Makenna Kutzschebauch is interested in forensic science and murder mysteries. She turned those interests into an award-winning documentary about American forensic scientist Frances Glessner Lee.

“Dioramas of Death: Reforming Forensice Medicine in the U.S.”, a 10-minute documentary about Lee, earned Kutzschebauch third-place honors at a regional National History Day competition held in March at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She will compete in the state National History Day event on Saturday, April 6, at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

It was a good weekend for The Arkansas School of Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts and many of its students at the annual Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair.

ASMSA took the Top School honors at the event held March 29-30 at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. ASMSA was followed in order by Little Rock Central High School, Pulaski Academy, Alma High School and Abundant Life Christian Academy. The school trophy is determined by a formula that takes the school’s number of award winners and total number of projects into account.

Aarohi Sonputri of Little Rock won third place in the Best in State Individual Awards. Daniel Nkunga of Sherwood and Melike Senlikci of Fayetteville were named Regeneron International Science and Engineering qualifiers through the state science fair. ISEF is the world’s largest pre-college STEM competition. More than 1,600 high school students from around the world are expected to compete for more than $9 million in awards, prizes and scholarships at the event that will be held May 11-17 in Los Angeles.

Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students earned recognition at two events that provide participants opportunities to learn leadership skills as well as public speaking, problem solving and organizational skills.

ASMSA students participated in both the Arkansas High School Model Arab League and Arkansas Model United Nations conferences recently. Participants are selected to represent countries as if they were delegates from those nations in each event.

Thirteen Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students are finalists in the Arts Across Arkansas competition.

Arts Across Arkansas is a program that aims to encourage, enhance and expand students’ original thoughts, processes, personal experiences and artistic abilities, according to the program’s website. It is sponsored by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Division of Arkansas Heritage.

ASMSA students chosen as finalists include:

Visual Arts: Lilly Hardin, Gwen Oliver, Charlotte Lammers, Olivia Busby and Lyla Hill;

Film: Jaime Hernandez, Calen Long and Ciara Stephens;

Music Composition: Faith Wesley, Grace Adams, Elizabeth Show and Alexander Back; and

Photography: Meera Patel.

Students are nominated by their school to submit works for consideration. Teaching artists from the Arkansas Arts Council’s Arts in Education roster judge the submissions, selecting finalists for each medium. An Arts in Education artist then provides a mentor session for each finalist.

The finalist will participate in a state finals event that will be held on March 30. Students are eligible to win a cash prize.

Thirty-one Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students have qualified to compete in events at the state FBLA Conference on April 29-30 in Little Rock.

Twenty-six students earned recognition at the 2024 FBLA District IV Spring Conference that was held on Feb. 7 at the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope/Texarkana in Hope, earning the opportunity to compete in the state event. The competitive events included either an objective subject test, performance/presentation or a combination of an objective test and a performance component. An additional five students participated in events that automatically qualify for the state competition.

Leah Stallcup’s passion for public speaking led her to consider entering the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts’ Poetry Out Loud competition. Now she’ll be competing for a state title this weekend.

Stallcup, a sophomore from Fayetteville, will represent ASMSA at the statewide Poetry Out Loud competition on Saturday, March 2. The competition, sponsored by the Arkansas Arts Council and the Department of Arkansas Heritage will begin at 10:45 a.m. at Ron Robinson Theatre in downtown Little Rock.  She qualified for the state contest by winning the school competition held on Jan. 24 at the weekly Wednesday Night Poetry gathering at Kollective Coffee + Tea.

The National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools (NCSSS) has released its 2023 Insight Survey that highlights comparative data among the organization’s high school members, many that are among the top-performing STEM schools in the United States.

The survey focused on four specific areas: student representation in STEM classes, school resources and offerings, graduates’ college majors and outcomes, and faculty recruitment and retention. The study was underwritten by the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, an NCSSS member institution.

NCSSS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that represents premier high schools focused on STEM education, affiliate universities, corporations and foundations. Its mission is to serve as a resource for these members by supporting collaboration and knowledge sharing while amplifying the importance of STEM education to policy makers, industry and education leaders across the nation and around the world.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts recognized the winners of the 2024 West Central Regional Science Fair during an awards ceremony held on Feb. 23 in the Creativity and Innovation Complex on campus.

Aarohi Sonputri, a senior from Little Rock, won first overall for her project in the Cellular and Molecular Biology category. Nasya Choy, a senior from Conway, won second place for her Chemistry category project. Michelle Lin, a senior from Little Rock, took third place for her project in the Environmental Management category.

The three overall winners were awarded a trip to participate in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair to be held May 11-17 in Los Angeles, Calif. The event is the world’s largest pre-college STEM competition. More than 1,600 high school students from around the world are expected to compete for more than $9 million in awards, prizes and scholarships.

Melanie Holmes took up competitive swimming three months ago. Now the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts senior be swimming for a state championship.

Holmes will compete in the 100-meter breaststroke and 100-meter freestyle events at the Class 5A State Swim Meet to be held at the Russellville Aquatic Center on Feb. 24. She qualified for those events by recently finishing second in the breaststroke and fourth in freestyle at the 5A South Conference meet as a member of the Hot Springs High school team.