Students from low-income families who are potential candidates for admission to the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts will each be receiving a high-quality, refurbished computer donated by the Arkansas Capital Corporation Group of Little Rock.
ASMSA received a grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to develop Project HELIX, a two-week, residential summer camp located on the school’s campus in historic downtown Hot Springs. The no-cost program is designed to bring together some of the state’s most promising young minds who are interested in connecting with peers, exploring educational opportunities and growing as learners.
About 35 students from Arkansas’ Delta region were members of the first cohort of Project HELIX this summer. ASMSA admissions staff and counselors are continuing to work with these students to support them as they explore ASMSA, prepare for the ACT in December and move forward on the path to college readiness. A second cohort will attend a camp during the summer of 2016.
The 60 computers are from the “Computers 4 Kids” initiative that was part of the Connect Arkansas broadband education program, a project of ACC that ended June 30. The goal of Computers 4 Kids was to provide families with students on free- or reduced-lunch programs with the technology needed for required computer-based homework and other education assignments.
“Technology is both an essential and transformational tool for learning. The computers for our Project HELIX students will ensure they have access to the resources necessary for the program at a greater convenience to their families,” said Corey Alderdice, ASMSA’s director.
Alderdice, who authored the school’s proposal for the Cooke Foundation, noted ASMSA has an exceptional track record in promoting access for low-income students to the school’s residential program.
“One-in-three students attending ASMSA come from low-income backgrounds,” Alderdice said. “Such representation is the highest among the 16 public residential schools of mathematics, science and technology and double the national average.”
ASMSA was chosen from a pool of more than 100 of the nation’s selective admissions public high schools invited by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation to propose new or expanded programs that prepare academically talented, low-income students to gain admission to and graduate from these top schools. Combined, the grants will benefit more than 1,500 students in grades 6-12.
“We have been very pleased with the success of Connect Arkansas’s Computers 4 Kids program, and it was fitting that we are able to equip Project HELIX students for educational success with one of our final computer donations,” said Sam Walls III, President of ACC and [Connect Arkansas].
Arkansas Capital Corporation Group is a family of non-profit economic development companies providing loans, investment capital and entrepreneurship education to grow and revitalize Arkansas’s economy. ACCG has a mission to foster economic development and focuses on underserved communities and businesses within Arkansas.