The two newest members of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts Board of Visitors are very familiar with the school.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced the appointment of Steve Faris and Ann Xu, both of Hot Springs, to the board in April. Faris is a former state legislator who has been a longtime supporter of the school. Xu is a 2010 graduate of the school who served as the Student Government Association president and ex-officio member of the board during her senior year.
The new board members attended their first meeting in September. They both said they are eager to serve on the board and work toward ensuring the future of the school.
Faris represented Garland County for 14 years in the Arkansas General Assembly – four years in the House of Representatives and 10 years in the Senate. He also served as an adviser to the president of the Senate for two years after leaving the General Assembly.
While serving in the Legislature, Faris worked with other legislators and ASMSA administration to secure funding to build the Student Center, which opened in August 2012. It was the first new facility built on the campus of the school, which opened in 1993. In recognition of his work, one of the wings of the residential center is named in his honor.
Faris said his focus is carrying forward from that building to help the administration and the University of Arkansas System to finish the campus master plan to have the academic complex it envisions. To achieve those goals, the school and its board members must be proactive in sharing the school’s mission with legislators, he said.
“It’s important to have an ongoing hands-on educational process,” Faris said. “We need to visit with as many General Assembly members as we can. We need to do a good job of highlighting the good points.
“It has to be an ongoing thing as the faces change because of term limits. They need to understand what this place is about. It has to be a collective effort.”
While the school is housed in Hot Springs, it’s important that legislators understand that the school is for students from the entire state. Each year provides ASMSA an outreach opportunity with a new class of juniors and their parents, he said.
Faris said ASMSA is a unique facility with a unique mission in a unique city. It is an honor and a privilege that the school is located in Hot Springs. “The people of Hot Springs have done nothing but support it with open arms since its inception,” Faris said.
Xu is in her first year as a medical student at the Baylor College of Medicine. She said ASMSA gave her a strong background in math and sciences that helped propel her into more advanced classes during her undergraduate studies at Rice.
She said she sees serving on the board as an opportunity to give back to the school. While serving as class president in 2010, she was involved in the planning for the Student Center, she said. Seeing the building completed has given her “motivation to continue with the momentum that (former Director) Dr. (Janet) Hugo gave us,” she said. “I want to help in any capacity I can with the master plan for the new grounds.”
Xu said she is interested in seeing the curriculum grow in a direction where students are benefitting them the most. Another important aspect is providing students the support they need to make the transition from their home school to ASMSA more smoothly, she said. Being a more recent graduate of the school also gives her the opportunity to relate to the students, she added.
Faris and Xu’s appointments will expire in January 2021.