For the third time in a row, the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts won the Dolphin Challenge — the northern Texas competition for the National Ocean Sciences Bowl.

The National Ocean Sciences Bowl is a nationwide, high school science competition focused on marine issues and knowledge. Students demonstrate their knowledge of marine and coastal science by answering questions from biology, physics, chemistry, geology, geography, mathematics and the social sciences. Each team consists of four students plus an alternate and a coach.

The Dolphin Challenge regional competition was held Feb. 1 by the Texas Sea Grant College Program at the Texas A&M University campus in Galveston, Texas. The competition included teams from across Texas.

ASMSA’s A team of seniors Emily Smith, Howard Grant Orlina, Amadeo Scott, Kasey Meyer and Hadley Medlock defeated Brandeis High School from San Antonio, Texas, to win the region title. It was the second time the two teams played each other during the regional weekend. Brandeis defeated ASMSA in round robin play earlier in the tournament. ASMSA also eliminated Cypress Woods, Texas, in the afternoon single-elimination round after suffering a loss to Cypress Woods in the earlier round robin round.

“Our students really seemed to shine more in the afternoon when the questions became harder,” said Dr. Lindsey Waddell, a geoscience and chemistry instructor at ASMSA who served as the team’s coach. “When the questions are easier during the round robin rounds in the morning, the scores between two strong teams tend to be determined more by buzzer speed, and in particular by the decision of whether to risk losing four points for giving an incorrect answer after interrupting the reading of a question.”

ASMSA first won the regional title in 2017 followed by the 2019 regional competition. The 2018 regional competition was canceled in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

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The team earned a trip to the National Ocean Sciences Bowl Finals on April 16-19 at the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park campus in Long Beach, Miss. Waddell said the team worked very hard over the past year to earn the regional title.

“My biggest fear with this team was that they might forget material during the year in between the regional competitions,” Waddell said. “However, they approached me about holding weekly buzzer practices beginning last spring, and they attended weekly practices this fall alongside students who were currently enrolled in my oceanography course.”

Students from Waddell’s fall oceanography class comprised ASMSA’s B team in the regional competition. Members of that team were seniors Esther Filipek, Gwen Coleman and Said Angeles and juniors Alec Gatewood and Terrance Meinardus.

Emily Smith, who served as captain of the A team, was a member of the ASMSA team that won last year’s regional title and competed for the national title.

For more information on the National Ocean Sciences Bowl, visit nosb.org.

Sometimes you just need someone to listen to you. It may be one person or it could be a group of people you can easily identify with and feel comfortable sharing personal feelings and information.

Every-day life of being a teenager can be stressful on its own. Add in that you are living away from home — sometimes hours away — with 200-plus people from all kinds of backgrounds and beliefs who you don’t know while attending a school with a rigorous academic schedule. It can become a bit overwhelming.

It’s no wonder that many students said adding mental health services to campus were a necessity.

Staci Stich began in April 2018. She has a bachelor’s in psychology from Louisiana Tech University and a master’s degree in counseling from the University of Arkansas. Prior to coming to ASMSA, she was a counselor at a school in Mississippi serving children with emotional disabilities as well as students on the autism spectrum.

Stich has an additional 30 years of experience in community health, focusing primarily on working with children and adolescents in southeast Arkansas, northwest Arkansas and South Carolina. She also has worked in residential care in Louisiana and two years with the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

When she first arrived at ASMSA late that spring semester, many students weren’t comfortable coming to visit her. Most of the students she spoke with were recommended by staff and faculty members to visit her.

In the fall 2018, Stich began introducing groups that would meet at lunch time. She would send out an email to all of the students encouraging them to attend the various meetings. She told students they could meet with her first if they were interested, but what she found was that students were more relaxed coming to the groups.

Once they attended a group session, they usually came back for additional meetings. “There was no commitment required. I told them it was up to them to choose if they come back or not. Attendance might drop off at the end of each semester, but then it would pick back up the next. Individual sessions would increase a lot at semester test time,” Stich said.

“Group members began to encourage other kids to come or to bring someone to come to the meetings with them. They would come up with their own assignments to do before the next meeting with each other. They always followed through with it and completed their tasks.”

Students would exchange phone numbers and seek each other out to do things. They’d also ask each other for help while studying, she said. Having the meeting allowed the participants to develop a core group of if not friends at least colleagues to whom they could reach out.

Dr. Rheo Morris, dean of students, was one of the early advocates of providing licensed professional services to students. Prior to coming to ASMSA, she worked at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. She had opportunities to interact with UCA’s Schedler Honors College participants.

“I have seen in the past the type of pressures they place on themselves and that others place on them and how sometimes they struggle to juggle these pressures,” Morris said. “UCA’s Counseling Center did a great job with these students through teaching them coping skills and simply just listening to them while normalizing students asking for help.”

Destigmatizing the use of mental health services is one of the main challenges Stich must work to overcome. Morris said she saw that on the college campus as well which is another reason she felt it was important ASMSA have a mental health professional on campus.

“I felt that some of this normalizing should have occurred before the got to college. Having a counselor on campus helps to remove the stigma from asking for help because it is no longer a huge event to get into seeing someone just chat. I think mental and emotional health are very important because they affect every aspect of your life — your thoughts, your emotions and your behaviors,” Morris said.

As the first year progressed, Stich noticed students becoming more willing to visit with her one-on-one. It might just be dropping by between classes to visit with the door open or it might be a more serious matter that required a closed-door session. Regardless, students were becoming more comfortable with the idea of seeking help when they needed it.

“A lot of them didn’t feel comfortable talking about situations before coming here. Now they feel more comfortable discussing some of it,” Stich said about both one-on-one sessions and group sessions.

Whether it’s in a group session or individual visits, she encourages each student to work on their problem-solving skills and focus on what you can do to improve a situation rather than looking at what you can’t do.

“They need to understand what they can take control of. They’re used to parents asking have you done this or have you done that. They need to learn to come up with a plan and work on one thing at a time,” Stich said.

Morris said she and her staff are very appreciative of having Stich on staff because she educates the residential life staff on signs of mental distress and helps them build coping skills for living and working in the same place.

“Having Staci around creates an environment where students know that there is always someone to support them outside of the people they live with. The majority of students love having her around to just chat with. Group sessions are amazing, and I think in time more students may take advantage of her services and group sessions as we continue to normalize mental and emotional health conversations,” Morris said.

Eleven Arkansas School for the Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students were selected as a member of the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association Region II All-Region Band.

Selected for the band were:

• Yibing Hu, a junior from Jonesboro, flute, first chair, first band;
• Aishani Singh, a junior from Hot Springs, flute, sixth chair, first band;
• Amanda Carson, a senior from Russellville, bassoon, first chair, first band;
• Solomon Ni, a senior from Jonesboro, bassoon, second chair, first band;
• Nova Ammerman, a junior from Cherokee Village, clarinet, seventh chair, first band;
• Logan Richerson, a senior from West Memphis, clarinet, 17th chair, first band;
• Shaan Hyder, a senior from Cabot, clarinet, 21st chair, first band;
• Rachel Means, a senior from Carlisle, bass clarinet, second chair, second band;
• A.J. Navarro, a senior from Hot Springs, alto saxophone, fourth chair, first band;
• Hyunseo Seok, a junior from Jonesboro, alto saxophone, third chair, second band; and
• Jacob Holmes, a junior from Rector, trombone, seventh chair, first band.

Region II auditions were held Jan. 25 at Lake Hamilton High School. The Region II All-Region Clinic will be held at Lake Hamilton High School on Jan. 31-Feb. 1. A concert will be held at 2 p.m. Feb. 1 featuring members of the Region II All-Region Band.

Eight members of the band qualified for All-State Band/Orchestra auditions. Hu, Singh, Carson, Ni, Ammerman, Richerson, Navarro and Holmes qualified to audition for the All-State Band/Orchestra on Feb. 8 at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia. The All-State Band/Orchestra Clinic will be held Feb. 20-22 at the Hot Springs Convention Center.

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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