Seven students from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts have been named Commended Students in the 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The students are:

• Pragya Chauhan of Bentonville;
• Gavin Chen of Benton;
• Parker Hance of Conway;
• James Mathis of Russellville;
• Julie Morse of Mayflower;
• Brent Orlina of Little Rock; and
• Michaela Stevens of Hot Springs.

About 34,000 Commended Students were recognized across the nation. Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 students in the 69^th annual National Merit Scholarship Competition but were not chosen among the finalists. Students take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as a junior to qualify for the competition.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts will host a free public science lecture at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7, as part of Homecoming 2023.

Dr. Bharat Ratra, a Distinguished Professor of Physics at Kansas State University, will present “The Accelerating Expanding Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and Einstein’s Cosmological Constant.” Ratra works in the areas of cosmology and astroparticle physics. He researches the structure and evolution of the universe.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts has opened its search for the Classes of 2026 and 2027.

ASMSA is a public residential high school serving academically and artistically motivated students of all backgrounds from throughout the state of Arkansas. More than 250 students in 10^th, 11^th and 12^th grades attend classes and live on the Hot Springs campus in a community of learning unlike any other in the state.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts is the top public high school in Arkansas and among the top 50 in the nation in the 2024 Niche.com rankings.

Niche.com is a website that provides in-depth profiles on thousands of colleges, school districts and individual K-12 schools across the nation. Parents and students use Niche’s information to find the right school for them.

ASMSA is No. 1 on the website’s Best Public High Schools in Arkansas list. In addition to its top state ranking, the school is No. 46 out of more than 20,400 public high schools included in the website’s national rankings. The school is also rated as top in the state in Niche.com’s Best College Prep Public High Schools in Arkansas and Best High Schools for STEM in Arkansas lists.

ASMSA earned an A-plus Overall Niche Grade as well as A-plus grades in the individual categories of Academics, Teachers, College Prep as well as and Resources and Facilities. To view ASMSA’s profile, visit https://asmsa.me/nicheprofile.

“ASMSA's community of learning is again thrilled to be named Arkansas' top public high school in Niche.com's annual rankings,” said ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice. “What brings meaning to this recognition is the excellence across all parts of ASMSA's academic and residential experiences combined with a high level of satisfaction and enthusiasm from students, parents and alumni.”

ASMSA is a public, residential school for talented and highly motivated students in the 10^th through 12^th grades who have an interest and aptitude for mathematics and science as well as a passion for creativity and the arts. It is part of the University of Arkansas System. Students from across Arkansas choose to attend ASMSA’s early college experience for advanced academic opportunities that may not be available at their current school.

“Arkansans should take pride in having a school ranked among the Top 50 nationally,” Alderdice said. “ASMSA is a special investment by the people of Arkansas in igniting the potential of many of our most promising young minds. As the state enters a new era of school choice, we encourage talented and motivated students to explore this unique opportunity alongside their families.”

Grades, ratings and rankings for each school are determined by information provided to Niche by the U.S. Department of Education, self-reported information from each individual institution as well as reviews by students, parents and alumni of the school. To see a full list of the 2024 Best Public High Schools in Arkansas, visit https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-public-high-schools/s/arkansas/.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts has launched the ASMSA Talent Identification Program (ASMSA-TIP) for gifted Arkansas seventh-graders.

ASMSA-TIP will provide gifted students, parents and educators with resources and guidance that are tailored to support a child’s educational, social and emotional development. Such programs empower students to reach their full potential while helping parents and educators make the best educational decisions for their students.

Participants will receive a voucher to take the ACT as an “above-level” test, a standardized assessment that is designed for a higher grade level. This practice will help ASMSA-TIP better enrich and support talented students and their parents.

“ASMSA’s heartbeat is providing opportunities for high-achieving students all across the state of Arkansas,” said Jason Hudnell, ASMSA director of admissions. “To that end, we believe that ASMSA-TIP will provide incredible opportunities and resources for Arkansas’ seventh-graders and their guardians.”

Parents and educators may be familiar with the Duke Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP). Founded in 1980 by Duke University in North Carolina, Duke TIP previously served students, educators and schools throughout the Southeastern region of the United States. With the program’s closure in 2020, hundreds of students throughout Arkansas have lacked a similar opportunity.

ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice noted that after engaging with educational partners statewide campus leadership recognized an opportunity to fill critical needs for Arkansas gifted students and coordinators.

“As advocates for the needs of gifted and talented students, we were certainly shocked by the loss of the Duke TIP program amid the pandemic,” Alderdice said. “Through our conversations with ASMSA stakeholders in the time since, we concluded that filling this void for Arkansas while encouraging students to learn to the full potential was a commitment the school should embrace.”

Participants also will receive a monthly e-newsletter with specific content for students and their parents, access to quarterly webinar sessions with Gifted and Talented professionals and an opportunity to participate in a recognition ceremony for students who perform exceptionally well on the ACT exam.

ASMSA-TIP candidates are current seventh-graders who have met one of any of the three following criteria:

• The student scored in the 90^th percentile on one or more subtests of a state or national standardized exam, such as the ACT Aspire or MAP testing.
• The student has been formally identified as gifted or talented by their school district.
• The student has been recommended as gifted or talented by a teacher, administrator or educational community leader (Scout leader, camp counselor, etc.).

Program fees are $95 per student, but a number of assessment waivers are available for families with exceptional need.

For more information or to register for ASMSA-TIP, visit www.asmsa.org/tip or email talent@asmsa.org.

Nine students at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts have been named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists.

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. announced the names of more than 16,000 Semifinalists in the 69^th annual National Merit Scholarship Program on Sept. 13. The students, who are all members of the Class of 2024, will have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 7,140 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered next spring.

The ASMSA seniors named Semifinalists are:

• Nasya Choy of Conway;
• Melanie Holmes of Atkins;
• Carter Horton of North Little Rock;
• Kuhno Lee of Little Rock;
• Christian Lu of Jonesboro;
• Andrew Nguyen of Sherwood;
• Rene Ramirez of Pearcy;
• Chiking Vang of Lincoln; and
• Anna Grace Wright of Pottsville

Ashley Bennett is the new director of institutional development at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts.

Bennett started in the position on July 1 and oversees the operation of the Office of Institutional Advancement and the ASMSA Foundation. She most recently served as an associate director of development at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where she also previously served as a development associate.

Dr. Rheo Morris, dean of students at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, has been selected as a member of Leadership Arkansas Class XVIII.

Leadership Arkansas is sponsored by the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas. The nine-month program consists of nine multi-day sessions held in different locations throughout the state. The sessions feature Arkansas leaders who represent a wide geographic base and who have diverse backgrounds and vocations. This year’s class has 53 participants.

“Leadership Arkansas was designed to give us first-hand experience of the interactions between cities, industries and government units in Arkansas, so I am ecstatic to learn more about these interactions. As a transplant to Arkansas, I am also really excited to travel to areas of the state that I have not visited prior,” Morris said.

“As an introvert, I hope to capitalize on the friendships and networking opportunities. I want to learn where I can fit in to make the highest impact on the lives of our young Arkansans.”

Mary Zunick, a member of the ASMSA Board of Visitors and cultural affairs manager for Visit Hot Springs, was also selected to participate in the program.

Morris is a graduate of the Leadership Hot Springs program and currently serves on its board. Participating in that program helped her become more familiar with the city.

“Participating in Leadership Hot Springs and serving on its board has helped me learn things about Hot Springs that I would not have learned on my own and also helped me feel at home,” she said. “I feel more connected to its people, and I also gained the confidence to put myself out there and be more involved.”

In addition to serving on Leadership Hot Springs’ board, Morris is a member of Rotary Club of Oaklawn, Junior Auxiliary of Hot Springs and an assistant clerk and youth director at her church.

Since learning of her acceptance into the Leadership Arkansas program, she said past class members have reached out to her and other selectees from Hot Springs to host a lunch meet-and-greet to answer questions.

“We have been welcomed with open arms into the program, and I cannot wait to meet my fellow classmates,” Morris said.

Twenty-two students from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts Class of 2014 along with three chaperones traveled to Japan in June 2013 as part of the Kakehashi Project — a 10-day cultural exchange program sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan.

A decade later, more than 500 members of the school’s community of learning have traveled the world as part of its Global Learning Program — establishing studying abroad as a central component of the ASMSA experience.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts received a $10,000 continuing grant from the United Way of the Ouachitas and the Oaklawn Foundation Student Wellness Fund on Monday.

The grant supports a variety of residential programs related to mental and physical health on campus. Mandy Spraggins, outreach and marketing director for the United Way of the Ouachitas, presented a check for the grant to Ashley Bennett, ASMSA director of institutional advancement, and ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice.

“United Way of the Ouachitas’ gift makes a substantial difference in the quality of care we are able to provide for our residential students,” Bennett said. “With United Way’s continued support of the Oaklawn Foundation Student Wellness Fund at ASMSA, we are able to provide students with CPR training, food vouchers, necessary supplies for our school nurse and much more. We are so thankful for their partnership with ASMSA.”