsvall gave a lecture about the long history between Japan, the United States and other nations that eventually led to the events of World War II. He included information about the Japanese internment camps that were developed to hold Japanese-Americans after the Pearl Harbor attack.

One of the results of the lessons and following discussion was both the American and Japanese students agreeing that the truth was important to learn, said ASMSA senior Sarah Balenko.

“It made me think about how little we know sometimes,” Balenko said. “We all collectively agreed that we should tell the truth about all events, to tell the honest truth without hiding.”

Whitney said all of the students agreed that they needed to find ways to ensure that such events would not happen again.

“(The Japanese students) spoke about how the peace we have now is more important than the history we share as enemies,” Whitney said.

Oatsvall said that the level of trust the students had amongst each other in order to express their thoughts doesn’t come easily.

“This was 10 years in the making. First, it was a way for them to come visit us and do science experiments. But it has become more than that. We had the type of discussions you can only have with real friends,” he said.

Oatsvall said it was also important that the discussions focused on peace rather than forgiveness.

“What impressed me the most after World War II was that Hiroshima and Japan did not think about hate but rather about what the future could be. They took an eye to the future to think about peace. This emphasis on peace was by people concerned about make sure no more Hiroshimas happened in the future and not to avenge the past,” Oatsvall said.

The schools plan to continue the Peace Project when Tennoji visits ASMSA in 2020, but organizers are unsure what they may do. Arkansas had two Japanese internment camps in Rohwer and Jerome, but the Tennoji students’ schedule is too tight to visit them, Oatsvall said.

Brown-Westmoreland said she is considering organizing a paper crane project. The group observed a display of a thousand paper cranes during their Hiroshima visit, and she thought that may be a good gesture of good will to create a similar display at ASMSA before Tennoji’s visit.