Summer 2016 Tangents

A PUBLICATION OF THE ARKANSAS SCHOOL FOR MATHEMATICS, SCIENCES AND THE ARTS

SUMMER 2016

THE SECOND ‘A’ ASMSA’s arts mission draws emphasis, investment

Director Corey Alderdice Dean of Academic Affairs Bob Gregory Dean of Students William Currier Director of Finance Ashley Smith

If you think spring is a challenging time for students awaiting decisions on college admissions and scholarships, then you’ve probably never sat around the selection table. Attempting to determine which students have the greatest potential to benefit from and succeed at a program like ASMSA is always a difficult task. Everything about ASMSA hinges on those decisions; it takes the right group of young people on which to build all other opportunities ASMSA’s faculty and staff have to offer.

After we sent out admissions decisions in April, I received a handwritten note in the mail from an alumna. She was surprised that her sibling did not initially receive an invitation for admission. Much of the shock was because her sister had a better a better GPA and ACT scores than she did when applying. Over the past three years, ASMSA has seen considerable growth in both the size and quality of our admissions pool.

The Class of 2017 that began their studies at ASMSA this fall entered with an average ACT composite score of 27, the highest in school history and up 1.8 points from the Class of 2014 while still maintaining our commitment to access for low-income and rural students who don’t always have the same level of preparation as peers from suburban communities.

Members of our staff and faculty have played key roles in this recruiting success. Valerie Carpenter, our director of admissions, has been a fantastic advocate and point of connection for families. She and Laquilla Jones have crisscrossed the state this past year to let students know about the many opportunities at ASMSA. Shane Thompson, a physics and engineering instructor, is our greatest champion for out-of-school enrichment. He and other faculty members host free Saturday programs that help middle and early high school students meet the great teachers they can learn alongside every day.

Donnie Sewell and Fred Zipkes have refreshed our marketing materials and helped create a message that articulates the tangible value of this experience.

On most any weekend, our Residential Mentors welcome visiting students to campus to see the program up close. The work of every member of our campus community has contributed to this growth.

When I speak about admission to ASMSA, some people expect that we have a couple thousand applicants. While I believe there are that many young Arkansans who could be academically successful at ASMSA, the program must be the right opportunity at the right time. For our more than 2,300 alumni, their two years in Hot Springs was a transformative experience. The 120 students selected for the Class of 2018 are now a part of that tradition. They, too, will continue to do remarkable things and help us, year by year, get better and better.

Corey Alderdice

Director

Director of Admissions Valerie Carpenter Director of Institutional Advancement Vicki Hinz Board of Visitors Hayward Battle, Chair Gary Dowdy Steve Faris Donna Hutchison Cynthia A. Miller, Ph.D. Will Watson (’05) Ann Xu (’10) Ex-Officio Representatives Arkansas Economic Development Commission Science and Technology Tom Chilton, Division Director Arkansas Department of Higher Education Brett Powell, Ed.D., Director Arkansas Department of Education Johnny Key, Commissioner Department of Heritage Joy Pennington, Executive Director, Arkansas Arts Council ASMSA Parents Association Tanya Steger Roberts, President ASMSA Student Government Jason Ly (‘17), President Tangents is published by the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, a campus of the University of Arkansas System.

For more information about ASMSA, visit our website at www.asmsa.org or call 1-800-345-2767.

Writer and Graphic Design Donnie Sewell Photography Donnie Sewell Mike Kemp

inthisissue SUMMER 2016

Gift Honors ‘99 Alumnus Page 2

The Power of Subtraction Page 28

features

#ASMSA

4 $204 Million-Plus

10 Successful Outreach

6 On the Case

20 Triumphant Trio

8 QuestBridge Scholars

24 A Perfect Fit

The Class of 2016’s $18.9 million in scholarship offers tips the scale.

ASMSA team plays cyber sleuths at international competition.

Three students earn scholarships to prestigious colleges.

ASMSA’s Coding Arkansas’ Future initiative sees early success.

ASMSA students bring home four awards from Intel ISEF.

2002 alumnae Yehua Yang and Evelyn Frison create a fashion line.

On the Cover: Brad Wreyford, ASMSA’s art instructor, gives Rachel Murphy (‘16) tips for painting on glass. Story on Page 12

Juniors Leah Riley, Lynn Duong, Malcolm Vincent and Stanton Dillahunty traveled to our nation’s Capitol as part of the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce Washington Fly-In in April.

/ARMathSciArts 1

Fredinburg Foundation gift supports Creativity and Innovation Complex Future Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students will have the opportunity to “make a dent in the universe” thanks to a $50,000 gift from the Dan Fredinburg Foundation.

Members of Fredinburg’s family announced the gift during the ASMSA Community of Learning Luncheon held April 1 at the Arlington Resort Hotel and Spa. The gift will support the Creativity and Innovation Complex, a new educational facility to be built on campus with an August 2018 target date for completion.

The new facility will provide spaces that allow ASMSA to embrace its fine and digital arts mission, facilitate advanced opportunities in computer science, cultivate entrepreneurial and “maker” skills among students, and provide community and common spaces for students that will promote academic success.

Fredinburg, a 1999 alumnus of ASMSA, grew up on a small farm in Norfork in Baxter County. At that time, the town in north central Arkansas had a population of just more than 500 residents. Upon graduating from ASMSA, he earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Irvine, a master’s degree in intelligent robotics from the University of Southern California and participated in graduate programs at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

As an adult, he would become a world traveler — climbing Mount Everest as well as several of the world’s highest peaks — and sought ways to improve living conditions and address climate issues around the world.

While on a climb of Everest, Fredinburg died during an avalanche triggered by a magnitude-7.8 earthquake in Nepal on April 25, 2015.

He was the head of privacy at Google X at the time of his death. Google X is a research and development facility created by the well-known technology corporation Google. Among the projects developed by Google X are a self-driving car and Google Glass. Fredinburg invented and patented more than 15 software technologies and still has several more patents currently pending approval.

Fredinburg also founded the Google Adventure Team to capture images for Google Street View from his climbs of the world’s highest summits and other trips around the world. He topped four of the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the seven continents — including Mount Elbrus in Europe, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and Aconcagua in South America.

Tricia Curreri and Megan Ezell, Fredinburg’s sisters, announced the foundation’s gift during the luncheon.

Inspired by the Fredinburg Foundation’s gift, more than $100,000 has been raised toward the complex. One floor will include the Fredinburg Technology Center, which will contain the woodshop, robotics lab, computer science classrooms and campus networks office.

“We believe this donation offers a far-reaching invest2

A gift from the Dan Fredinburg Foundation to support the planned Creativity and Innovation Complex honors Fredinburg, a 1999 alumnus. Fredinburg died on Mount Everest in an avalanche triggered by an earthquake in Nepal on April 25, 2015. ment in the future of the state of Arkansas with the potential for global impact,” Curreri said.

She said that ASMSA played a large role in Fredinburg’s future success.

“We attribute his many achievements to the challenging curriculum he had here at ASMSA. It is without a doubt the springboard and foundation of his career,” she said.

Curreri encouraged those in attendance to support ASMSA. “Your support today will ensure the current generation

The Creativity and Innovation Complex, left, is planned to be a three-story, 21,000-square-foot building. The new space would be built along the Pine Street side of the courtyard in front of the Student Center. It will house the computer science classrooms, fine arts studios, networks offices, a new woodshop, robotics lab, digital arts lab, as well as spaces for band, choir and Folk Music and Acoustics classes. It would also house a common space that could be used for assemblies, something the campus does not currently have. of ASMSA students enjoy even greater opportunities to make a noticeable change in the world,” she said. “I hope that you are inspired by both Dan’s story and those of the ASMSA students you have met today. Let that inspiration carry forward with your own show of support and ensure ASMSA remains a global leader in innovation.

“Our hope for you is that you chase your wildest dreams and as Dan says, ‘Make a dent in the universe.’”

ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice expressed the school’s appreciation for the gift.

“Families place a tremendous level of trust and support in ASMSA when students choose to attend the school,” he said. “To recognize that transformational nature of this experience nearly two decades later and to want to ensure hundreds of other Arkansas students have that same opportunity is truly remarkable.”

The gift follows a $500,000 General Improvement Fund grant from Gov. Asa Hutchinson during the 90th General Assembly in 2015.

The majority of those funds will be used for architect and engineering fees for the formal plans and renderings of the CIC. The remaining funds will be used toward debt service for the building.

The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees formally approved the plan to move forward with the $8.25 million project in November 2015.

School and university system officials are considering financing options for the building. ASMSA is unable to directly secure bonding debt so the project must be included in another project.

Nirdhar Khazanie, one of Fredinburg’s coworkers at Google and a close friend, served as the keynote speaker for the luncheon. Khazanie is a product manager at Google.

Khazanie approached his presentation thinking about the topics that Fredinburg would have found interesting and important to speak about, including transportation, education and more female engineers.

He encouraged those in attendance to be proactive in their education. “Go to different places online. Try to learn one new thing a week. Just watch a video. Take time while sitting on your couch and learn,” he said.

Khazanie said more women need to be in positions of power in Silicon Valley. He said the lack of women in those positions is a traditional problem in sciences, particularly computer science. “We need to encourage more females to learn how to code,” he

said, adding that the encouragement needs to begin early in a child’s education, such as elementary school.

He said Fredinburg always strived to make sure individuals had the ability to move forward. “Strive for moonshot ideas,” Khazanie said. “If you’re going to do anything, do it and do it big. Put a dent in the universe if you’re going to do it.”

The luncheon also featured remarks by Dr. Johnnie Roebuck of Arkadelphia, a longtime educator, former state representative and member of the founding Board of Trustees of the school.

Roebuck spoke about the time and effort of those early Board of Trustees members that helped make ASMSA a success. Without their work, the school we know today wouldn’t exist, she said.

She encouraged those in attendance to support ASMSA, the Creativity and Innovation Complex project as well as the school’s students and faculty.

“Use the momentum of the Fredinburg Foundation’s gift and the excitement for this project to ensure ASMSA students have access to spaces, equipment and technologies that promote a standard of learning second to none,” she said.

3

Kennedy Reynolds (‘16) gives the senior address during the 2016 ASMSA Commencement Ceremony on May 21. Reynolds reflected on failing a pop quiz early in her junior year and the lesson it taught her about perseverance.

$204 Million and Counting Class of 2016 earns $18.9M in scholarship offers

The Class of 2016 helped the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts reach an impressive milestone this year — breaking the $200 million mark in scholarship offers to alumni since the Charter Class graduated in 1995.

This year’s class of 96 graduates earned more than $18.9 million in scholarship offers. That pushed the total amount of scholarship offers to all ASMSA graduates to more than $204 million. The achievement was announced during the Class of 2016 commencement held May 21 at Horner Hall of the Hot Springs Convention Center.

Scholarships offered to the class included ones to the University of Chicago, Vanderbilt University, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Arkansas, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Hendrix College and the University of Central Arkansas, among others.

The scholarship total was one of many achievements of the Class of 2016. The class included six National 4

Merit Scholarship Finalists, one National Achievement Finalist, five students qualifying to compete at and three students winning awards at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, a U.S. Presidential Scholar semifinalist, a Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology semifinalist and many other honors.

Speakers at the event reflected the effort and determination that members of the class demonstrated in their achievements. Kennedy Reynolds (‘16) spoke about a poster she had on her wall when she moved on campus two years ago. The poster from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum featured the seal of the Apollo XIII mission and the words “Failure is not an option.”

Reynolds and her classmates would soon find out that failure was more than just an option; instead, it was an expectation of students at some point during their ASMSA career. She figured it out after failing a pop quiz early on, she said.

“As I moved forward, however, I realized that, as dismal as this may sound, in failing that quiz, I had done what was expected of me and any other student at ASMSA. I had confronted new, unfamiliar material that no one expected me to understand immediately. What my parents, teachers and RM did expect me to do was to move on from that failure to make progress toward eventual success,” she said.

She said that looking back on that experience and others during her time at ASMSA that she found she agreed with the phrase on her poster but for a different reason. Failure was not an option but “an unavoidable part of any endeavor that all students, teachers and parents must confront.

“But when we fail, as we inevitably will at some point or other, we must lift ourselves up from that low point and look forward. We are not defined by our shortcoming, our temporary setbacks or our momentary missteps.

Rather, it is our response to failure that ultimately determines our suc-

cess,” Reynolds said.

Director Corey Alderdice spoke about the “grit — that intangible, immeasurable quality that mixes passion and perseverance” that ASMSA students demonstrate. “It is dogged determination to see failure as a temporary setback and the willingness to push forward past the obstacle,” he said.

Alderdice said it is that mix of passion and perseverance over time that will determine how the graduates will face their biggest challenges that lie ahead of them. How they use their grit to react to those challenges will be a determining factor in their successes and failures.

“I hate to break it to you, but there will come a day when you will work hard, try your best, do everything you could possibly think of and still fall short of success. But that does not have to be the end of your story because as long as you are willing to learn what you can from the experience and continue to push yourself to move forward, everything will be OK,” he said.

Anna Beth Gorman, executive director of the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas, served as the guest commencement speaker. She shared a story about her own high school career in which she was placed in a class she was not prepared to take.

During her junior year, she was placed in Honors Physics after asking to be placed in a class in which she would not have to do a science project or calculus. She failed several of

her early quizzes. Instead of the class becoming a disaster, something else happened. Her classmates became determined that they would not let her fail. She began receiving tutoring from a fellow student and the class banded together to help her succeed, she said.

“My class literally would not let me fail. And with their support and help, I passed Honors Physics,” she said.

She said she shared the story because it was important for the ASMSA graduates be congratulated for how talented each were and to be told they have the ability to use their talents to achieve more than the goals they set for just themselves.

“Your potential, your future will be defined not by your individual successes but by the impact of your efforts and successes on people around you, your community, the society and the world. True achievement — the kind that we will talk about forever — is recognized by a collective,” she said.

Gorman encouraged the students to consider the environment in which they have had the privilege to be involved the last two years — where their interests, skills and talents were applauded, nurtured and challenged.

She reminded them that not every high school graduate had been given those same educational opportunities.

“Consider the students graduating this month who have not had these many opportunities and value the in-

vestment that has been placed on you and the potential you have to make an impact on those around you,” she said.

She said there will be many frustrations in the future, and the graduates may be discouraged by what they see, hear and feel in the future.

Gorman encouraged them not to think only about themselves in those moments.

“It will be at these moments that you have to remember your potential, see the end vision and then figure out a way to bring people with you to make that vision a reality. It was the State of Arkansas that gave you the chance to be the best, and you are.

And that’s good. Now, go be better,” she said.

Rex Hearn (’16), who served as Student Government Association president during his senior year, addressed his fellow graduates as well.

Hearn said they hadn’t simply “survived” ASMSA. “We’ve done more than survive it, though. Because if you say we survived it, there’s not really a good context there. We survive troubles and diseases, but ASMSA is neither of those. No, we didn’t merely survive this school. We’ve taken and conquered it,” he said.

Hearn and Reynolds presented Alderdice and Bob Gregory, dean of academic affairs, with the Class of 2016 gift — a clock that will be hung in the future Creativity and Innovation Complex when it is completed in the next two years.

‘Your potential, your future will be defined not by your individual successes but by the impact of your efforts and successes on people around you, your community, the society and the world.’

Anna Beth Gorman, executive director of the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas, speaking to the Class of 2016

5

ON THE CASE

Students play cyber sleuths at international competition

Teenagers don’t often play a large role in solving murder mysteries, unless you’re talking about the fictional Hardy Boys or Veronica Mars. But three Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts students had the opportunity to add their names to the list of international young sleuths in New York City last fall.

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William Yang (‘16), Hayden Aud (‘16) and Martin Boer- determine the final 10 American teams. winkle (‘17) represented ASMSA in the New York UniThe team was anxious as it waited for word on whethversity Cyber Security Awareness Week games on Nov. er they made the finals. The scoreboard had been taken 12-14. They competed in the High School Forensics chal- down and the results of the tiebreaker were posted at the lenge for a share of more than $450,000 in scholarships. time the team had been told they would be up.

During the competition, the team tested their com“I was prepared for the worst,” Yang said. “They had puter security skills to solve a murder mystery by ana- never released the criteria for the report.” lyzing electronic evidence to solve a fictitious crime that “I was really excited when we found out. It was super includes a financial element involving Bitcoin. The teams cool because I didn’t think we were going to make it,” had six hours using a virtual machine with evidence from Boerwinkle said. the victim’s cell phone to figure out the case.

At the national competition, the team faced a differThe ASMSA team was one of 10 teams from the United ent challenge. The competition wasn’t broken down into States and two from the United Arab Emirates who com- specific individual sections as the semifinals had been. peted in the games at the NYU Tandon School of Engi- Instead the team was faced with one “grand problem,” as neering. A record 800 teams from across the world com- Yang described it. peted in the online preliminary round. The ASMSA team “The final was slightly more difficult than the semififinished for a tie in first place among 14 American teams nals in that we only have six hours to work on the compeand won a tiebreaker to earn their spot in New York. tition. In addition, it is more a grand problem than a bunch To earn their spot in the national finals, the team com- of little challenges. This makes teamwork a lot more crupleted a series of 10 cybercial,” Yang said. security challenges includ“We handled it pretty well ASMSA computer science students were recognized ing cryptography, reverse because we split up each for many achievements this year: engineering machine code problem into different secto determine how it worked, tions that we then tackled • ASMSA’s team finished second in the University of a Web find information Arkansas-Little Rock and Venture Center’s JOLT Hackathon. individually,” Boerwinkle contest, digital forensics said.

ASMSA swept the top three places at the HP CodeWars coding challenge. ASMSA’s teams finished in first, third and other tasks. They were Learning how to work and fifth place in the University of Arkansas High School the ninth team to complete with your team and effiComputer Programming Contest. the preliminary challenges. ciently manage time was “There were multiple the more important lesson • Michelle Smith (’16) received the National Center for challenges, a bunch of he learned from the nationWomen and Information Technology Award for Aspirations small puzzles,” Boerwinkle al competition, Yang said. in Computing for the Arkansas and Northeastern said. “Part of the challenge Those were the skills he Oklahoma Regional for the second year in a row. was seeing who complete recommended any future the tasks the fastest.”

ASMSA cybersecurity teams • ASMSA’s Botball team received a Judges Special Award The team spent an avfocus on improving by comfor Engineering at the Texas Region Botball Competition erage of two-and-a-half peting in other competitions in April and will compete in the International Botball Tournament in July. hours a day on weekdays as well. At the same time, he working on the challenges, said you must have fun as • The BEST Robotics team won second place for robot Boerwinkle said. Yang said well. performance and third place for engineering notebook at he spent all day on week“It is important to do the BEST of Little Rock competition in November. ends working on the chalthese competitions for fun lenges during the prelimiand knowledge, not for the nary competition in September and early October. sake of winning. It would be difficult for you to win if you While the students worked on the challenges as a team, don’t actually enjoy the competition,” Yang said. each had some challenges where they played a more acFor Boerwinkle, it was the first time he had visited New tive role. Yang was particularly strong in the cryptography York. While there, the team was able to experience some challenge while Aud knew Java for the Web challenge and of the local cuisine and go to an off-Broadway show.

Boerwinkle’s talent in the computer language C helped Yang, who competed in similar competitions last year with the reverse engineering puzzle. as a junior, said one of the main rewards of going to the “But we collaborated a lot,” Yang said. “The most inter- finals was the opportunity to interact with other contesesting and most difficult challenge was the reverse engi- tants, including other high-schoolers he had chatted with neering one.” online but not met in person who were at the competition.

“We definitely helped each other,” Aud said.

It was also a unique opportunity to interact with profesThe team solved all but two challenges in the prelimi- sionals in the technology sector as well as college and naries. They later found out the two challenges they were university students and professors, he said. unable to complete did not have solutions. Fourteen teams Among the other competitors were teams from schools completed the challenges but only 10 could qualify for the in California, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, finals. The teams had to submit a paper on how they com- Virginia, Maryland and the Illinois Mathematics and Scipleted a particular challenge. Judges used the report to ence Academy, an ASMSA peer institution.

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Clockwise from left, Jasmin Fleuranvil (‘16), Azia Jackson (‘16) and Darian Doakes (‘16) were selected as QuestBridge National College Match Scholarship recipients. The scholarships provide full tuition, room and board for four years to a prestigious university. Fleuranvil and Doakes will attend the University of Chicago. Jackson will attend Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

3 chosen for QuestBridge National College Match Scholarships Three ASMSA students will have the opportunity this fall to attend schools they might not have been able to initially thanks to scholarships they received through the QuestBridge National College Match program.

Seniors Jasmine Fleuranvil, Darian Doakes and Azia Jackson each were selected with matching colleges and universities last fall through the scholarship program.

Fleuranvil and Doakes will be attending the University of Chicago in the fall. Jackson was accepted into Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

All three were awarded scholarships that will pay their full tuition and room and board for four years. The program matches students who have achieved academic excellence in the face of economic challenges. QuestBridge partners with prestigious colleges and universities across the country to provide educational opportunities for students who might otherwise be unable to afford to attend those schools.

Students submit an application that includes a personal essay during September of their senior year. They select a number of partner schools they would like to potentially be paired with, ranking them in order of preference. Schools then review the applications and decide whether they want to offer students a scholarship. The schools are not aware of the student’s rankings. Students and colleges are then 8

matched based on the student’s rankings.

Vanderbilt was the only school that Jackson put on her list. She had visited the school in summer 2015 on an internship, working in a lab on a research project with doctors, she said. She plans to major in biochemistry with a desire to possibly apply for medical school at Vanderbilt.

“I already knew then this was the perfect place for me,” she said. In fact, she had planned to apply to attend Vanderbilt without the scholarship. She chose to only list Vanderbilt because “I didn’t want to take the risk of being somewhere I wasn’t familiar with,” she said.

Moving out of state for college wouldn’t have been a consideration if not for her time at ASMSA, she said. She originally attended school at Forrest City before moving on to KIPP Delta in Helena/West Helena and then on to ASMSA. Coming to ASMSA, where she had to live on campus, helped teach her that she could adjust to any situation.

“I feel like I can do the same at Vanderbilt with this under me,” she said.

For Doakes, being matched with the University of Chicago was the perfect outcome. The school was her top choice, with Yale being second.

She plans to major in immunology and microbiology but also has an interest in the country of Norway, a place about which her father would share stories. Her plans are to one day retire in Norway.

“I always wanted to go to Yale, but then I flew through Chicago and saw the city. A visitor form the university came here and I learned they have a Norwegian major and minor. After that, I didn’t care about Yale anymore,” she said.

She credited her biology studies at ASMSA as well as being able to work with Dr. Jon Ruehle and Dr. Patrycja Krakowiak as reasons for her success at ASMSA and on earning the QuestBridge scholarship. She lauded the ability for students to do the research they can at ASMSA. “I just came back from four hours in the lab by myself. What other high school can you do that?” she said.

Knowing that her cost of attendance at the university — about $70,000 a year — is covered is a relief for her and her family, she said.

Both of her parents went to college, but they ended up with a lot of student loan debt.

“Just to sit there and you don’t have to worry about that. It’s the heaviest burden lifted off my shoulders. My biggest dream is coming true. I feel about 50 pounds lighter,” she said.

Fleuranvil has an interest in foreign relations and foreign policy. University of Chicago requires a service project and has a sense of social awareness that she thinks will fit her future plans well.

Her interest in foreign relations and policy developed from hearing the stories about her mother’s immigration to the United States from Haiti. Her mother was 4 when she was adopted. Her mother remembers being a child trying to learn the language and pushed to succeed but not to achieve too much. Many opportunities were blocked to her.

“It still happens to a lot of (immigrant) children,” Fleuranvil said.

Hearing about her mother’s struggles helped expand her worldview, she said. She was also very conscious about taking advantage of the educational opportunities afforded her, both at ASMSA and KIPP Delta. The work service built into the KIPP program and the expanded knowledge base ASMSA offered kept her on track to achieve her goals, she said.

That’s one reason why she’d like to come back to Arkansas to work in her career field. She wants to help develop Arkansas’ infrastructure to encourage businesses to build in the state and offer more job opportunities, in particular small businesses.

“It’s the little ones that help the community prosper,” she said. Those small businesses would in turn help grow educational opportunities in towns such as Helena, where KIPP Delta is located.

“There is potential there (in Helena). It’s just important to me to try to come back and help,” she said.

Senior earns JKCF award Leyton Gassaway (’16) was awarded a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation College Scholarship worth up to $40,000 annually.

Gassaway is one of 85 high school students from 27 states receiving the Cooke College Scholarship for undergraduate study this year.

All of the Cooke College Scholars have financial need and strong records of academic achievement as shown by grades, test scores, leadership skills, serGassaway vice to others and perseverance in the face of adversity.

Gassaway had previously participated Cooke Foundation’s Young Scholars Program, which provides high ability middle and high school students with financial need with individualized advising combined with comprehensive financial support.

“I have had the privilege to be involved with the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation for four years now, and it has presented me with some of the most unbelievable opportunities,” Gassaway said. “The Foundation has opened so many doors for me, from allowing me to attend summer study programs at some of the top schools in the nation to traveling across the globe on a public health service adventure.

“I firmly believe that I would not be the person that I am today without the overwhelming encouragement and support from the Foundation, and I am overjoyed to be able to carry that over into the next chapter of my life.”

Gassaway will attend Hendrix College in Conway. She is planning to major in biochemistry and molecular biology. She encouraged high-achieving students in the seventh grade with financial need to apply for the Young Scholars program in the fall.

Cooke Scholarships fund the costs of attending college not covered by other financial aid, plus academic advising, stipends for internships, study abroad, and opportunities to network with other Cooke Scholars and alumni.

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Tammy Glass, left, a teacher at Spring Hill High School, reviews a coding lesson on her computer during the Essentials of Computer Programming Plus workshop last summer. Also pictured are Miranda Stanberry of Brinkley, center, and Lynnette Penn of Rivercrest High School. They were members of the first cohort of 16 teachers to participate in the workshop and teach ECP Plus at their respective schools during the 2015-16 academic year.

Computer science initiative a success in first year

Students enrolled in the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts outreach programs represented about 10 percent of students taking computer science courses statewide in the academic year that concluded in May. In October, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced that more than 3,900 Arkansas students were enrolled in a computer science course in the fall.

Of that number, 2,004 were enrolled in the new Essentials of Computer Programming course. This was the first year that every public and charter high school in the state was required to offer at least one computer science course, according to state law.

Through ASMSA’s Coding Arkansas’ Future initiative, 285 students were enrolled in Essentials of Computer Programming or AP Computer Science. Of those, 246 students in 21 school districts across the state were participating in the Essentials of Computer Programming or Essen10

tials of Computer Programming Plus classes offered by ASMSA. Sixteen districts participated in the inaugural Essentials of Computer Programming Plus program. Those districts had a designated teacher in each classroom who taught the class in partnership with ASMSA. Daniel Moix (’98), ASMSA’s computer science education specialist, assisted those teachers during their first year of teaching the course.

Each teacher attended a summer workshop in 2015 at ASMSA to learn the basics of teaching a computer science class. Many of the teachers did not have previous computer science teaching experience. Teachers in this first cohort ranged from business to foreign language.

Moix said he was very pleased with the results during the first year course. He said none of the struggles or pitfalls he anticipated became a problem. The teachers worked well as a team, sharing their experiences

and tips with each other. The school district administrators also were very accommodating of the needs of the teachers and students, Moix said.

“It’s essential in working with a team of teachers to give them avenues to collaborate,” Moix said. “You need to give them the voice to be not just followers but also leaders. It helps to recognize that although they may be entering a new discipline, they already have a lot to bring to the table in classroom management skills. They already know how to be a teacher.”

He saw the teachers grow into those roles throughout the year. As the year progressed, the teachers began to have conversations more about what kind of content they could offer in the future instead of just working toward understanding the material.

“In the latter part of the year, they focused on better ways to teach it. It shows they get the content and are more focused on being the teacher rather than the student. The teachers

and the students began asking what’s next?” Moix said.

He said the group communicated in several ways. They developed a Facebook group where they could be more social and use a listserve for more official classroom interactions.

They also created a Google Drive folder where Moix shared information with them as well.

Tammy Glass, a teacher at Spring Hill High School in Hope, said she tried to tie in some of hands-on activities such as using robotic toys and 3D printers.

“They liked that product they could see at the end,” she said. “They liked that knowledge they learned is not just something they are putting on a computer screen but it is something that will make something else work.”

Moix interacted with each classroom via video twice a week. It gave him the opportunity to see faces of students as they learned. It’s also gave him a window into each teacher’s

led other students through fun activities to encourage more students to become involved in computer science.

“They don’t just teach the students but let the students take leadership roles as well,” Moix said.

Daniel Traylor of Valley Springs High School said he tried to tie in as many of his lessons as he could to real-world situations. “I love new technology, exploring new things and where the future is going,” he said. “So it was fun discussing where the future was going and how they could be a part of that if they wanted.”

Four of the schools also participated in the first Apps for Good Festival this spring at ASMSA. Apps for Good is a Britain-based organization that encourages students to develop apps that help solve a problem. They receive mentorship from professionals in the field to help guide their app toward real-world utilization.

It was the first time Apps for Good has been used in schools in the Unit-

good as the first group, which was fantastic,” Moix said.

Three of the 16 teachers who participated in the first cohort were named the Teacher of the Year for their school district — Glass of Spring Hill in Hope, Deborah Horn of Hot Springs and Miranda Stanberry of Brinkley. Glass also received an Allen Distinguished Educators Do-It-Yourself Guide grant, which will be used to develop DIY Guides to bring computer science, engineering and entrepreneurship projects to classrooms.

Glass said she has found that teaching computer science this year for the first time has changed how she teaches her other classes. She just finished her 15th year of teaching.

“I looked at why am I doing this. It opened my eyes to the thinking that needs to go on and the enthusiasm that needs to go behind it. Because if something is boring and not fun, if you can find the way to make them that way, it changes the way you look

‘It’s essential in working with a team of teachers to give them avenues to collaborate. You need to give them the voice to be not just followers but also leaders.’

Daniel Moix (‘98), ASMSA computer science education specialist, on allowing the teachers in his first Essentials of Computer Programming Plus cohort opportunities to lead teaching style. Those sessions reinforced the program’s success, he said.

“We jumped off the deep end with Essentials Plus. We are swimming.

Some schools are doing synchronized swimming. We’ve gone beyond dog paddling. I personally feel the quality of instruction with a real live teacher is 100 percent better than strictly digital learning. The teacher learning with their students lends to that learning environment,” he said.

Throughout the school year, the teachers used various opportunities to enhance the classroom learning opportunities for students. Moix said the teachers used the Hour of Code sponsored by Code.org and other elements of Computer Science Education Week to encourage student leadership. Several schools developed events where current computer science students

ed States. It went so well that British organizers have officially designated ASMSA as a partner with the organization to help lead a larger rollout of the program in Arkansas.

A second cohort of teachers for Essentials of Computer Programming Plus will also be held this summer.

Moix is expecting a possible group of 20 teachers to be enrolled in the second cohort of teachers for Essentials Plus. He also expects to reach double the number of students in that course as compared to this year.

The program model has been considered so successful that a similar model is being developed for a new course in the 2016-17 academic year — Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles Plus.

“My only hesitation now is I’m not sure how the second group can be as

at your other classes and what you’re doing. This was the first year I have enjoyed my job,” she said.

Bob Gregory, dean of academic affairs at ASMSA, praised Moix for his efforts for working with his first cohort of teachers as well as the many other activities he organized.

“I could not have imagined this year going any better,” Gregory said.

“Daniel and his cohort of Arkansas teachers have provided excellent experiences for Arkansas students.

“The international organization Apps for Good came to Arkansas, met with Daniel, and left impressed by his commitment. Girls Code, Code.org, Computer Science Teachers Association, the governor’s computer science task force and others seek out Daniel because they know he will get the job done.”

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Abstract Reality

People told Brad Wreyford that one particular career was a perfect fit for his mathematics skills, and it wasn’t artist.

Become an engineer.

well. I took lots of upper-level mathematics courses. And I love math. All the people That was the advice ASMSA art instruc- I trusted suggested engineering. So I took tor Brad Wreyford was often given grow- two years of engineering courses.” ing up. He was very good at mathematics, and engineering seemed like a natural fit But as he progressed through the profor him to many of those who knew him. gram, he realized something important. “I was miserable. It wasn’t what I was meant When he entered Louisiana Tech as a to do. Come to find out the things that freshman, engineering was his initial ma- made me a good math student are the jor. same things that made me a good art student. I am an abstract thinker. I’m a good “I was excellent at mathematics,” Wrey- problem-solver. The two are very closely ford said. “In my engineering courses, I did related,” he said.

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So Wreyford switched majors, earning a Bachelor of fulfill,” Wreyford said.

Fine Arts degree in studio art with an emphasis on sculpEventually Wreyford’s father admitted that his son was ture. He did graduate studies in painting at San Diego doing what he had always wanted to do. His father is now State University before earning a Master of Fine Arts in working on the same kind of degree that Wreyford has, he studio art from Louisiana State University. said.

Wreyford’s introduction to art at Louisiana Tech was a Once he graduated with his bachelor’s degree, he drawing class. He took it in hopes of it serving as a stress worked various non-art related jobs. He still worked on his relief. He was frustrated because he knew engineering art, using a small room in the place he lived as a studio. The wasn’t what he was meant to do, but he didn’t know what easiest way for him to continue working on art at that time he was supposed to do instead. was to paint. He would get salvage paints from paint stores The drawing class was very rigorous and disciplined, or leftover paints from people’s garages. He also used other some might even say uncreative in a sense, he said. It re- mediums that might not be commonly thought about. quired a lot of time and mental energy to do well.

“I began painting as a sculptor using a lot of industrial “It felt a lot like studying for my math exams. I loved materials and processes — spackle and tar, whatever I that sense of accomplishment. All it took really was one could find ­— half-used tubes of caulk. I slowly kind of becourse,” he said. came a painter. I started paying more attention to color.

Growing up in a small Slowly over time my work northern Louisiana town, became less sculptural and Wreyford didn’t know any industrial and more nuartists. His father was the anced and finessed and finance director for a parflatter,” he said. ish school and his mothUsing the portfolio he er was a music teacher. had developed as a painter, All of his father’s friends he entered grad school to were firemen, construcwork on an MFA. He walked tion workers or factory past tools that he knew how workers from the nearby to use in a more industrial General Motors or AT&T way such as metal fabriplants. cation or woodworking As a 20-year-old, for cabinets. The penduWreyford was searching lum slowly swung back to for an identity. It’s somesculpture where he used thing we all do — searchhis new sensibility of color ing for what we are meant and shape from painting. to be, he said.

But the pendulum will “I was made to be an again swing back to paintartist. I was made to creing. In his master’s thesis at ate and solve interesting LSU, Wreyford said paintproblems. That was pretty ing as his first love. clear to me that God had “The speed of the paint a plan that did not involve and the instantaneous opsitting behind a computer ASMSA art instructor Brad Wreyford works with a student during portunity it provides was all day,” he said. my first addiction. … Painta drawing class in ASMSA’s new art studio.

Wreyford switched his ing provided an environmajor late during his junior year to studio art. Because of ment of power, one where each stroke and choice of methe number of hours and the way courses fell, he ended up dium gave me a voice, a response to my surroundings,” he focusing on sculpture and 3D projects, mostly in metal. He wrote. continued to take math courses as well and was pleased As for the initial career aspirations of being an engiwith how the two seemed to meld. neer, Wreyford has no worries that he left a void in the “Some of my greatest mathematic achievements or field by making a switch. some of my most interesting applied math scenarios have “I’ve already been replaced in the engineering field, been working with wood and metal and recalling trigo- if that makes sense. There’s a whole flock of people who nometry. There’s [also] a link between color and math- have come along who can crunch numbers and measure ematics and the balance and effectiveness of color,” he loads and do safety and quality control checks,” he said. said.

“I can never be replaced as an artist. I wanted to be His change in majors was at first confusing for his par- an individual. I really wanted to fly that flag every day ents, especially when he began bringing home the more if I could, if I could find a career that would allow me to abstract pieces that he preferred to create. But they both be myself. Whether or not everybody likes my paintings decided to put their trust in Wreyford and in God. “They or sculptures doesn’t matter. No one’s going to do those were trusting that I was created for a purpose He would things ever. They can’t really be replicated.”

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Capitalizing the Arts

A new emphasis on arts and humanities is allowing the state’s ‘math and science’ school to live up to its whole name.

D

uring its first decade of existence, the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences operated as an independent entity with its own board of trustees. In 2004, the school experienced some big changes.

The major change was that the school became a campus of the University of Arkansas System. Its Board of Trustees became an advisory board — the Board of Visitors — and the responsibility for the school and its leadership transferred to the system president.

Another change was in the mission, and thus the revised name, of the school. Gov. Mike Huckabee wanted an arts education to be added to the school. The name of the school became the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts officially.

But while some arts courses did exist in the Humanities Department, there was never a true emphasis on the arts. No additional funding came from the state to support a visual and performing arts program.

No faculty members were strictly dedicated to the arts. Instead, current faculty members who had interests and experience in the arts taught classes in addition to their regular courses.

The most popular arts-based course was Folk Music and Acoustics, which combined physics, musical performance and woodshop skills.

Students learned the science of sound while building their own instrument from scratch and learning to play an instrument or perform vocals.

A few painting and drawing classes were also offered as was digital photography, documentary filmmaking and graphic design, but options were limited for a student who might be interested in exploring the arts as an alternative to the STEM program.

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Emily Grisham (‘17) works on a painting in the new art studio. A combination of grant and institutional funds allowed the school to convert the former library computer lab into an art studio and classroom in 2014.

In 2014, 10 years after arts had been added to its name, administrators and faculty decided to make a commitment to the arts. While “the Math and Science school” was a part

of its heritage, it was time to make the other “A” in the name stand tall.

“People often said that the ‘A’ on the end of ASMSA should be a small a,” said Bob Gregory, dean of aca-

ASMSA student artwork fills the wall at Kollective Coffee+Tea in downtown Hot Springs. The Spring Art Show at the coffee shop provided students an opportunity to let other people besides their teachers and classmates see their best works. Photo courtesy of Baylee Byers (‘17). demic affairs. “We are excited to capitalize that last ‘A’ by allowing students to focus on humanities and arts while at ASMSA.” A $15,000 General Improvement Fund Grant from the West Central Arkansas Planning and Development District, Inc. plus other institutional funds were used to convert the former library computer lab into an art studio where classes could be taught and students could use as a work space. The space also includes a gallery to showcase student and professional art. Classes had previously been held in the basement of the former Residence Life Building and on the seventh floor of the Pine Street building among other places.

In previous locations, the studio was tucked away from the main activity on campus.

Also that year, Brad Wreyford was hired as an art instructor, the first time a full-time faculty member had been dedicated to the arts. Wreyford holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from Louisiana Tech and a Master’s of Fine Arts in painting from Louisiana State University.

With Wreyford on board, the school was able to offer some ex-

panded coursework along with the usual painting and drawing courses.

That included art history, 3D Design, Modern Manufacturing, 2D Design and Italian Renaissance Art, which was tied to the Global Learning Program and a trip to Italy during spring break this year. Next year he will offer a course called Modern Design, which will focus on good aesthetics and craftsmanship using wood in the school woodshop and other tools more commonly associated with the Modern Manufacturing course. He will also offer a Regional Arts Survey class, which will allow students to visit various art studios, university art departments and museums across Arkansas, Memphis and Dallas.

A humanities emphasis was developed in 2014 that allowed students to continue studying an important core of STEM classes while focusing more specifically on an expanded humanities program that included the new art offerings. Wreyford saw it as an opportunity to make the art classes a key component to the new emphasis.

“One of my ongoing goals is to instill a sense of legitimacy for the arts in a place that for years has emphasized STEM,” Wreyford said. “For

the students and the school’s culture as a whole, [I want] to carve out and establish the arts as a valued, disciplined academic pursuit.”

He said ASMSA’s focus on a “college bridge” program with diverse concurrent credit offerings served as a positive for the art program. It allowed him to develop the courses in the way students would experience them at the collegiate level.

“Basically, I’m teaching high school classes on the level of college freshmen courses. It has really helped with that goal [of legitimacy]. You don’t get an A just for taking art. It’s not an automatic A as people often assume. It’s something that requires time just like any other course,” he said.

Public exhibitions To help reinforce that sense of legitimacy to the courses he teaches, the students participate in public exhibition of their artwork. This spring, students held an exhibition at Kollective Coffee+Tea, a small coffee shop near the school in downtown Hot Springs. A reception was held on a Friday night during the city’s monthly Gallery Walk tours downtown.

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The public exhibitions give the students an opportunity to see their work on a wall and hear feedback from people other than their teacher.

Wreyford says that the students’ skill levels may vary but that isn’t what matters. What does is that the paintings exhibit their best efforts.

“If they worked hard on something, what we’re representing is the student’s best work. The students strove to make beautiful works of art.

To know you have the opportunity to exhibit publicly regularly is a big deterrent to laziness, to put it bluntly.

They’ll take it seriously,” he said.

He’s noticed another fact that may surprise other people — many of his best art students are STEM emphasis students or humanities emphasis students who excel in their STEM topics. That doesn’t surprise Wreyford, whose mathematics skills initially led him to consider pursuing an engineering degree.

“It’s either a function of the brain or the discipline developed through rigorous STEM courses — there’s a correlation in excelling in STEM courses and excelling in arts courses in a larger number of the population than most people would believe,” he said. “Talent in the arts can come from what would be traditionally some of the most unlikely places. At ASMSA, we hold all of our students to a high math and science standard.

Why would we not do that with the arts as well?”

Offering diverse coursework is key to getting students interested in the program. Having access to a woodshop in addition to the studio and digital lab is big plus, especially for Wreyford who uses wood as the medium for his sculptures. Many schools no longer have a woodshop. Or if they do, the art department never uses it, Wreyford said.

The Modern Design class he will teach this fall will rely heavily on the woodshop. Wreyford is looking forward to the class in which teach students to design and build using wood.

There will also be some emphasis and introduction to 3D modeling programs used by artists and craftsmen.

About half of students signed up for the class are female, he said. While it is important to get more girls inter16

Madeline Burke (‘16) works on a drawing in the courtyard in front of the Student Center during the spring semester. A future Regional Arts Survey course will provide students the opportunity to travel to various cities in the mid-South to visit museums and galleries. Each trip will also include a plein air, or open air, painting or drawing experience. ested in STEM subjects, it’s also important to teach them to build things and not be afraid to be involved in subjects sometimes considered to be masculine. He’s also looking forward to how it will influence his own work.

“There’s something about using power tools, learning to use them safely and to use them to construct an idea. Even to properly destroy something and to properly alter a bulk material and make it your own somehow — that’s empowering. It’s something that has been taken out of

our schools not to our credit educationally,” he said.

Grant investment The Modern Design and Regional Arts Survey courses are part of an effort to expand ASMSA’s art offerings through a $50,000 grant from the Windgate Charitable Foundation.

“Over a decade ago, the Arkansas General Assembly challenged ASMSA to include the arts as a core component of its mission,” said

ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice.

“Though support from the state has been limited to achieve that vision, we have made it an institutional priority to help talented students in the arts and humanities find an engaging program of study at ASMSA. The Windgate grant ensures we are able to better identify talented students in these subjects while providing them with the kind of dynamic opportunities that are synonymous with ASMSA.” The grant funding also is helping ASMSA bring in visiting artists who will conduct three-day workshops in which they teach classes, have an exhibition of their work and hold an art talk open to the public. Two artists visited ASMSA this spring, and the program will continue next year.

The funding was also used to hold Summer Arts Bridge residential camps this June on campus. One focused on studio art, which Wreyford taught. The other camp was modeled after the Folk Music and Acoustics class.

‘Equal value’ When Wreyford was hired, he saw the job as an opportunity to create a small foundations department in which students could develop a base of arts knowledge through a core of four or five courses.

That led to the creation of a portfolio option for art students that would satisfy their Fundamentals in Research Methods requirement.

This year, three students participated in the inaugural program. Next year, seven students have signed up to participate in the portfolio option.

The portfolio option has also been expanded to other humanities subjects.

Dan Kostopulos, chair of the Humanities Department, said he was pleased to see so many students ready to take on a different kind of challenge.

“It’s a way of students demonstrating their talent in the humanities besides just writing a big paper,” he said. “It’s a way of saying that you can actually do something, you can build something, you can create something.

That has equal value, equal meaning to being able to do research.

“Research is still important. That’s

Folk Music and Acoustics has been one of the more popular classes for students for several years. The unique course blends STEM and art lessons into one course as students learn the physics of sound, how to perform and how to build an instrument from scratch in the woodshop. FMA students perform at least two concerts each year, including the annual DolphinStock. something we certainly teach and want students to engage in, but the ability to engage in a project that requires the use of skills other than research is of equal value.”

Valerie Carpenter, director of admissions, said she has noticed students excited to learn that ASMSA offers an expanded humanities and arts emphasis.

“When students are presented with the details about the Humanities Emphasis, I sense a sigh of relief,” she said.

“The thought of enduring only math and science courses for two years is quite daunting and can cause some students to eliminate themselves from attending such a school. However, knowing that ASMSA has a Humanities Emphasis, students are more eager to attend and put that creative, imaginary mind to the test.”

The increased emphasis on the arts and humanities in general has proven something the humanities faculty members have known for a long time, Kostopulos said.

“It’s acknowledging what we’ve always known — we have kids at ASMSA who aren’t necessarily focused on STEM but are very interested in humanities,” Kostopulos said.

“The humanities emphasis is a way of

acknowledging that and addressing it finally.”

Kostopulos said during most the first 20 years he was at ASMSA the Humanities Department’s role was to support STEM. That has changed, especially with the emergence of concurrent credit.

“I feel like the Humanities Department is an equal stakeholder,” he said.

The development of the art program is encouraging in the sense of giving students a more comprehensive education, Wreyford said. Too often students are pigeonholed into subject areas and possible career choices without having the opportunity to explore other options.

“We have more choice in term of careers now than we ever have,” Wreyford said. “Who knows who they are and what they want to do when they are 16? Yet in education we haven’t awakened to that fact. We’re still like, ‘Oh, you’re good in math. You should be an engineer.’ or ‘You’re a good writer. You should be in this safe career.’

“I’m not saying we tear down the whole system, but I’m saying there’s room for people to explore. If you can’t explore and try new things when you’re 15, 16, 17, goodness when are you going to be able to do that?”

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Rachel Murphy (‘16) stands next to her favorite piece from her studio art portfolio she presented as her Fundamental in Research Methods project. This was the first year students could choose a portfolio option for FIRM. Murphy tied for first overall in the Senior Research Symposium.

Portfolio option added to FIRM

Three students had a unique opportunity this year — to present an art portfolio for their Fundamentals in Research Methods project.

Each year, seniors must complete a FIRM project. They begin working on it during their junior year by selecting their topic and adviser. Until this year, students selected a STEM or a humanities topic to research, write a paper and to produce a poster.

STEM projects competed in the West Central Regional Science Fair while humanities projects competed in the Senior Research Symposium.

Previous art-based topics in the SRS did not include actual production of art. Instead, they had a history, literary criticism or culture-based theme.

With the expansion of the arts program over the last couple of years, the idea of giving students the option to produce a portfolio instead of a poster and research paper was discussed.

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For the first time this year, three studio art students were given the opportunity to develop a portfolio of work. Next year, 15 students will explore genres of art such as filmmaking, creative writing and music in addition to studio art.

Dan Kostopulos, chair of the Humanities Department, said he was pleased to see so many students ready to take on a different kind of challenge instead of “just writing a big paper.”

“I think it’s very encouraging,” he said. “In many ways it’s an evaluative process that’s a lot like an experiment.

An experiment is something you construct, you work on and hypothesize the results you’re going to get. Then you test it and maybe you get those results or maybe you don’t “It’s the same thing with the creative process. You maybe set out a goal of painting 10 paintings and

what you discover along the way is that painting 10 paintings is very challenging, particularly finding the subject matter. It’s part of the learning process.”

Kostopulos would like to see the program expand in the future, including students choosing to do other performance-based subjects such as dance, making an album or even landscaping.

“I expect down the road for students to come up with many creative options. It’s wide open,” he said.

Art instructor Brad Wreyford thought the portfolio project would be a good way to give students serious about art an opportunity to begin to develop a portfolio that they could bring with them to college should they decide to try to get into an art program.

“These are not the ones who are there to just check a box,” he said.

Above, Christina Osorio (‘16) focused her project on paintings that reflected her Colombian heritage, including the Cattleya orchid. Left, Lauren Shillcutt (‘16) did a photography project that studied close-ups of women’s faces.

“The students who really gravitated toward the arts — I wanted to give them as much of a taste of what it would be at the next level. That was the best thing I could do for them.

“They’re not going to bat an eye when a teacher tells them they have to do a four-hour assignment over the weekend. They’re kind of used to working and having to have that self-motivation. A lot of undergrad programs are requiring that to get into their program you have to go through a screening process. If they have already started a portfolio as a high school senior, they’re miles ahead of the game.”

Rachel Murphy (’16), Christina Osorio (’16) and Lauren Shillcutt (’16) decided to do the portfolio option. It was a new program so none of them truly knew what to expect, but each was excited about having the opportunity to do something different. It also offered several challenges.

“There were a lot of obstacles,” Murphy said. “Technically, what are we supposed to be doing? What’s the precedent we have? What’s our procedures for production?”

It was important that the fine arts project were up to par with the other research options, she said.

Each student had a personal studio to work in on the seventh floor of the Pine Street building. Having their own studio allowed them to have

a designated place that was theirs where they could go when they needed to work and concentrate.

“You end up spending a lot of time there. It becomes like a home,” Murphy said.

“That is something that Mr. Wreyford said a lot of college kids don’t get to experience. That was a cool opportunity for us,” Osorio said.

One of the hardest aspects of the project was just deciding what to do, the students said. Shillcutt said she wasn’t excited about doing a science fair project.

She switched projects three or four times before she decided to do the portfolio project. Even then she bounced back and forth between trying to decide whether to do a painting project before settling on photography.

Osorio said she faced a similar struggle. She wanted to do something centered around Colombia because that is where her family is from.

It took her a while find her inspiration and focus, but she was excited about the program.

“You’re creating a whole body of work that you can keep forever. If you do a paper in high school, you’re not going to look at it again,” Osorio said.

Osorio chose to focus on the Cattleya orchid, which is the national flower of Colombia. It offered lots of bright colors and sharp edges to work

with. Many of her paintings seemed inspired by the style of Georgia O’Keefe among other artists.

Shillcutt’s photo project focused on women, in particular close-ups of their faces. She also added a unique video album to the project that featured many of her classmates.

Murphy chose to work in graphite, ink and pastels. Her theme focused on the topic of home. Each piece she hung in the art gallery somehow reminded her of or felt like home, she said.

“When you try to think of a theme, you just let your mind do the work for you and you draw what you think of. I realized I kept reflecting back on my home life and the natural things that awed me. So that’s what I went with,” she said.

Murphy said she would often pitch her ideas to Wreyford just to clear up what was going through her head.

There were several weird ideas at first that she wanted to try.

She eventually settled on pieces she thought were a success. She decided to showcase what she liked for herself, not necessarily what the crowd would like.”

Her methods were successful. She tied for first place overall in the SRS competition. Her reaction?

“I nodded, stood up and tried not to fall down as I went up to the podium,” she said.

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Pictured from the left are Taryn Imamura (‘16), Mikayla Hammers (‘16) and Mandolin Harris (‘16). They won several awards at this year’s Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held in Phoenix, Ariz., in May.

Triumphant Trio

This year’s ISEF participants most successful in 16 years of competition Dr. Brian Monson isn’t known around campus for his smile. It’s not often that students likely can recount seeing a grin on his face, but he had plenty to smile about after the awards ceremonies this year’s Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

Three students won awards, bringing home three Grand Awards and one Special Award from the competition, which was held in Phoenix, Ariz.

Five ASMSA students overall participated in the competition.

It was the most successful ISEF competition ASMSA has had in the last 16 years, said Dr. Brian Monson, Science Department chair and director of the West Central Regional Science Fair. It is the only time since then that ASMSA has brought home more than one prize, he said.

Mandolin Harris (’16) won a second-place Grand Award in Earth and Environmental Science, placing her in the top six of the category. She also received a first-place Special Award from the American Geosciences Institute. Harris qualified for ISEF at the Arkansas Science and Engineering Fair in April, winning fifth place in the individual category.

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Mikayla Hammers (’16) received a third-place Grand Award in Cellular and Molecular Biology. She qualified for ISEF by winning third-place overall at the West Central Regional Science Fair in February.

Taryn Imamura (’16) won a fourthplace Grand Award in the Energy: Chemical category. Imamura qualified for ISEF by placing first overall at the West Central Regional Science Fair. She also won first place in the Best in State Individual Award during the state science fair.

The other two students who qualified for ISEF were Samia Ismail (’16) and Andrew Hemund (’16). Ismail qualified by winning second place overall at the West Central Regional Science Fair. She also placed third in the Best in State Individual Category.

Hemund earned his ISEF trip by winning fourth place in the State Science Fair Individual category.

No other Arkansas student won an award at this year’s competition.

The recognition the students received was indicative of the effectiveness of ASMSA’s capstone experience, Monson said. Each student at the school must complete a Funda-

mentals in Research Methods project for the regional science fair, Senior Research Symposium project in humanities or a portfolio project in studio or digital arts.

The work on the project begins during the spring semester of the student’s junior year.

“The number of projects we qualify and the number of awards we bring home has been steadily climbing. An ASMSA student has brought home an award from seven of the last eight ISEFs. Our research-focused curriculum must be doing an excellent job preparing students for STEM research,” he said.

ASMSA earned the school trophy for the state title at the state science fair for the fourth consecutive year.

ASMSA won 24 category awards, which helped determine the state trophy winner. ASMSA students also won 11 special awards.

For the three ISEF award winners, gaining recognition at the international competition was unexpected.

The opportunity to compete at ISEF and be recognized for their efforts resulted in a special moment that made them realize the value of their work.

Mandolin Harris Harris has been interested in geology, in particular caves, for many years. She used to go spelunking often before the state began closing down many of the caves for safety concerns.

When it was time to decide on a FIRM project, she decided she wanted to do a project focusing on caves in some fashion. She selected testing the karst hydrologic systems in caves in the Ozark Mountain region of Arkansas. Karst hydrology is essentially the water system that exists within the rocks.

Many of the residents who live near the systems use them as their chief water source. Often a spring system will have the reputation of cleansing the water as it travels through the rocks.

That wasn’t true for several of the 15 springs and natural wells of which Harris did 17 case studies on, however. Many of them had unusually high amounts of contaminants, including high levels of phosphates. For Harris, that meant her study was important not only for her project but also for the individuals who use those springs as their main water source.

“This is not a project that I was interested in just for science fair. I wanted to be able to turn around with my paper and give it back to those locals and tell them whether or not they are safe. Unfortunately, I found out they really aren’t. The capacity of these hydrologic systems to filter out contaminants is actually completely overblown,” she said.

The phosphate levels showed there could be high levels of bacterial activity. The overall average of the samples was twice the recommended Environmental Protection Agency levels for phosphates.

One of the samples was five times the recommended limit, and it was being used as one resident’s main water source.

While Harris had plenty of data to use from the hydrologic systems, she didn’t know what to do with it at first. Dr. Lindsey Waddell (’99), Harris’ FIRM adviser, said Harris started with a completely different project idea on cave pollution. Once she saw

‘This is not a project that I was interested in just for science fair. I wanted to be able to turn around with my paper and give it back to those locals and tell them whether or not they are safe.’

Mandolin Harris (‘16), on her FIRM project

Harris’ data, however, Waddell knew Harris had a good project if she could pull the data together.

Finally, the week before the FIRM project was due, Harris said she went to Waddell to ask for help.

“I had thrown up my hands. I realized how far behind I was, and I was not sure if I could come back from it.

But [Waddell] saw that I had something to work with. She sat me down, and we started working,” Harris said.

Harris’s efforts ended up winning first place in the Environmental Science category at the regional fair and fourth place overall, one place out from qualifying to go to ISEF. At the state science fair, she again won first place for her category, and she finished fifth place in the individual category, which qualified her for ISEF. It was at the international fair, however, that she felt like the judges truly understood her project. The judges were experts in geology. Other than with Waddell, it was the first time she really had a chance to speak about her project and its importance in a manner that was more in-depth.

“The judges were all very experienced, so I felt a lot more comfortable talking to them. At [ISEF] I thought it was really amazing that some of the people I talked to my interview would turn it into a chat about what we thought was cool about karst. I really enjoyed being able to talk to people who understood my project fundamentally and honestly wanted to talk about my project specifically,” she said.

Waddell said Harris’ interest in ge-

ology shined during her time with the judges.

“As a career, geology is a relatively small field, and the subject is not taught at most high schools. So when she met judges at ISEF who were geologists, I think that she was just so genuinely excited to be speaking to another geologist that she came across more like she was at a professional meeting presenting to colleagues than a high school student being judged by professionals,” Waddell said.

When Harris’ name was called for a first-place Special Award from the American Geosciences Institute, she didn’t believe it at first. She was so excited that she forgot to pick up her certificate before leaving the stage.

When the Grand Awards began the next morning, she said she thought she might have a chance for another award. But when Imamura’s name was called for a fourth-place award, she thought her chances for a second award were slim.

“Taryn had done so well to get here that when she got a fourth place here I thought, ‘Oh, no, [I’m] not getting anything.’ I had barely eked by to get to the next round and finished below her each time,” she said.

But her name was called later, and it wasn’t until she sat back down and the ceremony was over that it truly struck her that she had won a second award. She said she began crying and asking what had just happened, she said.

While she had left for Phoenix without any expectations of winning 21

even one award, she said the honors gave her confidence that the education path she has chosen is the correct one.

“It meant a lot to me. Growing up I’ve always liked nature and rocks and caves and things like that. There would always be someone that would say, ‘I don’t know if that’s the way to go for you.’ It’s really discouraging to hear that when you really care about it,” she said.

“But when you are up there on that stage with a first place at an international convention, it kinda legitimized me and what I want to do a little bit.”

Mikayla Hammers Hammers also had chosen a topic that was personal for her. She focused on trichotillomania, a psychological condition that causes people to compulsively pull out their hair. About 42 million people have been diagnosed with the condition, Hammers said, including someone she is close to.

It currently has no known causes or cures.

Dr. Patrycja Krakowiak, Hammers FIRM adviser and a biology instructor, told her that since she had chosen a topic people weren’t as familiar with such as cancer that she would need to be able to convince people that this was a subject people needed to know about.

The condition has been associated with other common psychological conditions such as anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression.

She studied the oxytocin receptor gene because of its connection to social interactions and behaviors — such as happiness and calmness.

She collected DNA samples through a cheek swab of two groups — one composed of people who said they had never experienced the condition and another composed of people from trichotillomania support groups who currently or had previously exhibited symptoms of the condition.

Hammers collected 100 samples to begin her research. It took 13 different tries for her to get the amplification of her DNA samples correct so they could be sent off to the lab to 22

be sequenced. She spent two months working on the samples.

She received the results to do all of the analysis on the sequencing information the weekend before FIRM was due. To say it was stressful is an understatement.

“I had to finish writing my paper, look through all these sequences, do all the physical analysis, make my poster board and do my PowerPoint in four days. I spent 20 hours that weekend doing FIRM,” she said.

All the hard work paid off, however, as she won first place in the molecular biology category and third place overall in the West Central Regional Science Fair. Her placement at the regional fair qualified her for ISEF. Hammers had a similar reaction as Harris to the judging at ISEF. She met judges who knew a lot about genetics, but was still able to have personal and casual conversations with them.

Their experience levels gave Hammers the opportunity to start speaking immediately about the details of her project. Having the opportunity speak with judges about her project without having to start with the minor details was refreshing.

“It was really nice that you could tell them about your project and they would be like, ‘Oh, well then did you consider doing this or maybe you could do this.’ Because they had spe-

cific knowledge on what I was doing, they were able to make suggestions or ask very specific questions. We were able to have nice conversations about it rather than asking fairly generic questions about it. They wanted me to tell them more, and I was like ‘I can do that,’” she said.

Making it to ISEF was the top goal for her senior year. Winning an award at an international competition made it “the best day of my life,” she said.

Hammers said Krakowiak was overwhelmed with excitement when she heard about the award. Krakowiak said it was a privilege to be Hammers’ teacher and science fair mentor.

“Her unwavering perseverance, distinctive brilliance and scientific curiosity are truly remarkable and represent what is best about ASMSA students,” Krakowiak said. She said Hammers was on track to finish much sooner than many students until it began taking unexpected twist and turns. Throughout it, however, Hammers kept her focus.

“Instead of giving up, she asked the right questions and always figured out what to do next, just like the best scientists do. What is also very remarkable about Mikayla is how even at such a young age she is able to communicate so clearly and confidently her scientific passion and knowledge,” Krakowiak said.

Taryn Imamura Imamura has wanted to be a contestant at ISEF since 2012. That was when, as a 14-year-old, she stood in the family kitchen watching the awards ceremony for that year’s ISEF on television. It was the first time she had heard about the science fair, and hearing about the overall winning project — a cheaper and more effective way to diagnose cancer — made her determined to some day compete and hopefully win an award at it.

She came close to trying to make that dream come true last year. As a junior, she competed in the West Central Regional Science Fair. She finished in fourth place overall, one place shy qualifying for a trip to last year’s ISEF in Pittsburgh, Pa. She became determined to make it this year.

In 2015, Imamura had competed with a project that developed a surfactant for industrial use from rice hulls, which are often discarded as waste materials when rice is processed for food production. Using the rice hulls would provide an environmentally and economically friendly use for the byproduct.

This year, she took her project in a different direction — producing a biodiesel from the rice hulls that would also produce the surfactant as a co-product. This would allow the production of the biodiesel to remain profitable even when oil wholesale prices are low. It was a subject on which no one had done previous research.

Imamura won first place overall at this year’s West Central Regional Science Fair. Her project also earned her a first place overall award in the Best State Science and Engineering Fair Individual category. She also was a Siemens Competition semifinalist.

Even so Imamura said she harbored doubts about how good her project was at ISEF when compared to the other projects at the international competition.

“I know my project and love my project. I know the worth of it. But also looking around — not only in my category — everyone’s project, everyone’s science and what they did was incredible,” she said. “I earned my spot to be there, but it’s overwhelm-

ing to be surrounded by so many educated people and so many other young people who are just as passionate about doing this as I am who did incredible things. I had to remind myself sometimes, ‘Yep, my project is amazing, too. It’s great.’”

She said she was nervous going into the awards ceremony. She felt confident after her interviews with the judges, but she had heard interviews with some of the other competitors as well. She said it seemed it would be hard to judge the projects against each other because many were incomparable.

“Really the applications of everyone’s project there you could patent and could use to help people. A lot of the stories on why they did the project was because they wanted to help people. So did I,” she said.

She said she had the fantasy of walking on stage, but wasn’t sure if her longtime dream would come true.

As the announcers came closer to announcing her category, she started feeling sick, nervous and excited at once, she said.

Then once her name was announced, “everyone around me was freaking out,” she said.

“I couldn’t stop smiling. I looked up at the screen and saw myself walking up there because they have a camera that zooms in on people walking to the stage. Looking out at the crowd of all the people I was crying a little bit standing up there,” she said.

She did some of the research for both of her science fair projects at Modular Genetics, a laboratory in Massachusetts. It happens to be the lab where her uncle works. The company is now using her latest research to compete for a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. She’s also planning on trying to publish her paper with her listed as the first author.

She may try to patent the work but will wait to see how the grant turns out first.

Also among her supporters was Monson, the Science Department chair who also served as her adviser for her FIRM projects. He served as one of the chaperones of the trip to ISEF. “I loved having Dr. Monson there,” she said. “I was really excited that he was going. After I won, it was really cool. I was going to be chill. He came up and hugged me and was all smiley.

He was telling me how proud of me he was.”

Monson said he was very proud of Imamura and that she made his job as an adviser easy.

“She worked with me for two years on her project even though research is only required of seniors,” he said.

“She was always on task, and I did not have to push her at all. My role was basically just guiding her through the process and making sure she had the right supplies. She will be a great STEM researcher. Our juniors could learn a lot from her example.”

23

A Perfect Fit

Alumnae find friendship good for business

W

hen Yehua Yang (’02) and Evelyn Frison (’02) were seniors at ASMSA, they did a senior thesis project on fashion. Neither had a particular interest in fashion at the time, but their paper focused on fashion from a historical point of view, including manufacturing.

In addition to their paper, they created a few pieces of clothing to go with the project. They weren’t required to do so, but they decided to design some pieces for fun. They sat in the hallway on the sixth floor of the former Residence Life Building, sewing the garments with a sewing machine one of the residential mentors let them borrow. The pieces were random enough that they don’t even remember what they made. The only thing Frison really remembers of the pieces?

“They were awful,” Frison said, laughing.

Perhaps if they had known their future, however, they may have held on to them as a memento of their first work together.

Yang and Frison are cofounders and co-owners of Pivotte, a fashion line designed to provide women with a wardrobe that can be worn in many different situations — a day at the office, an afternoon of rock-wall climbing or attending a business meeting directly after a 16-hour flight. The line is designed to allow women to go from one activity to the next without necessarily having to change clothes.

Yang and Frison noticed that such clothing was missing in the market.

They knew it would be useful to them to have items that could have multiple purposes so they thought other women would be interested in it as well.

Initially Yang went to Washington University in St. Louis with plans to follow a pre-medicine track. Instead, she 24

Yehua Yang (‘02), left, and Evelyn Frison (‘02) developed a friendship during their time as roommates at ASMSA. Not only have they remained good friends since then, they are cofounders and co-owners of Pivotte, a fashion line designed to provide women with an active lifestyle an adaptable wardrobe. (contributed photos)

The garments in Pivotte’s line are designed to be worn in many situations — from social gatherings to business meetings to exercising. Pivotte’s founders wanted to create clothing that would fit their lifestyles, which often saw them going from work to a session on the rock-climbing wall to a gathering of friends without time to really change their outfits. decided to pursue a fine arts degree, and she chose to focus on fashion design. That led to Yang working as a designer for several clothing manufacturers before the friends started Pivotte.

At the time they began to seriously discuss starting their own company, Yang was working for an international division of G-III Apparel Group based in China.

“I was essentially just flying back and forth constantly on international flights going from our offices there, going from factories and manufacturers straight into client meetings with buyers and various other clients.

I just had this crazy, hectic schedule where I was spending a lot of time on airplanes but then having to look a certain way given the industry I was in and the type of meetings I was going into,” she said.

One time Yang had just spent 16 hours straight on a flight back to China. She had an all-day business meeting planned immediately after her

flight arrived followed by a business dinner. She had to be dressed in business apparel for the flight because she wouldn’t have time to change before the meetings and dinner.

Yang shared her experience with Frison, who described a similar type of hectic day that included exercising at the gym, a full day of client meetings at her marketing job and networking events afterwards.

“We discussed how there was a lack of fashionable, yet comfortable and versatile, clothing that you could just wear and not think about it. We said there is a huge gap in the market and let’s try to fill this,” Yang said.

They began having conversations about creating the company in 2013.

The conversations became serious in 2014. Yang moved back to New York to begin working on the company in earnest, leaving her job at G-III. They conducted research on products and materials and as well as a lot of market research on various brands and

competitors with similar clothing.

Lots of support In February 2015, they launched a campaign on the popular crowdfunding site Kickstarter. They set an initial goal of $30,000. Two months later, the campaign topped $45,000. Frison said there were many family and friends who supported the campaign, including connections they had made while attending ASMSA. Receiving help from their former classmates was exciting and touching, Frison said.

“We received a lot of support from our peers and friends,” she said. “Yehua and I have both really valued our experience at [ASMSA]. I think that our school is very unusual in that a lot of people have kept in touch. A lot of people still feel very connected and close.

“What I’ve noticed is that there will always be this idea of community and support. That’s what came through our campaign, and as we continue 25

Yehua Yang (‘02), left, and Evelyn Frison (‘02) became friends when they ended up roommates during their junior year at ASMSA. They carried their friendship throughout their college years into their professional careers when they both found jobs in New York City, where they were once again roommates for a time. to make progress with our company, people check in to see how we’re doing. That was a very touching aspect of running the Kickstarter campaign.

We reconnected with a lot of our friends and relationships.”

While the Kickstarter campaign showed Yang and Frison that they had many supporters, the market response to their product has been very positive as well. Frison said much of that credit belongs to Yang, who serves as the lead designer for all of their pieces.

“Yehua has over a decade of experience in fashion,” Frison said.

“She was the lead designer for all of the pieces we’ve released. I think the positive feedback is a testament not only to her visual design but the way she constructed the garments.

“It goes back to how things fit on the body for maximum comfort with the best fit possible. It only comes from someone who has the expertise in the entire design process from concept26

ing something to understanding how to make it fit on a body and to allow for maximum comfort and range of motion. That all came from Yehua’s brain.”

Frison said they have also received positive feedback on the aesthetics of the line in addition to the functionality. Both she and Yang live in New York City, where a wide range of styles exists. Even so, there is a certain standard expected in business office settings. They set out to design garments that were business appropriate but would work in social and relaxed settings as well, she said.

“Yehua designed around those challenges. The aesthetic design reflects a city lifestyle. It was made to be a very versatile line,” she said.

Frison shared a story about one customer who described wearing her Pivotte clothing while hiking during a cruise stop in Norway. Upon returning to the ship, the woman went back to her room, changed shoes and wore the same clothing to dinner.

“That’s exactly what we designed the line to do,” Frison said. “I think that once people try our stuff on they recognize how thoughtful we were about design and how picky we were when it came to fabrics to make sure they were comfortable and useful and durable and functional.”

Focused on growing Since her return from China in 2014, Yang has been working full time on Pivotte, initially designing garments and then overseeing their production. She’s also handling much of the day-to-day business aspects as Frison still works as a senior integrated marketing manager for the New Republic magazine.

For now, the company is operating with a direct-to-customer business model. Its website is the only place to order garments. For now, the business partners are happy with that model, choosing not to pursue whole-

salers for their line.

In an extremely competitive industry that has a lot of players, it may seem to some that using that model will make it harder to succeed. And while it does present some challenges, it also provides the company with some advantages.

“We’re providing a product with no wholesale markup, which means we’re only taking a small margin for ourselves which translates to the customer getting a much better product than for which they are paying because they don’t have that wholesale markup,” Yang said.

“Because of that, we’ve had to do our own marketing and PR, which has been challenging, but that is Evelyn’s area of expertise. It is a lot more work as a brand, but at the same time, we get to control the story we tell, and we can focus on what’s important rather than catering to a established retailer and what they want.”

Yang’s previous fashion experience is also key in the manufacturing end of the business, allowing Pivotte to have advantages perhaps others who start out cold in the business wouldn’t.

“We’re really lucky in the manufacturing and product end,” Yang said. “Because they’re all partners I had worked with before, it was much easier to get the sample rooms at the factories to work with us from the very beginning. We haven’t had the issues others have on the manufacturing side.”

For now the line is small as the garments are designed to last several seasons, but they are filtering in a few new pieces. Yang plans to design more garments, but much of her time for now is spent on the day-today operations, including handling the shipping and customer relations.

That includes sending customers handwritten cards with their orders, Yang said.

“There’s a lot of hands-on, personal things to start with so right now we’re not going through a warehouse or distribution center because we want the control. We want the communication with our customers,” Yang said.

But they aren’t planning to stay small forever. As other brands, including larger ones, begin to see the same hole in the market that Pivotte is serving, the market may require them to grow faster than they first intended.

“One of our biggest goals for this year is to start fundraising,” Yang said.

“Originally we were open to growing the brand organically and be able to grow the brand slowly and build a strong customer base through word or mouth or other channels.

“But I think now that where we are with the business and where we see the market going and other competitors coming into play, we do have a little bit more aggressive plans to expand bigger, faster. Not to say we’re worried about competition, but I think right now the market is getting ready for expansion in the area we’re trying to cover. So we think it better to grow a little bit faster than originally planned.”

Frison said Pivotte was on the cutting edge of the market, finding a hole that wasn’t being served in current cultural and fashion trends. Other smaller brands have now also found that hole, and as there is more activity in this particular market, it begins to draw the attention of larger companies as well.

The difference between Pivotte and those companies, however, is the level of care she and Yang have for their customers, Frison said.

“We have a genuine desire to help women focus on meeting the goals that matter in their daily lives. Clothing should not be an obstacle to that,” she said.

The clothing, in a sense, allows the women wearing it to pivot from one activity to another from the beginning of the day through the end. That thought led to the name of the company.

“We wanted the name to have a lot of meaning,” Frison said. “Right now, pivot is sort of a trending word in our space because is means starting in one direction and you pivot and go in another direction. We thought that was very representative of how and why women would use our clothing because they need to make a lot of pivots throughout the day.”

There was already a company with pivot as it’s main name, but they decided to add additional letters to it, in a sense giving it a feminine version of the name, Frison said.

Level of trust Throughout the whole process the friends have been on the same page more often than not, Frison said. Even when they haven’t been, they have reached a resolution. Their friendship, which quickly developed once they met at ASMSA, is still as strong now as it was before going into business together, Yang said.

“They say don’t live with your friends or go into business with them because you might lose the relationships,” Yang said. “At this point, I have done both. I think our relationship is so special at this point because we have known each other for half of our lives now. Our personal relationship is very strong. We have both done a good job of separating our personal relationship from our professional relationship.

“There is a level of trust between us that I think that very few cofounders have. I absolutely trust her to have the absolute best intentions for the company and my own personal well being, and I do the same for her.”

‘What I’ve noticed is that there will always be this idea of community and support. That’s what came through our campaign, and as we continue to make progress with our company, people check in to see how we’re doing.’

Evelyn Frison (‘02), on the support she and Pivotte cofounder Yehua Yang (‘02) received from ASMSA classmates during a Kickstarter fundraiser for their company 27

The Power of Subtraction

Alumna finds calling leading startup company One thing Danielle Applestone (’98) has always considered herself is a problem-solver.

When she left Mena to attend what was then known as ASMS and then on to MIT upon high school graduation, one thing she could always do was find solutions to problems.

“It was like 0 to 60 mph going from my hometown school that was less challenging and coming to ASMS and then 60 to 240 at MIT,” she said during a phone conversation from California, where she now lives. “The thing that really did prepare me was the ability to jump in and problemsolve. More than any specific piece of curriculum or class, it was just like there was this spirit of we didn’t know what to do but we could find out.

“We did two-week interdisciplinary units both years. That was huge because I didn’t know a lot of academic stuff other kids knew, but I could problem-solve. It was a little bit of an equalizer. I felt like I got to show the things I was good at, which is organizing people and getting to the bottom of dissecting problems.

As long as you don’t have a fear of the 28

unknown and can jump in and problem-solve, you can be just about anywhere, I think.”

The “anywhere” of today is Berkeley, Calif., where she serves as the CEO for Other Machine Co. The startup company produces the Othermill, a desktop computer numerical control (CNC) mill that enables users to create custom items ranging from circuit boards, mechanical parts and other 2D and 3D objects made out of materials such as metal, plastic and wood.

Originally the project was funded through a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency grant. The goal was to develop CNC machines and software for classrooms. That funding disappeared during the federal budget sequestration in early 2013, leading to major federal spending cuts.

Without the federal grant, Applestone and Other Machine Co. cofounder Saul Griffith decided to go a different route with the project.

Griffith is one of the founders of Otherlab, a research and innovation lab in San Francisco that specializes

in energy, robotics and advanced manufacturing that was the first home for the Othermill. Griffith also was a friend and classmate from MIT. In 2013, the company raised more than $311,000 in a campaign on the popular crowdfunding site Kickstarter. In 2014, the company raised about $3 million in Series A stock sales. It also has had what Applestone calls angel investors — smaller, targeted capital investors in the company. To date, she has raised about $6 million for the company.

For Applestone, the opportunity to jump in and lead the project during the original grant-funded stage was good timing. She needed a job, and it was an opportunity to use her problem-solving skills while leading a team of innovators. But getting to that point had been an unexpected journey.

She graduated from MIT in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. However, it wasn’t until her final senior semester that she realized the degree she was earning was not what she wanted to do.

“I didn’t really know what that

was until I got into it, to be honest. I thought someone would come to me and say I need a chemical that does this and this and this, and I will invent that. But that’s not what it is at all,” she said, chuckling.

After finishing her degree, she took a job at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., doing material science. It was there that she found her true passion in engineering.

“They had exactly the kind of problem I like which is ‘We need a polymer that has these properties that can only be used in these settings and needs to compatible with this and this. Oh, and we have no idea how to make it. Here, get to work,’” she said.

She was given a stack of papers with studies on similar topics from other people and told to start working, she said. “That’s when I realized that material science is my thing.

That’s what I want; that’s what I love,” she said.

After six months of working on the project, she found that the answer was that the polymer could not be created in a way that would be cost effective and had too many obstacles.

“That really got me into the sweet spot of what I like, which was no one knows the answer; there are lots of ideas and a wealth of information that has been presented that you have to draw from. That was me,” she said.

She left the Naval Lab after six months to return to Boston and her boyfriend who was still at MIT. Upon her return in 2003, he taught her computer programming with the idea they could create an Internet service.

They came up with a Web-based service called SnipeSwipe, a service that would enter last-second eBay bids for customers.

The business did well enough that it’s still active today. Applestone ran the business for 12 to 13 years before selling her share of the company last year. It provided her business experience that has become useful in her role now at Other Machine, she said.

“It taught me the mechanics of running a business and taxes,” she said, noting it did well enough that she it supported her and her son during her doctorate studies in materials science at the University of Texas in Austin.

She considered starting a bat-

‘Being an engineer first gives me a big advantage because our customers are engineers. I wish I could hire a bunch of sales people who were engineers.’

Danielle Applestone (‘98), CEO of Other Machine Co.

tery materials company herself upon graduating in 2012, but it would have required too much capital and would have been risky. Instead, she began searching for a job, including some job interviews in California. That was when she ran into MIT-friend Griffith, who eventually made his own offer to her to join the grant-funded project.

It was an intriguing prospect for her. She had recently finished a degree in what she loved — material science — to become the leader of a project in which she wasn’t doing the science herself. Instead, she would be organizing the team, fundraising and generally serving as the face of the product, especially once the federal funding disappeared and the project turned into an idea for a company instead.

“I think the first leap is the hardest — that was the leap from being a material scientist to a person in management,” she said. At the University of Texas she was the hands-on person in the lab. She felt she was the most technical person in her group and had a lot of her identity wrapped up in being very technical in material sciences.

Instead she had to focus on her other interest — serving as a team leader.

“How do you run a team? How do you take a technology and make it public and have it reach people. It is

business operations and management and finances and marketing and sales. It’s all of those skills that engineers don’t hold in high regard, but they’re the key to the survival of your business,” she said.

Being an engineer first has been an advantage in some ways as she transitioned to the management position.

When dealing with customers, she understands what they want or need and can communicate that to the development team. She’s also able to communicate with the customer about whether their requests may or may not be possible.

“Being an engineer first gives me a big advantage because our customers are engineers. I wish I could hire a bunch of sales people who were engineers,” she said.

Applestone said she can trace some of her confidence in serving as the leader of the company back to her days at ASMSA. She said her time at the school taught her that she could have a conversation with anyone on any topic and to take advantage of other people’s knowledge and abilities to solve problems.

“That was really powerful to me because I know I can get on the phone and call anyone. If they are excited about what I’m doing, I can get them to share what they know. That all started at ASMSA,” she said.

29

Dr. Charles Mullins leads a discussion in his Differential Equations course this spring. Mullins retired at the end of the school year after 17 years at ASMSA and more than 50 years of teaching around the world.

Mullins ready to see the world, again

D

r. Charles Mullins enters his office — a red beret on top of his shock of white hair and a bicycle helmet in one arm.

Both pieces of headgear are familiar to those who know Mullins — as familiar as the bicycle standing outside the Academic and Administration Building that signals he is on campus. Soon the sight of his bicycle, beret and helmet will be gone from ASMSA. Mullins is retiring after 17 years of teaching mathematics at ASMSA and more than 50 years of teaching overall. He’s slowly cleaning out his office. A few books he has accumulated during his time at the school remain on the table outside his office where he placed them for anyone to take. Boxes take up space here and there on the floor.

Most of the walls are now bare.

Why retire now? He’s ready to do more traveling and spend time with Andrew, his son, and his family who live in London. A health scare in the past year convinced him that it was time to leave the career to which he has dedicated more than two-thirds of his life.

Traveling isn’t new for Mullins. The 75-year-old estimates that he has traveled in more than 45 countries, not counting the places where he just spent time in the airport. He has taught in nine countries — Nigeria, Tanzania, Iran, Turkey, Kenya, China, Ghana and the United States.

There are still a few places he hasn’t made it to that he wants to visit, including somewhere in South America and Cuba now that relations with the country have been reestablished.

Teaching mathematics is still enjoyable. It’s something Mullins describes as “just something genetic.” When he 30

was 5, his family lived in a rural part of the state outside of Claremore, Okla. His family bought a farm because it was an inexpensive piece of property. Both of his parents worked outside the home and his older sister was in school, so Mullins was home alone.

He decided one day that he didn’t want to be alone and asked the teacher of the one-room school house where his sister was in first grade if he could come to school. The teacher told him it would be OK, and he would sit and listen to the lessons. The math lessons caught his attention, and he was working through all the exercises and workbooks the teacher could provide him.

He was soon doing more math than the first- and second-graders at the school. The teacher said he shouldn’t start the next year in first grade and recommended he be tested. The results showed he should be in fourth or fifth grade, but his parents didn’t want him to be ahead of his older sister, so instead he was placed in the third grade with her.

The family soon moved to Stillwater, Okla., where his father earned a degree from and eventually worked at Oklahoma State. Then 10 or 11, Mullins found the math department. While speaking to some of the college students, he learned that schools would pay you to teach only math.

“I said, ‘Well, that’s for me.’ In early puberty, I knew that I was going to teach math. And to do the math I wanted to, I knew I would have to get a Ph.D. I’ve been very fortunate the way it has worked out,” he said.

He graduated from Oklahoma State with a bachelor’s degree and then went on to earn his Ph.D. in mathemat-

ics from the University of Illinois. Go“It was too good a job to leave. I love for early in life. When he was 5 ing to school in Champaign served as didn’t really even think about retire- or 6, his father brought home a used an eye-opening experience for him. ment at 65 or 70 even. By the time I bicycle. It was on a morning that he It was the first time he was really ex- turned 70, I decided to do it year by had the whole day free. posed to cultures other than his own. year. As long as I enjoy the interaction “He said, ‘Here’s your bike. If you Once he graduated from Illinois, and the work I’d stay,” he said. learn to ride it by evening, it’s yours he took his first teaching job at OrWhich leads back to the reason or I’ll take it back.’ We had a gravel egon State University. After a couple why he decided now was the right time driveway, and I fell 20 or 30 times of years there, he decided he wanted to retire. In October 2015, he fell while that day. I didn’t stop until I learned to see what teaching overseas would walking in downtown Hot Springs. to ride without falling down. Then I be like. He took his first overseas job Besides a bump on the nose and two learned to really enjoy riding,” Mullins in Nigeria, and it led to a series of incisors that had to be crowned, he es- said. continent-hopping jobs that led him caped the fall in good shape.

Once the family moved to Stillwato the Middle East and the Great Wall On Dec. 26, 2015, while visiting ter, he took a job as many youngsters and eventually back to Africa and the Andrew and his family in London, did in those days — delivering newsUnited States, where he ended up at he lost his balance on his left side papers. He learned to fold the papers the University of Central Arkansas in and fell again. After coaxing by An- while riding the bike and tossed them Conway so he could be closer to his drew and his daughter-in-law, Mul- like a Frisbee so they would land on father, who still lived in Oklahoma. lins went to the emergency room at the front steps or the porch almost Mullins joined ASMSA’s faculty in a hospital in London. He was taken every time, he said.

1999 after a few years at UCA. In ad- for a CAT scan. Within an hour, “I was “I could deliver 150 papers in 30 dition to teaching mathematics, he looking at a picture of a brain covered minutes. I did that for five years and was involved in UCA’s teacher educa- in blood. And the doctor said, ‘Based saved all my money except to buy a tion program. A coworker whose spe- on this scan, you shouldn’t be stand- new bicycle and a few other things,” cialty was teacher education at the ing here talking to me,’” Mullins said he said. school asked him to work with her on in an email to campus announcing his That led to him working more in several projects. the back room That coworker of the newspawas friends with ‘It was too good a job to leave. I didn’t really even per, stacking paMelanie Nichols, think about retirement at 65 or 70 even.’ pers as they came who was chair of Dr. Charles Mullins, 75, on why he continued to teach off the press and the ASMSA Mathmathematics at ASMSA beyond what many would have eventually checkematics Departout papers for considered retirement age ing ment at the time the carriers. What and who would he earned doing later become dean of academic af- planned retirement in early January. those jobs helped pay for his college fairs at the school.

He was taken by ambulance to an- education, buy a car and live comfortNichols asked Mullins to help other hospital where he had neuro- ably while working on his Ph.D. All that judge the math sections of the sci- surgery to relieve the buildup of blood time, he never stopped riding a bike. ence fair at that time. When a math- and pressure on his brain. He later And all of that led him to fulfilling ematics opening came up, she con- learned he had experienced a hemor- his desire to teach mathematics and tacted him to let him know. rhagic stroke, the kind of which can travel abroad. The biggest lesson all “I knew I’d be working with her and lead to death. of his travels — both academic and (Bruce) Turkal (who retired two years That event challenged him to pleasure — have taught him is that no ago) and some of the others. I knew quickly make the decision that it was matter what country and culture you it was a great place to work,” he said. time to retire and enjoy time with his live in, the majority of people want the At first, Mullins taught Algebra II family and loved ones. Don’t expect same thing. or Intermediate Algebra as needed him to sit around, however, binging “People are the same the world in order to get students to the appro- on Netflix and staying inside every over,” he said. “We all want a good life priate level to be able to take more day. He has spoken to friends who for our family, food, a roof over our demanding courses, including cal- have retired who seem to be doing heads and some semblance of a good culus. Soon he began to teach more well in retirement. The key to their life. Unfortunately, there is a group of advanced courses. He found that the continued health is staying active. people out there that want to manipuprogram was just as challenging, if “You should not become a couch late and do bad things, but that’s not not more so, in some ways than while potato. It has a real effect on people, the norm. I have so many stories of he taught at UCA. and it happens quickly. In order to be people who helped me and went out It did turn out to be a great place active you must stay active,” he said. of their way to do so. It would be nice to work. That and his love of teaching He plans to still ride his bicycle if we could look at the world that way mathematics kept him at the school often. Just like mathematics, bicycle and approach it that way. I think it year after year. riding was something he developed a would make it a lot better.”

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From the left, Earl Wells, Dr. Johnnie Roebuck, Dr. Ron Hart, Kin Bush and Director Corey Alderdice attended the ASMSA Foundation Director’s Circle Dinner in October. Roebuck announced the creation of a fellowship honoring the school’s original Board of Trustees at the dinner. Wells, Roebuck and Bush served on the charter board.

Fellowship emphasizes service

A new fellowship at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts will assist students conducting a summer service learning project that will benefit their home communities.

The ASMSA Trustees’ Service Fellowship will be awarded to a rising senior each year. The student selected for the fellowship will receive a $600 grant toward their service project. The project must be completed during the summer between their junior and senior year at ASMSA. The student will give a public presentation on their project during their senior year.

In order for the fund to be endowed, $15,000 in gifts were made from a variety of freinds, including several original board members, to create the fellowship.

Claudia Vestal, a junior from Jonesboro, has been selected as the first recipient of the fellowship.

Her project will focus on teaching healthy-eating classes to youth ages Vestal 8 to 16 in her community.

Her goal is to provide them with information that will help reduce obesity rates in her community by teaching easy, delicious meals they can cook that will result in a healthier weight. Vestal said she decided to focus on reducing obesity in her community by focusing on the youth after conducting research on obesity rates in Arkansas for a composition essay.

“I found out that 34.4 percent of adults are obese in Arkansas,” she said. “It’s hard to change that once it’s your lifestyle. I wanted to focus on the rising generation so we can change the way we think about food.”

The fellowship is named in honor of the trustees who first served as a guiding entity for the school. When ASMSA was established in 1991, an advisory board served under the authority of the Arkansas Department of Education.

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In 1995, the Arkansas General Assembly established a Board of Trustees to oversee the policies and administration of the school at the request of the current advisory board members. Gov. Jim Guy Tucker appointed the first Board of Trustees to serve as the governing body of the school and charged with creating policies and procedures for the operation of the School.

“We started from scratch,” said Dr. Johnnie Roebuck, a longtime public school educator and former state representative from Arkadelphia who was among the first seven trustees appointed by Tucker. She also made the lead gift to the fellowship. “We met long hours and worked diligently to make sure the policy manual fit the vision of the school. It was not an easy task but one we took very seriously knowing our work would decide the future operation of the school and affect all students, faculty and staff.”

The Board of Trustees was dissolved in 2004 when the school joined the University of Arkansas System, and a Board of Visitors now acts as an advisory board.

Recently, Roebuck and other trustees wanted to do something for the school that would honor the work and commitment of those early trustees who built the foundation for the school. Vicki Hinz, ASMSA director of institutional advancement, and ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice suggested creating an endowment that would benefit students directly.

“Instead of a traditional scholarship, we wanted to create a way for students to give back to their home communities through service,” Roebuck said. Giving back to their home community is an important aspect of the fellowship, said. When a student receives the fellowship, they have a responsibility for service. That means donors will be able to see a result from their gift, she said.

“You’re going to hear about these students. You’re going to read about them. You’re going to know that your money is invested in service. It’s a whole different concept of how we reward students,” Roebuck said.

End Note

Eric Jackson, general manager of Oaklawn Park, speaking to the Class of 2015 during commencement

‘ASMSA has educated us on everything from foreign language to math that looks like a foreign language; but most importantly, it’s taught us how to think differently.’

Canon Reeves (‘16), left, speaking to his classmates during this year’s Honors Convocation Editor’s Note: Canon Reeves (’16) delivered this address during this year’s Honors Convocation.

About two months ago, I was at a robotics competition in Houston, Texas, and I met someone who kind of shook up my way of thinking. The competition we were at had a pretty strong integration of LEGO pieces, and so naturally we had quite a few LEGOs at our table where we worked.

As the day went on, kids ranging from middle school to 12th grade would walk up and ask us about our robots or play with the LEGOs. But there was this one kid — he was about 14 years old — and he was a little different. He didn’t just come and play with our LEGOs and then leave.

Actually he didn’t leave, but he asked all sorts of questions about the robots and our school. Interestingly enough, it wasn’t that his questions were terribly different, rather his responses to the answers.

With every answer we gave this kid, he would respond with all of the good things he could think about associated with the answer. When we explained how our school was residential, he started by saying how great that must be for working on the robots. I didn’t disagree.

He also pondered on what that was like for forming friendships and the advantages of really getting to know one another after two years of living together. As we talked to him throughout the day, we began to realize why he wasn’t working with his team. It was apparent that he was bullied at his school.

This was sad, of course, but I didn’t really piece together until later what that had to do with his outlook. Imagine living in a world where everyone is looking so desperately for your flaws that they glossed over all of your great qualities and what you had to offer. Well, he was living in that.

He was so used to being critiqued for his different way of thinking and his difference relative to the other kids that he would always look for the good in the situation. He would have fit in well at ASMSA.

I think there’s a lesson to be learned here about outlook because this kid isn’t the only one being critiqued. It’s all of us. Day by day there, will be those who search for flaws in our way of thinking, our ideals and our thoughts. It’s up to us to look through that and maintain a positive outlook.

ASMSA has educated us on everything from foreign language to math that looks like a foreign language; but most importantly, it’s taught us how to think differently.

One of my most valuable lessons from calculus was that for every problem we worked, there were as many ways for finding the same solution as there were numbers between 0 and 1. In FIRM, we all found a problem, and we spent a very long year looking for a solution. Something many advisers pushed was that our solution may not even be the right one, but it was certainly going to be a new one.

Sure, things failed in the sense that they didn’t work perfectly or solve the problem we set out to solve, but that’s when it comes back to our outlook on it. If we listen to only the voices of those who look to highlight our flaws, then our takeaway will be negative; but if we look for the same thing in the situation as that kid would have, we begin to take away tiny successes. As these tiny successes build up, we begin to create something beautiful, something new, something beneficial.

We are about to take the next major step in our life — college. We will all be challenged, make mistakes and have “failures;” but it will be just as important then as it has been over the past two years for us to maintain a positive outlook. It is this outlook that will define each of us.

You are here because you care enough to challenge yourself, and so you’ve started to develop momentum in your life. We need to have a positive outlook because there will be things in life that will act as friction and try to slow us down. Don’t let it. Continue to build that momentum.

Go out there; find success in your failures. Do new amazing things and change the world.

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Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts A Campus of the University of Arkansas System 200 Whittington Ave. • Hot Springs, AR 71901

Final Frame

The Class of 2016 established a new tradition at graduation this year. The Student Government Association took up the challenge of creating new student regalia for the ceremony. Rather than separate regalia for male and female students, the SGA sought to design a cap and gown that signified a unified ASMSA and the shared experience students have over these two years. The hunter green and navy blue colors remain.

And for the first time, all students have received a hood, signifying the tremendous accomplishment and honor of being an ASMSA graduate. Finally, the school seal is placed over their hearts in hope that the memories of their time together will carry far beyond graduation.