Three Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts students recently learned their artwork was selected for recognition in the Fall 2024 CelebratingArt Contest sponsored by CelebratingArt and Blick Art Materials.

Students who are recognized in the contest are featured in CelebratingArt hardcover book edition. ASMSA students selected for the Fall 2024 edition were seniors Leah Fouste of Eureka Springs, Preston Lowe of Mayflower and AB Maness of Benton.

Fouste’s piece selected for the book is an oil painting named “Caravaggio-ish.” Fouste said the piece was inspired by the work of the artist Caravaggio and his “interesting use of light in his paintings.” Fouste earned a “High Merit” award for her submission.

“I was quite enthusiastic about being chosen to be published in the book,” Fouste said. “I think the publication means a lot to me because it is a step towards my future career in the arts.”

Lowe submitted “Young Amber Nichole,” an acrylic and collage magazine on canvas with palette knife texture. “I wanted to create something bold and experimental,” Lowe said. “The painting is a reimagining of my mother in her youth. I accentuated her dress with a striking collage element, allowing it to stand out, while the colors I chose were ones I had fallen in love with.”

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Lowe said having a piece selected for recognition “means so much to me because it feels like a recognition of the emotion and intricacy I poured into the piece. It reassures me that I’m on the right path with my art, motivating me to keep making what feels right. I was in complete shock to find that I’ve accomplished something as huge as this.”

Lowe also had an art piece and writing submission included in the “Our Voices Scholarship” magazine. He said that opportunities such as these fuel his hunger for creating more art with the hope of making work that speaks to others.

Maness’ piece that was accepted is an acrylic paint on canvas called “Master Copy of Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette” inspired by a Vincent Van Gogh painting called “Skull of a Skeleton with Burning Cigarette.”  Maness said she was “honored to be considered for publication. Being able to see my art published means that the hard work I’ve put into my art for the past six years has been for something.”

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts welcomed University of Arkansas System President Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jay Silveria to campus for his first visit the Hot Springs campus on Feb. 4.

Silveria was chosen to lead the UA System in November after longtime President Donald R. Bobbitt announced his retirement las summer. Silveria began his tenure on Jan. 15.

During his time at ASMSA, Silveria visited with Executive Director Corey Alderdice as well as a group of constituents that included faculty and staff members, parents, and members of the ASMSA Board of Visitors. He also participated in a campus tour led by a group of Student Ambassadors.

Silveria is planning to visit each of the UA System’s 21 campuses and units this semester. ASMSA was the first stop of his tour. During his visit with campus constituents, Silveria touted the System’s focus on two most important aspects — student access and success.

“If we’re not involved in creating student success and creating student access, then what is our role? What are we doing?” Silveria said. “The fact that those two are priorities for the System is really the major reason that drew me here. I’m privileged to be a part of it.”

Silveria said it is important to find ways to better integrate ASMSA into the System. While that will take ASMSA sharing ideas with him on how to do that, it is also important for the other System members to better understand what the school and its students have to offer.

After his visit, Silveria said that it was obvious how deeply the ASMSA’s faculty and staff care for the institution.

“That is evidenced by the students I spent time with how much they could talk about how the faculty and staff care about them. It was story after story about so-and-so did this for me and so-and-so did that for me. It’s so obvious that everyone really cares,” Silveria said.

Katelynn Cavin, a junior from Mount Vernon, won the ASMSA Poetry Out Loud competition and will represent the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts at the state competition in March.

Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students across the country, according to the program’s website. Students recite selected poetry before a group of judges who score the students’ performance and recitation accuracy.

Students qualify for the state competition through a contest sponsored by a school or another recognized organization. The winner of the state competition will have the opportunity to compete in the national competition. The statewide Poetry Out Loud competition, sponsored by The Arkansas Art Council with the Division of Arkansas Heritage, will be held Saturday, March 1, at the Ron Robinson Theatre in Little Rock. The state champion will have the opportunity to compete at the national level for a chance to win $20,000 this spring in Washington, D.C.

This was the fourth year ASMSA has hosted a school competition, which was held Jan. 15 at the Hot Springs Wednesday Night Poetry event at Kollective Coffee + Tea. During the event, each competitor recited two poems, one from memory and one read from the page.

Cavin recited “Crossing the Bar” by Alfred Tennyson and read “Ars Poetica” by Jose Olivarez. At the state competition, Cavin will have to recite three poems from memory.

Other students who placed in the competition were April Adams, a junior from Clinton, second place; Sephora Faiq, a junior from Arkadelphia, third place; and Donovan Hurtarte, a junior from Little Rock, fourth place.

Madeline Liachenko, an Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts senior from Benton, has been recognized as a U.S. Presidential Scholar Candidate.

The U.S. Presidential Scholars program is considered one of the nation’s highest honors for high school students. It 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 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.

Liachenko was among almost 90 Arkansas students selected as candidates this year. Each year, more than 4,000 candidates are identified for the component of the program that focuses on academic achievement as well as 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.

Approximately 800 students will be named semifinalists in April after the next round of review, and up to 161 students will be recognized in May as Presidential Scholars. If a student is selected as a U.S. Presidential Scholar, they will be honored in Washington, D.C., in June. To commemorate their achievement, the Scholars are awarded the U.S. Presidential Scholars medallion at a ceremony sponsored by the White House.

When the 95^th General Assembly opened session on Jan. 13, Lincoln E. Barnett was sworn in to represent District 63 in the Arkansas House of Representatives, marking the next step in a political journey that began as a young child in Blackfish Lake, Ark., a small community near Interstate 40 located between Forrest City and West Memphis.

Growing up, Barnett attended school in Hughes. After riding the school bus home one day during his kindergarten year, he recalls asking his mother a question: “Mom, what’s wrong with Hughes?”

“To which she replied, ‘Baby, there’s a lot wrong with Hughes,’” Barnett said. “To which I thought, ‘Well, what are we going to do about it?’”

The conversation left an impression on Barnett, a member of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts Class of 2007. An encounter in sixth grade with the then-mayor of Hughes sparked an interest in one day becoming the mayor of Hughes himself. He would do so in 2018 when at the age of 29 he was elected as the youngest mayor in the town’s history as well as the second African American to hold the position.

Prior to serving as Hughes’ mayor, Barnett served as a member of the Hughes School District school board from 2012-2015, representing rural areas of the district including his home communities of Blackfish Lake and Heth. Declining enrollment forced the school district to consolidate with the West Memphis School District in 2015 in accordance with Act 60 of 2003.

“Many in the city of Hughes began to lose hope because they saw the school as the heart of the community,” Barnett said. “I initially felt that way also, but after engaging in community activism, preparing our community for the forced merger and advocating for students, parents and families, that childhood thought of ‘Well, what are we going to do about it?” led me to seeing no other option than offering myself to and for the service of the city of Hughes in the capacity of mayor.”

Barnett said his goal was to restore hope to and empower the people of Hughes by reminding them that it was the people who were the heart of the community and not the school. After his first term as mayor, he decided to seek the House District 63 seat, but he lost to the incumbent in the primary by 258 votes. He was soon back in the mayor’s office, however, when the Hughes City Council asked him to return as mayor in January 2023 after his successor abruptly resigned two days into their term of office.

“So that makes me both the 17^th and 19^th mayor of Hughes,” Barnett said.

In 2024, Barnett again decided to seek the District 63 seat. In the March 2024 primary, he earned a spot in an April 2024 runoff for the Democratic nomination and was then elected in the November 2024 General Election.

“I wanted better for my regional community, and I’m willing to do more than just complain. I ran because I was willing to step up and try to make a difference,” Barnett said. Now he gets that opportunity to do so in the Arkansas House of Representatives. “Our part of the state has many challenges, and it will take engaged leaders with the support of engaged citizens to collectively bring about and advocate for the progression of Eastern Arkansas and the overall state in general.”

Barnett said his service as both a school board member and a mayor in a small rural area has given him first-hand experience of direct citizen engagement to learn about and address from a ground level the challenges and obstacles people in the region and state face.

While a student at ASMSA, Barnett was involved in student governance, served as a Community Leader in the residence hall, served as president of the Rotary Interact Club and in other student organizations. He said that as a student he was challenged “to lead as a scholar among my peers in a rigorous setting which helped me sharpen my skills of critical thinking and thinking outside the box. As a student at ASMSA, I enjoyed the challenges each day brought.”

Barnett said he fondly remembers the time spent with his friends and peers during free time at ASMSA as well as mentoring his fellow students as a Community Leader. He also praised the wisdom he gained from his favorite teachers — Dr. Carolyn Hunter and Ernestine Ross. “They along with my mother helped keep me focused and challenged me daily to be my best in whatever I pursued and within whatever space I occupied.”

The freshman representative will serve on the House of Representatives Education Committee; the Aging, Children & Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs Committee; and as an alternate on the Joint Budget Committee. He hopes to use his time in the Legislature in a way that will most benefit his constituents, he said.

“My goals include giving voice to my constituents by supporting and proposing policies that will improve their quality of life and actively speaking against policies that will negatively impact their life. Also, I am looking forward to working across the political spectrum to bring about progressive change that will move the state of Arkansas forward and improve our state’s standing in the areas of public and affordable higher education, public and mental health, jobs and business growth, and food security.”

Barnett holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Morehouse College and a Master’s of Divinity with a concentration in ethics and counseling from Memphis Theological Seminary. He serves as pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Forrest City. In June 2024, he married Dr. Freda Cunningham, Pharm.D.

Eighteen student musicians at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts qualified for the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association Region II Senior High All-Region Concert Band.

Dr. Patrycja Krakowiak, a life sciences Instructor of Excellence at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, has been named a Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) recipient.

The award recognizes outstanding science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) teachers who have demonstrated a commitment to professional development, innovative teaching techniques and technology in their classroom. The program is conducted by the National Science Foundation on behalf of The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Dear Members of the University of Arkansas System Community,

I hope this message finds you well as we begin a new chapter in the prestigious history of the University of Arkansas System together. It is with a profound sense of responsibility that I step into the role of president of the state’s largest higher education system. Serving this remarkable system of unique campuses, divisions and units, and its dedicated students, faculty, staff, and alumni is both a genuine honor and a privilege.

The UA System has long been a beacon of opportunity and progress for our state, providing access to quality education, maintaining a crucial role in the economy of Arkansas and preparing future generations of leaders both in Arkansas and around the globe. This legacy is a testament to the dedication of those who came before me, and I am deeply committed to honoring that tradition while guiding us into the future.

Students at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts earned recognition at the 59th Arkansas Model United Nations Conference recently held at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. 

Among the recognition students earned were awards for Best Position Paper for a nation and as an Outstanding Delegate representing a nation on a committee. 

Three ASMSA students served as delegates for Denmark at the conference, and they were recognized among the awards for Best Position Papers. The students who represented Denmark were senior Rosie Garner of White Hall, junior Tristan Henson of Maumelle and junior Tatum Polzin of Little Rock. 

Aarush Goyal, a junior from Little Rock, representing Saudi Arabia, was named the Outstanding Delegate for the Executive Board of the World Food Programme committee. 

Kalyn You, a senior at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, was named a 2025 National STEM Festival Finalist.

The National STEM Festival is a nationwide initiative to foster creativity, critical thinking and a passion for STEM among middle and high school students. The Festival accepts entries from students in grades 7-12 that explore STEM innovations, inventions and research addressing real-world problems, according to a release. Entries for the Festival were accepted in six categories: Environmental Stewardship, Future Food, Health & Medicine, Powering the Planet, Aerospace Innovation and Tech for Good.

You of Everton was selected as a Finalist for research conducted during her junior year. Her project focused on new psilocin derivatives that could result in potential new treatments for depression. You’s research was conducted as part of a physical science capstone course taught by ASMSA faculty members Dr. Brian Monson and Dr. Burt Hollandsworth.

You said she used a computational chemistry suite to model psilocybin-related compounds to find correlations and predict potency values for fluorinated psilocybin.

“The goal of my project is to not only find new medicines that could be useful to psychiatry but also to raise awareness for unorthodox treatments for mental health disorders that are more efficacious than conventional ones,” You said.

The competition is sponsored by EXPLR, a streaming video and curriculum service for students in the 5^th through 12^th grades as well as teachers and families.