Summer 2017 Tangents

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

SUMMER 2017

A NATURAL FIT Research in the Park program benefits students, HSNP

Director Corey Alderdice Dean of Academic Affairs Bob Gregory Dean of Students Rheo Morris, Ph.D. Director of Finance Ashley Smith

When I speak with decision-makers about ASMSA, I remind them that the institution is more than just a school. ASMSA is a specific investment by the Arkansas General Assembly in economic development and the intellectual capital of our state. It’s an interesting time for Arkansas as new ideas and approaches to economic development take root. Entrepreneurial endeavors, foreign investment, and strengthening Arkansas’ native industries are all components of that work. The interesting element is that the majority of these approaches rely in some way on STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—and an educated workforce within these disciplines.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and The Kauffman Foundation found in “The 2014 State New Economy Index: Benchmarking Economic Transformation in the States” that Arkansas ranks 47th in the overall index. In other focus areas, Arkansas ranks 49th in the number of inventor patents issued, 47th in the number of scientists and engineers, 42nd in the number of high tech jobs, 47th in the amount of non-industry investment R&D, 45th in venture capital, and 49th in access to broadband internet.

The key to advancing these rankings—and moving our state forward—can be found in properly engaging the minds of promising young Arkansans from an early point, with particular attention to the transformative personal, community, and societal possibilities through advanced STEM education. “Mind the (Other) Gap: The Growing Excellence Gap in K-12 Education” argues that more must be done to engage students at the highest level: “…continuing to pretend that a nearly complete disregard of high achievement is permissible, especially among underperforming subgroups, is a formula for a mediocre K-12 education system and long-term economic decline.”

We must inspire young people to tackle the challenges of environmental change, sustainability, renewable energy, patent reform, global business, infrastructure, community development, and other issues that draw upon the intersection of science and public policy. STEM plus entrepreneurship, STEM plus critical languages, STEM plus sustainable societies, and STEM plus art and design each address a very cogent need while facilitating a greater umbrella in which we can further cultivate talent through interdisciplinary approaches.

The way to make a shift in the economic landscape of Arkansas is to promote a culture of innovation through a variety of learning, talent development, and personal growth opportunities for promising young people. For more than two decades, ASMSA has worked to play our part in meeting the state’s needs for a dynamic, talented, and skilled workforce. Our program will and must continue to grow and evolve to meet new challenges in the years ahead. With your continued support, we’ll help move Arkansas forward, together.

Corey Alderdice

Director

Director of Admissions Valerie Carpenter Director of Institutional Advancement Vicki Hinz Board of Visitors Hayward Battle, Chair Gary Dowdy Steve Faris 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 Maria Markham, Ph.D., Director Arkansas Department of Education Mary Katherine Stein, Ed.D., Public School Program Coordinator for the Office of Gifted and Talented and Advanced Placement Department of Arkansas Heritage Rebecca Burkes, Deputy Director and General Counsel ASMSA Student Government Zane Colvin (‘18), 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 2017

Helen Selig still keeping her promise Page 4

ASMSA duo shines in Thea competitions Page 24

features

#ASMSA

2 Collaborative Center

20 Farewell, D.C.

14 ‘Raw Materials’

26 A Good Scrum

16 CIC Moves Forward

30 Taking AIM

Space in Little Rock Tech Park will encourage new connections.

Program teaches students how to use primary sources for research.

An Oaklawn Foundation grant is the largest single gift in school history.

Dean of Students Bill Currier retires after decade of service to ASMSA. Three students build bonds as players on a club rugby team.

French instructor Bryan Adams actively engages learners.

On the Cover: Dr. Lindsey Waddell (‘99), a geoscience and chemistry instructor, Alanah Claybaugh (‘17) and Tristan Tompkins (‘17) test the spring fountain. Waddell is a lead instructor for the Research in the Park program, and both students were participants. Story on Page 6

ASMSA students, staff and faculty celebrated Black History Month with an assembly that featured skits, spoken word segments and a performance by the ASMSA step team.

Instagram photo by Josiah Dalencourt (‘18)

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At the Starting Line ASMSA among first tenants of Little Rock Tech Park The Little Rock Technology Park supports the burgeoning technology scene in central Arkansas by providing affordable space in a collaborative community-building environment.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts has joined that scene as part of its mission to develop the state’s emerging talent in science and innovation.

ASMSA added an off-campus location in the Little Rock Technology Park in May. The park houses offices for the school’s expanding Coding Arkansas’ Future initiative, including space for the school’s team of computer science education specialists. ASMSA’s suite also includes additional space for admissions and 2

institutional advancement professionals to utilize when working with stakeholders in the central Arkansas region.

ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice said it is exciting for the school to have an opportunity to support the authority’s efforts while expanding its own technology and economic development programs.

“For more than two decades, ASMSA has maintained leadership roles in supporting STEM education in Arkansas,” Alderdice said. “Pairing our school and the Coding Arkansas’ Future initiative alongside the state’s innovation community and emerging startups with a need for talented young Arkansans is an opportunity to

play an even larger role in expanding access to coding, computer science, and entrepreneurship within our curriculum and educator development programs.”

ASMSA introduced the Coding Arkansas’ Future initiative in April 2015 in response to Gov. Asa Hutchinson placing an emphasis on computer science education in Arkansas. In February 2015, Hutchinson signed Act 187 into law requiring all public and charter high schools in the state to offer computer science education courses beginning in the 2015-16 academic year.

Coding Arkansas’ Future provides expanded computer science education courses for schools across Ar-

kansas taught by ASMSA faculty said having a presence in the Tech gins to host community events and through its digital learning program. Park has many advantages. forums. “As we get established here, ASMSA also provides training, sup“Raising the visibility of ASMSA in we also have opportunity to contribport and mentoring for teachers in Little Rock by holding an office in the ute to organized training and events an expanded program, encouraging Little Rock Technology Park allows in a way that may not have been posschool districts across the state to us to interact on a daily basis with sible to do before,” he said. develop their own computer science top tech companies that share the Brent Birch, executive director of faculty through a professional devel- co-work space,” Rice said. “The build- the park, said the addition of ASMSA opment model led by ASMSA’s com- ing has six stories and has more over to the Tech Park is a benefit for both puter science education specialist.

20 tenants already, so the opportuni- students and companies.

The first two years have focused ties to collaborate and connect occur “The addition of ASMSA to the mostly on providing resources for daily. space creates another conduit into high school students and teachers.

“ASMSA has a track record of de- the vital pipeline of future techBeginning in fall 2017, the program veloping top technology talent. Con- focused entrepreneurs and talent,” will expand to middle school students necting this talent pool directly to the Birch said. “As one of the premier and teachers to meet the new “Cod- technology business community in public, residential high schools in ing Block” standards. The number of Central Arkansas through our pres- the country, the ability for leadership faculty members teaching and students to tap into real courses will be expanded world experiences going ASMSA’s Coding Arkansas’ Future initiative has from one to four. on in the Tech Park facility been successful in preparing Arkansas educators Daniel Moix has served will only enhance the state’s to meet requirements to receive computer science endorsements. Program highlights include: as the school’s computer ability to cultivate and rescience education specialtain Arkansas’ brightest and Building teacher capacity at the local level. A fall 2016 ist, guiding the initiative best.” survey of newly licensed high school teachers in Arkansas through its first two years.

The Tech Park is an effort showed ASMSA played a role in preparing half of the He said the opportunity to to foster economic growth teachers to earn certification. open a space within the Tech and regional competitivePark will provide even more ness by providing a stimulatContinuing growth in the number of courses and opportunities for the stuing environment — including professional development offered. The first two cohorts dents and teachers he works facilities, counseling, proof teachers were 16 educators each. Current registration with throughout the state. graming and financing adfor next year’s courses in Computer Science 1/2 and “Education in the 21st vice — for existing and new Computer Science 3/4 includes 50 teachers. century often calls on stutechnology-based ventures.

Providing coding outreach sessions for students and dents to work collaboraPhase 1 of the facilteachers both on ASMSA’s campus and around the state, tively to solve authentic ity provides nearly 38,000 including summer camps, #g1rlsc0de encouraging female square feet of professional problems, building and recoders, App Inventor sessions, conference breakout inforcing technical skills,” he office space, conference presentations and other events. said. “Teaching in this way rooms and meeting spaces not only reinforces digital for tech-focused entreprePiloting the United States implementation of the Britishliteracy, but also arms stubased Apps for Good program. The experience empowers neurs, startups and estabdents with skills employers lished companies, said Brent Arkansas students to solve authentic local problems by demand such as teamwork, Birch, executive director creating mobile apps. problem solving, confidence of the park. The first phase and resilience. By sharing space with ence in the Technology Park is a value opened March 1 and currently houses Arkansas tech entrepreneurs, there add to the community as well as our 27 companies. A grand opening cereare limitless opportunities for Coding students.” mony for the facility was held April 24 Arkansas’ Future educators and partRice shared an anecdote about a and included a formal announcement ners to collide and collaborate.” recent day he spent at the ASMSA of- of the ASMSA collaboration.

It’s central location in the state is fices. His experience that day is why The Little Rock Technology Park also an advantage, Moix said. “For it’s important for the school to have a is located in the 400 block of Main smaller professional development ef- presence there.

Street in the heart of Little Rock’s Creforts and many meetings, this loca“Last week I had key meetings with ative Corridor. Its operation is overtion is more convenient for our part- two or three community partners, seen by the Little Rock Technology ner teachers to reach,” he said. made some great connections with a Park Authority, a public corporation This year, ASMSA is adding an new tech company that was holding a of the state of Arkansas governed by entrepreneurship program to the meeting in the building, and met and a seven-person board appointed by curriculum. Steve Rice, who most re- chatted with parents of an incoming the project sponsors — the University cently served as director of market- ASMSA junior,” Rice said. of Arkansas at Little Rock, University ing and communications for The VenHe said ASMSA will bring a unique of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and ture Center, will lead the program. He perspective to the Tech Park as it be- the City of Little Rock.

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Promise Keeper

Helen Selig and her family continue to ring the bell for ASMSA 4

The importance of a good edu- convinced the city to make a big the idea to bring the school to Hot cation has never been lost to Helen commitment to the project to win the Springs, she was determined to be Selig, and throughout her life she has selection committee over. The city successful, Jackson said. worked hard to improve educational agreed to buy the building from the Helen Selig would later serve as opportunities for students of all kinds. hospital and committed to perform mayor of Hot Springs from 1994Selig is the granddaughter of a maintenance on it. She also began 2000 during the early years of the teacher, learning the lessons of educa- pursuing civic support for the project. school. In September 1994, a year tion early. Many other family members “She was knocking on doors and after the school opened and during also served as teachers and adminis- organizing groups. It had endorse- Selig’s first term as mayor, a deditrators. When she and her husband, ments from everyone in the area, cation ceremony was held on camJohn, moved to De Queen, Ark., in including some statewide organiza- pus to recognize the efforts of the 1969, she helped establish the town’s tions,” John Selig said. city and citizens to ensure promises Head Start program. She also served The city’s location in Central Ar- made during the site selection search on the board of the libraries of each kansas as well as its proximity to Hot were kept. Selig presented a bronze town she and John lived in, he said.

Springs National Park were advan- school bell to ASMSA as a symbol Once her family settled back in tages, Helen Selig said. of the community’s efforts to keep Hot Springs in 1985, she focused her When the committee announced the promises made to get the school attention on improving the commu- its selection of Hot Springs, Selig placed in Hot Springs. The bell now nity. When the opportunity to bring was overjoyed. “It lifted everybody’s stands in front of the Student Center. a statewide residential public high spirits. We knew then that we had the One of those students was the school to Hot Springs became a pos- support of the entire state of Arkan- Seligs’ granddaughter Lacy, who sibility in the early 1990s, community sas. It was wonderful,” Selig said. graduated from ASMSA in 2008. leaders organized to bring what was Hot Springs has Helen and John That gave the family an inside look at then the Arkansas School for Math- Selig to thank for ASMSA being in the how the school prepared its students ematics and Sciences to Hot Springs. town, said Eric Jackson, the former for college and beyond.

The Arkansas Gener“It was wonderful to al Assembly established ‘Quite frankly if not for Helen Selig, the school have the personal touch the school in 1991 withand know how it was out a home site picked would not be here.’ operating,” Helen Selig for the program. A site Eric Jackson, former general manager said. selection committee The Seligs continue of Oaklawn Racing and Gaming, speaking received more than 50 to support ASMSA and about the vital role Helen Selig played its mission. In January, applications from cities in bringing ASMSA to Hot Springs Helen Selig’s family esand towns across Arkansas hoping to serve tablished the Helen Selig as the host for the new school. Hot general manager of Oaklawn Gaming Promise Kept Endowment. John Selig Springs was eventually one of seven and Racing and another early sup- and other members of her family finalists considered for the site. porter of the school. made a $20,000 gift to ASMSA to esHot Springs supporters adopted “Quite frankly if not for Helen Selig, tablish the endowment in her honor. It the slogan “Clear As A Bell,” signifying the school would not be here,” Jack- was the single largest gift to establish that the city was the obvious choice to son said. “It was Helen who discov- an endowment in the school’s history. host ASMSA. In cooperation with the ered that the state was thinking about The gift was matched by one of the City of Hot Springs and the Garland developing a school for mathematics family members’ employer to initially County community, a plan to house and sciences and that a number of establish the endowment at $40,000. the school in the recently vacated St. communities would be competing to The endowment will provide an anJoseph Hospital was proposed. Among be home for that school. nual grant each fall to an ASMSA facthose leading the charge was Selig.

“It was Helen who singlehandedly ulty member to use for their classroom, “Hot Springs had many advantag- rallied this community to get in the a research project or for their departes it could offer,” Selig said. race and compete for the school. We ment. The awardee will be selected by Among them was a building that were almost a late entrant into the a committee comprised of members could easily house male and female competition. If it had not been for of the ASMSA administration. students in a safe environment. When Helen, we would have been asleep at “The Selig family is pleased to esthe hospital, now known as CHI St. the switch and we wouldn’t have tried tablish a permanent endowment in Vincent Hot Springs, built a new fa- to get the school.” recognition of Helen’s efforts to bring cility on the opposite end of town, “it Jackson said Helen Selig was the ASMSA to Hot Springs,” said John left a real void downtown,” said John first to connect the dots to use the Selig. “This gift will allow her vision Selig. “Business people wanted to see former hospital as the site for the pro- and enthusiasm for the school to be something in the building that could posed school. It would put the build- memorialized over time and provide also be an economic draw.” ing to good use and accomplish two financial support to help fund special Helen Selig and other volunteers things at once, he said. Once she had projects.”

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An agreement between ASMSA and the National Park Service three years ago led to the creation of the Research in the Park program. RiP students choose a research project related to Hot Springs National Park at the beginning of their junior year.

They target a variety of subjects that could serve as a resource for the park and allow students to get a head start on a possible Fundamentals in Research Methods project.

RiP-ping Good Time Research in the Park program provides students an opportunity to conduct original studies in Hot Springs National Park 6

One student discovered a new strain of E. coli that is able to live in the high temperatures of the hot springs.

Another studied the formation of the first layers of the Hot Springs National Park sandstone. A third is helping create a photo archive of the Hot Springs National Park’s insect collection that will be accessible on a website and is also involved in testing for an invasive insect species that could harm the park’s ash trees.

Those are just a few examples of the research conducted by ASMSA students as part of the Research in the Park (RiP) experience. The program encourages incoming juniors to select a research topic that could serve as a resource for the park and allow the students to get a head start on a possible Fundamentals in Research Methods project.

ASMSA and Hot Springs National Park reached an agreement three years ago that provides students an easier path to receive permits to conduct research in the park. Administrators at the park would also have the opportunity to suggest projects that would be beneficial to

the National Park Service.

ASMSA’s Dr. Lindsey Waddell (’99), a geoscience and chemistry instructor, and Dr. Jon Ruehle, a biology instructor, served as the mentors for what began as a seminar class that met once a week in place of FIRM 1.

The goal was to introduce juniors to research methods quickly enough that they could use their fall RiP project in the spring science fair competition.

Students could work in groups of two to three or on solo projects while Waddell, Ruehle and park rangers could provide guidance. Being involved in RiP wouldn’t preclude students from choosing a different subject for FIRM, however.

“We don’t want to get too far ahead because they may find something they love with a different adviser,” Waddell said. “But it allows projects to keep going. We’ve been able to hand some of those projects down to new

Park Service also has some equipment which ASMSA doesn’t have which play roles in the research conducted. Overall the program has been successful, Waddell said.

“I think the model has shown to be working for us as well as the park.

We’re getting students who are accomplishing projects their junior year,” she said. Some of the juniors continue their projects into their senior year while others take on new projects.

Ruehle said the agreement has made doing research that is vital to the park much easier. In past years, students would have research ideas that involved the park. Without an agreement between the school and Park Service in place, getting permits to conduct research in the park were hard to come by.

“It didn’t mean students didn’t do research that could have been beneficial to the park. It just meant they

project by Alanah Claybaugh (’17).

There was a question about what types of coliforms may be in the hot springs at the various water spouts available for the public.

Claybaugh collected water from several of the sources. Through her research, she discovered a form of E. coli that wasn’t known to exist in the water. Previous thought was that the temperature of the water, 61 degrees Celsius, was too high for coliforms such as E. coli to survive.

But here was evidence that a strain of E. coli that had adapted to live in the high temperatures of the springs.

When the water sample was cooled to body or room temperature, however, the E. coli did not survive.

“They were not fermenting or causing problems for people to get sick,” Claybaugh said. “It was almost 20 degrees Celsius higher than any reported case before. At first, I didn’t believe it. I received repetitive results

‘I loved when the tourists would come up and ask us what we were doing. It was interesting and an eye-opening experience into the world of scientific research. Now I can’t imagine my life without a lab in it.’

Alanah Claybaugh (‘17), on how participating in the Research in the Park program helped her develop a love for research and lab work

students and keep the research going.”

One of the projects many students participate in and then hand off to the next cohort is monitoring the hot spring boxes. Using RiP participants and other student volunteers, the National Park Service has been able to better monitor the springs. Students record the temperature, pH levels, iron content and other information of the springs. It creates a baseline record for the springs that the Park Service didn’t have before.

“That has been one of the benefits for the Park Service. Our students have been able to contribute to the long-term monitoring of the park,” Waddell said.

With the park’s proximity to the school, ASMSA’s students have the ability to conduct a larger number of beneficial projects than other outside research groups, Waddell said.

ASMSA has some lab resources which the Park Service does not. The

did their research on the outer border of the park, not within the park. The agreement helps streamline the process to get the permits to get them in the park sooner,” he said.

Another advantage for the National Park Service in the agreement is that they receive better data than they might otherwise gather, Ruehle said.

“Because our students go into a FIRM project doing hard science, they follow the scientific method and get real data and measure it in a scientific way for the park,” he said. “We’re not collecting weird, random things. (The students) can’t just muddle around in the park and have fun. They have to come up with something that brings something back to the park that may not have been there before.”

Groundbreaking research An example of what Ruehle is speaking about could be found in a

from different springs at different times on different days.”

Most strains of E. coli are not harmful to humans. There are forms of it that live within humans’ intestines that are specific to each individual. Then there are the kind that live in food at certain temperatures that make humans ill.

“You don’t want that kind,” Ruehle said, chuckling. “But here was a student who found a strain that could live at high temperatures. The highest reported before was 54 degrees Celsius, and it was genetically engineered. Ours reached 72 degrees before the incubator shorted out.

“That’s a world-class discovery.

These are kids who are coming up with stuff that is world-class information.”

Her discovery led to a sit-down meeting with some of the park’s administrators, Claybaugh said. They wanted to know if they should be concerned about her discovery. If 7

park visitors heard there was E. coli in the water, it could have detrimental effects.

“I answered their questions as best I could. They don’t want the public to freak out. They want this project to be continued next year. They’d like for me to come back,” Claybaugh said.

Claybaugh used simple culture methods that repeatedly confirmed her results, she said. She would collect the water from three fountains, running the water through a membrane foundation, or small filter paper. She would place a sample of the water in an auger and test it for coliform. Then she would do a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, test to determine the specific type of coliform.

The Park Service also sent samples of the water to the Department of Health and the U.S. Geological Service. They were unable to confirm Claybaugh’s results, but they did not use the same method as her, she said.

She doesn’t know if she’ll return to do further research, but she does plan to try to publish her research in a journal.

“I have enough data now that I could publish. It’s a matter of organizing it. It’s kind of a big deal so I don’t want to submit until it’s ready.

Dr. Ruehle is helping a lot,” she said.

A perk of discovering a new strain is that it isn’t named. She hopes she gets to name it in the future.

That future includes her majoring in biology as an undergraduate at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville followed by going to graduate school for microbiology. Eventually she’d like to work somewhere like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s not a future she could have imagined before coming to ASMSA, she said.

“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go STEM. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. When I first got here, I was trying to figure out a FIRM project and FIRM 1 (in which students would begin learning research methods) was about to start,” Claybaugh said.

She decided to go to the RiP meeting, which she met Jenifer McClain (’16), who was planning a project on testing whether rainwater changed the chemistry of the springs and led to contamination of the water. She 8

Alanah Claybaugh (‘17) discovered a new strain of E. coli in the water from the Hot Springs National Park springs. The coliform has adapted to live in the springs at a higher temperature than previously known. However, when the water cools to room temperature, the E. coli did not survive meaning it is not harmful for humans. helped McClain check the basic pH level of the water.

“I loved when the tourists would come up and ask us what we were doing. It was interesting and an eyeopening experience into the world of scientific research. Now I can’t imagine my life without a lab in it,” she said.

Tristan Tompkins (’17) had a different experience of sorts. He has

long held an interest in dinosaurs, fossils and minerals. He enjoys exploring caves and learning about different types of minerals and rocks and what “thousands and millions of years can do with the right combination of elements. I thought it was beautiful to be able to see within rocks and through fossils what life was like years ago.”

When he heard about Research

Tristan Tompkins (‘17) measures a section of an outcropping of the Hot Springs sandstone in the downtown area. His project revealed that the ocean once reached this section of Arkansas. Inset: Tompkins takes a closer look at a section of the outcropping that has broken off. in the Park, he thought it might be a foothold into his areas of interest — earth science, geology and paleontology. He was involved in RiP both of his years at ASMSA. Part of the first year was spent with an introduction to the park and the hot springs. While he was helping test the water, Tompkins would take time explaining the geology behind what they were testing.

“It was fun explaining to them the geology side of it,” Tompkins said of those he met in the Park Service.

“They have a point of understanding the geology but they are mostly focused on the hot springs.”

Tompkins naturally leaned toward a geology project for the program. He studied the outcrops of the Hot Springs sandstone located behind part of the row of businesses in the park district of downtown Hot Springs.

“I found an outcropping of the first layers of the Hot Springs sandstone.

It is the first rock formation after the Ouachita Mountains. What I found was a big jump from sediment that was animals and shells of animals in the ocean to new layers of sediment,” he said.

Tompkins would slice thin samples of rocks from the outcropping to classify what type of rock they were and their origin. He would create slides from the rock slices which he would send to the geology department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Between his discussions with the head of the UALR department and Waddell, he was able to push his project forward to greater extent.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do this project without her,” Tompkins said of Waddell. “There is such a steep learning curve that requires a whole different section of knowledge.

Having her and knowing these certain terms, she knew exactly what we need to turn to.”

The most surprising thing he

learned during his research was that the sandstone revealed information on the existence of an inland ocean basin.

“So the ocean level came up to there,” he said. “That the sea level was so high brings a different perspective. The possibility of that happening again and that with rising sea levels we could have a lot less land — it opened my eyes about the future and how we have been treating the Earth and how we need to do something about it or it’s not going to end well.”

Tompkins praised the program’s ability to get students into research mode more quickly than normal. It also provides unique opportunities to connect with instructors and park officials, leading to more in-depth projects.

“You establish such a connection beforehand that you are able to develop a relationship,” he said. “You learn a lot more than you would during a regular FIRM project, I think.

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You have a great amount of time to dive into your project and do what you want. Once you’re done with it, you’ll have this great experience that you don’t want to give up.”

Tompkins hard work and research led to some special recognition. He earned a trip to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair after winning sixth overall at the Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair.

John Ostermueller (’18) learned quickly how one project can lead to another. Ostermueller was part of a team that was collecting information on the types of beetles that populated the park. They were particularly on the lookout for the emerald ash borer, a species native to Asia that is considered invasive in North America and Europe. Females lay eggs in ash tree bark crevices, and the larvae feed underneath the bark until it emerges as an adult in one to two years.

Ostermueller’s group tested a group of ash trees on the park’s eastern edge for the insect. Their research showed it had not reached the park’s ash trees yet though a recent study by another group revealed the beetle can now be found in Garland County, home of the park and ASMSA. During the project, the group came up with 100 or so samples of beetles who make the park home. They began creating an index of their findings which could be compared with the park’s previous index.

The Park Service did have a record of beetles that were collected more than 50 years ago by a different researcher. Ostermueller decided to work with a park volunteer to create a photo archive of both indexes of beetles. What they discovered when they went to the Park Service’s archive to look at the previous collection surprised them.

“There was a collection of about 650 beetles in different conditions.

They were all collected by the same entomologist from 1960 to 1963.

They were pinned to a board with identification but they had not been photographed or digitized, so there was no way for the public to see them easily,” Ostermueller said.

They began taking photos of each beetle from 6 different perspectives.

Jim Sanderson, the adult volunteer, 10

Hot Springs National Park’s archives has a large collection of beetles, moths and other insects. John Ostermueller (‘18) is working with a park volunteer to photograph each insect individually and create a website for viewing the photos. had the camera equipment. Ostermueller would help with the photography, but he also began working on a website where the photos could be organized for public viewing.

The website will allow users to filter photos by whether they are new to the park, considered invasive or a longtime resident of the park. He and Sanderson decided to photograph the beetles by taxonomical family and by the most representative of what is found in the park.

He has enjoyed working on the indexing project, especially the photography side as they use a macro lens to get up-close photos of each beetle.

“The pictures we have are just incredible. Beetles are incredibly beautiful. Even after four or five months of working on the project, to have photos provide a totally different perspective. It is a very awe-inspiring moment when it comes into focus. I haven’t gotten tired of that,” he said.

The Park Service invite artists in residence to visit the park and create art pieces. Several visit the archives and have seen Sanderson and Ostermueller’s project. One used their photographs as inspiration for paintings and drawings, he said.

The duo made it through about

100 to 150 beetles by the end of the spring semester. Ostermueller said he is going to do a different FIRM project next year but he plans to continue volunteering at the park to work on the website project. He said there are many other insect drawers besides beetles to work on in the future as well.

Despite choosing to work on a different FIRM project for his senior year, Ostermueller said RiP has the benefit or fast-tracking students on how to do research.

“With junior FIRM, it seems like many students spend a semester and a half coming up with a subject and then spend their summer and senior year doing the research they need.

With RiP, you start on day one of the fall,” he said.

Beneficial for HSNP While ASMSA students are benefitting from the program by learning how to do research through interesting projects, National Park Service managers at Hot Springs National Park will tell you they get just as much worth—if not more—from the program.

Tom Hill is the park’s cultural resources manager and serves as the

museum curator, historian and librarian for the park. He said the students fill an important role for the park, essentially playing the role of park archaeologist. He points to projects such as Ostermueller’s as an example but says each project adds more knowledge about the park to the Park Service’s and public’s knowledge.

“Everything that comes out of the projects will come into our archives.

So that knowledge is there long term, not just for the immediate needs for a grade. It is a legacy for the park that can be recalled in the future,” he said.

He said that, as students do research throughout the park, they often act as park interpreters. Park visitors often stop and ask students what they are doing. As they explain their project, they are sharing knowledge about the park, he said. That harkens back to Claybaugh’s comments about enjoying her interactions with the public as she and McClain took water

park as well as providing an outlet for their creative juices.”

Todd praised the work of Waddell and Ruehle with the students involved in the program. They are easy to work with, and their dedication to the program shines through their involvement with the students.

“Dr. Waddell, her commitment is so far above I’m not able to capture it in words,” Todd said. “She is completely invested in making sure students are successful with projects and that it benefits the park.

“She spends a lot of hours coordinating for permits and schedules. She does a lot of stuff on her own time because she believes in it.

“Dr. Ruehle has a very large knowledge base, and he has some incredible research connections. He’s teaching us more about the bacteria found in the springs and taking images of things we didn’t have before. Having him as a resource is a great benefit.

bathhouses are central attractions of the park. Thus they often receive the most attention from visitors, researchers and the National Park Service itself, he said. Other park resources may be ignored in some respects, he said.

“Natural resource management has, in many respects, been a stepchild,” he said. “After the bathhouses started to close and deteriorate, the park mission became to save bathhouse row. In so doing, we kind of let natural resources fend for themselves. We lost opportunities to develop an understanding of our resources.”

He said studies of the park’s resources were left behind even as technological advancements were made.

“As science and technology advanced from the 1970s to now, there has been very little research in the park. And as the climate has changed,

‘It’s refreshing to talk with students. They’ve got a different perspective on the park. To hear what they’re seeing and thinking ­— it’s nice to have that fresh perspective. When you work with an agency, you tend to have the agency perspective.’

Mike Kusch, former chief of resource management and visitor services at Hot Springs National Park, speaking about the benefits of the Research in the Park program

samples from the fountains.

Hot Springs National Park also schedules a session each year during National Park Week to allow a number of students to present their projects in a public forum. It provides a public benefit in addition to an academic one.

Shelley Todd, the park’s natural resource program manager, said that is an important aspect of the program.

“One of the things ASMSA has done correctly is that all the research is conducted as a benefit for the public.

Their work is recorded for the future benefit of the public,” she said.

The relationship between the park and the school allows for creativity for different project ideas, she said.

The park has some input in the type of projects approved to make sure it is a benefit to the park and not just some wild idea.

“It’s a good marriage,” Todd said.

“That’s why it works. It benefits the

It’s not a one-way street. The park benefits as much as the school does.”

Mike Kusch is the former chief of resource management and visitor services for Hot Springs National Park, recently retiring in order to go on a three-year assignment for the Peace Corps. He was one of the central park figures to suggest an agreement between the park and ASMSA. He was very supportive of adopting an agreement that would simplify the permitting process for the school.

“We already had students doing research in the park but no formal agreement. That meant every time they did research they had to go through an application process. We were looking for a way through to an agreement that would share resources. They would still have to get permits, but it made it quicker,” he said.

Kusch has enjoyed seeing the variety of topics the students chose for their projects. The hot springs and

whether it’s a natural phenomenon or man-caused, we don’t know how our resources are being affected,” he said.

The park system, and federal agencies as a whole, has the disadvantage of being understaffed, Kusch said. There aren’t enough people to meet all of the needs of visitors and handle research as well. He said it will be interesting over the next few years to see what happens fiscally with the federal government.

That’s where agreements such as the one with ASMSA is advantageous for the Park Service. It provides new insights to the park and agency as a whole, he said.

“It’s refreshing to talk with students. They’ve got a different perspective on the park. To hear what they’re seeing and thinking — it’s nice to have that fresh perspective. When you work with an agency, you tend to have the agency perspective,” he said.

The interaction with the park the 11

The National Park Service announced in April that ASMSA won the national George and Helen Hartzog Award for Outstanding Youth Volunteer Service Group. About 30 students were recognized for their efforts in the Research in the Park program and service as volunteers for Hot Springs National Park. ASMSA students volunteered 1,133 hours of service time during 2016. students have now will pay dividends for the Park Service later.

“It creates a generation of people who care about the parks and this park in particular,” Todd said.

“They are our advocates for the future,” Hill said. “Hopefully they continue to create advocacy for the parks.

It’s not going to happen in a vacuum.”

Kusch said the program has exceeded the expectations he had three years ago when he first visited with Director Corey Alderdice about the program. He said he expected to have to give a hard sell on why the partnership was a good thing for both parties.

Instead he found a willing participant who thought it was an outstanding idea as well.

“Without a doubt, to see the success this partnership has had since a simple one-hour meeting three years ago when I thought we were going to have to arm wrestle and convince him to say yes is pleasing. It has been successful largely because of the support it’s getting from everybody,” Kusch said.

For Alderdice, the value of the partnership was obvious.

“In many respects, I was more surprised a formal partnership like this wasn’t already in place,” Alderdice said. “ASMSA’s peers have always found ways to play to their strengths and leverage resources in their home communities that add value to the program and curriculum. Several of our peers are on or adjacent to col12

lege campuses. No one else has a National Park in their backyard.”

National recognition Kusch said he was always excited about sharing the program with other professionals. During a recent call that involved various organizations, including the University of Missouri, he shared stories on some of the research that was being conducted.

“The people from the University of Missouri were amazed. They were surprised there were high school students using electron microscopes.

They were thinking it was amazing, and we have it right here in Hot Springs,” Kusch said.

That same type of surprise was registered by a member of committee for the national George and Helen Hartzog Award for Outstanding Youth Volunteer Service Group, Kusch said.

The award recognizes significant contributions from various groups of volunteers each year. Awardees are nominated by National Park Service employees for a regional competition.

Regional winners advance to the national competition.

“She and I go way back, and her response was ‘Wow, I can’t believe you have this going on in the park.’

She said she had no doubt we’d win the national award, but she wanted to know why we didn’t submit it a year earlier,” Kusch said. He said she was

interested in finding opportunities to replicate the program at other national parks.

The award recognized the efforts of not only the students who participated in RiP but also other students who served strictly as volunteers on their own in some capacity. About 30 students combined did service work for the park. The students also received the Midwest Regional Hartzog Award, which made them eligible for consideration of the national award. That totaled about 1,133 hours of service time for fiscal year 2016, Todd said.

Waddell said the partnership, both research and volunteer wise, is a natural fit for both parties. She has been very pleased that students not involved in the program have volunteered at the park as well.

“I am very proud that student interest in Hot Springs National Park has far exceeded the capacity of the Research in the Park program, necessitating the addition of a second pathway for ASMSA seniors to volunteer this year,” Waddell said at the time the national award was announced. “Selection for the Hartzog Award is clear validation of our students’ collective and sustained efforts, as well as the tireless mentoring and logistical support contributed by ASMSA biology instructor Dr. Jon Ruehle and Hot Springs National Park staff members Michael Kusch, Shelley Todd, Tom See RiP, Page 32

Coders soar in Governor’s inaugural challenge ASMSA teams took the top two spots at the first Governor’s All-State Coding Competition.

The team of Jackson Gregory (’17), Carson Cato (’17) and Brandon Cox (’17) won first place in the competition held May 4 at the EAST Initiative in Little Rock. Each team member earned a $2,000 scholarship.

Martin Boerwinkle (’17), Brock Davis (’17) and Joe Sartini (’17) teamed together to win second place in the competition. Each member of the second-place team received a $1,000 scholarship.

ASMSA will also receive a $20,000 award to be used for technology for producing the winning team.

Sixteen teams from across Arkansas competed in the final. The three-hour competition consisted of a set of five programming questions. The programming challenges were similar to what team members experienced in other competitions.

“The students have been practicing for this competition for the last two years,” said Nick Seward, the teams’ adviser and a computer science instructor at ASMSA. “I am sure they have logged thousands of hours coding, programming and problem solving.”

Members of the winning team said they felt very good about their approach to the five challenges. Each problem had an individual point value — 5, 10, 15 and two 30-point questions. While normally teams may begin with the easier challenge, the winning team worked the problems in reverse.

One of the 30-point challenges required a program to find prime numbers out of a given set. It was similar to an assignment the students had in a computer science class at ASMSA. Using the code they were already familiar with, they were able to quickly move on to the next challenge, providing their team an advantage.

Team members also figured out a good team rotation, they said. The team had only one computer on which to work. That meant one person would be on the computer writing code while the other two worked on solving a different problem.

“Someone could be coding the solution on the computer while two others worked out an idea and algorithm on

paper,” Cato said By dividing and rotating the tasks, it resulted in the team finishing tasks more quickly. It also led them to score 64 out of a possible 90 points for the competition, team members said. It was almost double the score of the second place team.

Each team member said the number of computer science courses available at ASMSA naturally gave them an edge over many of the other teams where computer science options may be limited. They had each been exposed to the skills required in the challenges through their coursework, Cox said.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson praised the overall performance of the students in the competition.

“I am proud of our computer science students, teachers and all those who made this event a success and continue to strive to make Arkansas a national leader in computer science education,” Hutchinson said.

Besides the ASMSA teams, four other schools participating in the state finals were connected to ASMSA. The Manila, Nevada and Eureka Springs school districts participated in ASMSA’s Coding Arkansas’ Future initiative.

Faculty members and students from each of those school were members of a cohort in ASMSA’s Essentials of Computer Programming Plus course.

Pam Beach, the coach for the Paragould team, participated in a summer workshop led by ASMSA computer science specialist Daniel Moix. Upon learning that she would be leading a team to compete in the Governor’s Coding Challenge, he offered to help the team.

“I am very grateful for Daniel Moix’s assistance and leadership,” Beach said. “In his summer session, he simultaneously prepared me for the practice of teaching computer science and for the certification exam. He remained available throughout the school year as needed, and he reached out to me with an offer of assistance as soon as he learned that my students would be participating in the first Governor’s Coding Challenge. The teachers and children of Arkansas are lucky to have a resource like ASMSA and its expert teachers.”

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Liz Miller displays the app she created as an example of how to turn information from a primary source into an informative piece for the public. Miller and students in a U.S. history class learned how to use an app creator to present an easy-to-access source of knowledge for users.

‘Raw Materials of History’ Program provides access to a variety of primary sources to encourage development of innovative lessons

Learning to work with primary sources is an essential skill when conducting research. They provide first-hand knowledge of a subject directly from the source. The Library of Congress calls them “the raw materials of history” on its website.

So when Liz Miller, ASMSA’s head librarian, was encouraged to apply for the Arkansas Declaration of Learning Program, which provides teachers, librarians and students access to extraordinary primary sources, she thought it would lead to an interesting experience.

The Arkansas Declaration of 14

Learning program, accessible through the Arkansas Department of Education, provides access to primary sources from organizations such as the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Reception Rooms in partnership with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Arkansas is the first state to participate in the national program.

Miller was selected to participate in the second cohort of teachers and librarians who work with sevenththrough 12th-grade students in the

fields of art, English language arts and social studies. They are provided access to historic art and objects from national and state partners to develop innovative lessons for the classrooms and school libraries.

The teachers and librarians develop a curriculum using the primary sources. Those lessons are then collected at the end of the year in order to be shared with other program participants in the future.

The objects and art selected for the program tell national- and statebased stories to illustrate how the United States valued civic engage-

ment early on and the importance of its continued focus today, according to the ADE website.

Miller said one advantage of the program is that it allows students to learn that primary sources are not one type of object. They gained access to the sources through digital means, which is convenient considering students would not be able to physically travel to the sources, which are located around the country in some instances.

“They start to see primary resources come in all kinds of shapes and sizes,” Miller said. “The sooner we can get them using them and see why they are important the better. Now that libraries are developing digital collections, it makes them easier to use.”

Miller took two different approaches to developing curriculum for the year-long program. During the fall semester, she worked with art instructor Brad Wreyford to develop a lesson for the Regional Art Survey course. Focusing primarily on various civil rights and activist movements, students were encouraged to use images to develop a collage that spoke about an issue important to them using primary sources.

“I wanted them to pick something that spoke to them. We used images that stood as activism statements, something that agitates and motivates positive change,” she said.

In the spring semester, Miller worked with history instructor Dr. Neil Oatsvall to create an interdisciplinary lesson in his U.S. History course. Using objects and art that had significant meaning for U.S. history, students developed an app that would provide information on the object or art of their choice from the available options.

During the planning stage of the lesson, Miller sought advice from ASMSA computer science education specialist Daniel Moix for suggestions on how she could connect history and technology. She chose to us Code.org’s App Lab, a programming environment that encourages users to develop an app through a dropand-drag coding block system.

She worked with Oatsvall’s students to introduce them to the pri-

Miller’s sample app focused on the Treaty of Paris Desk on which the treaty ending the Revolutionary War and securing independence of the colonies from Great Britain was signed. mary sources, in this case pieces of art, which they would have access.

The students were broken into teams which selected three art pieces to work with, developing an interpretative essay on what made the sources important parts of U.S. history and how they could be related to the same subject — citizenship in this case.

Students then selected one source to develop an informational app to share with the public. It would require the students to take the scholarly information on the source and translate it into something an everyday user could digest in a quick and easy form.

It also required the students to develop coding skills. App Lab provides various templates that still gave students enough freedom to be creative.

“Usually a model of assessment in a history class is a test and a paper.

This was a totally different platform.

It was building technical skills in conjunction with learning to work in a collaborative group,” Miller said.

Oatsvall said the lesson ultimately was the type of project teachers are always striving to include in their courses.

“The project is everything that teachers these days want to do,” Oatsvall said. “It was interdisciplinary, especially combining humanities and arts with technology. But more than that, the focus on citizenship forced students to think broadly about not

only the place of art in society but by extension their own places in society. It’s not easy to achieve that sort of synthetic learning, but this project did it.”

Using the App Lab allowed the students to publish their work for the public. For Miller, that was another important aspect of the project.

“What’s the point of doing something if it’s in a silo and if you can’t share it?” she said.

Oatsvall said many of the students were wary at first of the coding aspect but they quickly realized they could do it.

“A history course made them realize that they could be coders,” he said.

“I definitely do feel more confident working in coding,” said Bushra Sardar (’18). “Not only coding, but analyzing art as well. It’s kind of that humanities and STEM field combined to make this really cool project.”

Other students said the project helped them to think more about what the artist was trying to say through the artwork rather than just looking at the picture portrayed in the piece.

“I feel like I have a deeper appreciation for the history behind art,” said Ryan Faught (’17). “More often than not when I saw art before, I saw it as an expression of the artist and not really as an expression of the time it was created.”

“I never knew you could look deeply into art and analyze it,” said Minejong Seok (’18). “When we were analyzing it, we were sort of in the footsteps of the artist who created it. We had to realize what they were talking about instead of analyzing what we think.”

Requiring the students to work as a team paid dividends as well, Oatsvall said.

“I think they liked the idea of group work after they had done it,” he said.

“Most of our students dislike group work because they’ve always been the smartest or hardest working group member. But at ASMSA they realize that they have a whole group full of intelligent and industrious students.

They eventually learned that group work can be useful and worthwhile.”

Oatsvall and Miller said they plan to include the project in the U.S. history class again next year.

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Building on Success Oaklawn Foundation grant for Creativity and Innovation Complex is largest single gift in school history; Fredinburg family continues its support for Technology Center 16

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts announced a $300,000 grant from the Oaklawn Foundation during a ceremony on Dec. 6 at the school’s Administration Building.

The grant is the largest single gift in the school’s history. It will be dedicated to the construction of the $4.5 million Creativity and Innovation Complex, the first new academic building to be built on campus since the school opened in 1993. It will provide classroom and work space for computer science and digital arts courses as well as an assembly space for the school.

The CIC will be the second new building on the school’s campus since it opened. The Student Center opened in August 2012.

It serves as the primary residence for students. It also includes the cafeteria and library.

The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees selected Harris Architects of Hot Springs to serve as the design professional for the building. Work on the 20,000-square-foot complex is expected to start this year with the building opening in early 2019.

The Oaklawn Foundation receives funding each year from Oaklawn Racing and Gaming in Hot Springs. The foundation uses the money to fund programs and scholarships that benefit Gar-

Above: The Oaklawn Foundation Community Center will provide an assembly space on campus that will hold the entire school population. It will be the first time such a space will be available on campus. It will sit roughly 400 people with chairs and just over 300 with tables, allowing the school to have the flexibility to host various events. Left: An architect’s rendering of the Creativity and Innovation Complex, which will be the first new academic building constructed in the school’s history. It will sit adjacent to Whittington Avenue in space that now serves as a parking lot for the Administration Building. land County students and senior citizens. Previous projects supported by the Oaklawn Foundation include the Oaklawn Foundation Scholarships for Garland County students and the Oaklawn Center on Aging in cooperation with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.

Members of the Oaklawn Foundation board said the grant for the CIC project was a good opportunity to support the future education of talented and motivated students in Garland County and throughout the state.

“The board understands the mission and the goals of this school; they agree with it,” said Larry Stephens, a member of the Oaklawn Foundation board. “They see that it has not only succeeded [meeting its goals] but exceeded its goals.

“We felt like the future of this school is now. We felt like we wanted to be a part of the future, and we think what you’re doing is the future.”

Stephens and fellow board members Kermit Tucker and Dennis Smith are members of the foundation’s long range planning committee. Smith, who also serves as vice chairman

of the Oaklawn Foundation, said the board wanted to put the foundation’s funds back into the community.

“We decided we wanted to support the larger, most important nonprofits in the county through substantial grants from us,” Smith said.

Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs received a previous grant.

“The next few years we plan to continue with our grant program. We’re just happy that [ASMSA] could be a recipient.”

“ASMSA’s community of learning is humbled to receive this exceedingly generous gift from the Oaklawn Foundation,” said ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice. “The foundation’s work has been transformational in the lives of many Garland County citizens. Their support sets the stage not only for the continued evolution of ASMSA’s campus but also is another step in the revitalization of downtown Hot Springs.”

Tucker added that ASMSA’s dedication to the growth of its education efforts strategically matches the Oaklawn Foundation’s long-term investment in education.

The Oaklawn Foundation grant is

the latest of several gifts and grants to support the construction of the CIC. The Dan Fredinburg Foundation made a $50,000 gift in the name of Dan Fredinburg, a 1999 ASMSA alumnus. Fredinburg was the head of privacy for Google X, the research and development facility for Google, at the time of his death in April 2015.

The Fredinburg Foundation’s $50,000 gift was announced at the Community of Learning Luncheon in April 2016. Inspired by the Fredinburg Foundation’s gift, more than $100,000 has been raised toward the complex through a series of gifts from Fredinburg’s friends and family as well as friends of the school.

The Fredinburg family announced an additional $25,000 gift at this year’s Community of Learning Luncheon, held April 28. Paul and Cathy Fredinburg, Dan’s parents, announced the gift. The Fredinburgs made the gift during ArkansasGives, a project of the Arkansas Community Foundation that promotes smart giving to improve communities, on April 7, 2017.

ASMSA also received a $500,000 See CIC, Page 19 17

Jackson: Future success will require resolve, resources The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts is a success story for Hot Springs as well as Arkansas, but the state and community must be ready to help it expand for it to continue to succeed, said Eric Jackson, the former general manager for Oaklawn Racing and Gaming.

Jackson was the keynote speaker during the school’s annual Community of Learning Luncheon held April 28 at the Arlington Resort Hotel and Spa. He called ASMSA “one of the great Arkansas success stories of the last 25 years,” becoming a leader in American education.

To give the audience perspective on the importance of a school such as ASMSA, Jackson described a giant retail store. Whatever items the store sells, it includes at least one item by every manufacturer of that product.

On a particular shelf are 50 boxes made by 50 different manufacturers.

They are lined up from the best quality and most expensive on one end down to the least expensive and lowest quality on the other end.

In this case, the product is the end result of what’s produced by public education systems in each state, Jackson said. “Up here on this shelf, where do you see the box that says ‘Arkansas Education?’” he asked the audience.

“More toward the end up there or more toward that end down there? And second question, which I think is more important, where would you like to see the box that says Arkansas?”

In the past, Arkansas has compared poorly to other states in many statistical categories, including education.

“Thank God for Mississippi, we’d say.

We’d almost make a joke out of it, as if it were funny. But we would see over time it wasn’t funny at all,” he said.

Slowly over the years the state has seen improvement in many qualityof-life categories, including education. The best illustration of that progress—“the best example of what we as a state are capable of accomplishing 18

Eric Jackson, the former general manager of Oaklawn Racing and Gaming, was the keynote speaker at the 2017 Community of Learning luncheon.

He said ASMSA is a point of pride for the state of Arkansas. when we put our minds to it—is the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts,” Jackson said.

“Little more than a pipe dream roughly a quarter of a century ago, this school has vaulted to the top echelon of all secondary schools in America,” Jackson said. “In fact, if up here on this shelf you lined up all 40,000 high schools in America side by side based on quality and reputation, ASMSA would be way up on that end. Way, way up on that end. So far up on that end you would have to walk past 39,900 others to get to the small, elite group that includes ASMSA.” ASMSA ranked No. 10 in the nation in The Daily Beast’s 2014 survey of “America’s Top High Schools.” Since then the school has been ranked among the Top 25 schools nationally by Newsweek and The Washington Post.

Jackson said he didn’t fully appreciate how the school had grown until he spoke at ASMSA’s commencement ceremony in May 2015. As he

watched the students walk across the stage, hearing the numerous towns from which they came to ASMSA and the places from which they earned millions of dollars of scholarships, he realized how special the school is.

“In fact, I don’t know how you could be prouder of an Arkansas moment,” he said.

That moment also led him to begin to wonder about the future of the school. The population of Arkansas has grown by 30 percent since the school was created 25 years ago, and over the next 25 years, the U.S. Census Bureau says it will grow by another 20 percent, Jackson said. That means ASMSA will need to grow its capacity for additional students.

“So if future Arkansas students are to have the same statistical opportunity to attend this school as students did 25 years ago, ASMSA will have to keep pace,” Jackson said. “So many possibilities. So many opportunities.

But they are all going to require the same two things that were needed 25 years ago. They will require resolve and resources.

“I think we’ve demonstrated as a state that we have the resolve when we want to. But it also takes resources, both public and private.”

He pointed to recent gifts from the Helen Selig family and Oaklawn Foundation as examples. The Selig family established a $40,000 endowment to support faculty members.

The Oaklawn Foundation pledged a $300,000 grant to be used for the construction of the $4.5 million Creativity and Innovation Complex, the first new academic building to be built on campus since the school opened in 1993. The grant was the largest single gift in the school’s history.

Jackson said it was examples such as those that should inspire the community and the state to have the resolve to provide the needed resources today.

“I would say to you, if you are proud of what has been accomplished

and would like to be part of one of the great Arkansas success stories of the last 25 years, you can help too.

Whether you can help a lot or a little, the important thing is simply to demonstrate your support so that ASMSA can continue to fulfill its promise to Arkansas and continue to be a leader in American education.”

Continued Fredinburg support The 2016 Community of Learning Luncheon honored Dan Fredinburg, a member of the Class of 1999. Fredinburg was serving as an executive at Google when he was killed in an avalanche on Mount Everest in April 2015.

Fredinburg’s sisters announced a $50,000 gift for the Creativity and

Innovation Complex from the Fredinburg Foundation, established after his death, at last year’s luncheon.

Paul and Cathy Fredinburg, Dan’s parents, announced an additional $25,000 gift to ASMSA during the luncheon. The Fredinburgs made the gift during ArkansasGives, a project of the Arkansas Community Foundation that promotes smart giving to improve communities, on April 7.

The first floor of the CIC will be named the Dan Fredinburg Technology Center. It will house the Fredinburg Innovation Lab, which will include a maker space and computer science laboratory.

Paul Fredinburg said Dan thrived academically with the school’s higher expectations. “He loved the challenge

of being with the brightest students and being taught by the best faculty in the state,” he said.

Dan was accepted into the University of California, Irvine, one of the top computer science schools in the country, upon graduating from ASMSA, Fredinburg said.

Dan would go on to earn a master’s degree in intelligent robotics from the University of Southern California and worked for Boeing before later becoming an executive at Google. At the time of his death, he had filed 52 patent applications for his work.

“Dan was a late bloomer, and none of this could have ever occurred without the educational foundation provided by ASMSA,” Paul Fredinburg said.

Members of the Oaklawn Foundation Board of Directors presented a plaque acknowleding the foundation’s $300,000 grant for the Creativity and Innovation Complex to ASMSA in December. Pictured from the left are Charleen Copeland, ASMSA Board of Ambassadors and the Oaklawn Foundation; Larry Stephens, Oaklawn Foundation; Helen Harris, Oaklawn Foundation; Kermit Tucker, Oaklawn Foundation; Dennis Smith, chairman of the Oaklawn Foundation Board of Directors; ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice; Dr. Donald Bobbitt, president of the University of Arkansas System; Vicki Hinz, ASMSA director of institutional advancement; and Steve Faris, ASMSA Board of Visitors.

CIC

Continued from Page 17

General Improvement Fund grant from Gov. Asa Hucthinson 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 construction of the building.

ASMSA joined the University of Arkansas System in 2004. Dr. Donald Bobbitt, president of the UA System, attended the announcement ceremony. He said the support for the CIC building is an indication of ASMSA’s growth and success in its mission.

“I think the school’s reputation is what’s driving the interest across the state,” Bobbitt said. “When people are contemplating what to do with their educational career and they see the success ASMSA graduates have had, how well-rounded they are, whether they continue their studies in the state of Arkansas or go out of state, I think that sends a very powerful message. This is a serious place with serious intellectual and cultural pursuits.”

Bobbitt applauded the efforts of Alderdice and the school’s management team “to do some very significant things for the future of ASMSA” while creatively using funds available while not putting the school in any form of financial distress in the future.

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Farewell, D.C.

Bill Currier retiring after decade as Dean of Students By the time Bill Currier became dean of students at ASMSA in July 2007, he had served as a student affairs administrator of various levels for almost 25 years at several institutions of higher learning across the country.

Institutions Currier has worked at include Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, The Culinary Institute of America, Western New Mexico University and Penn State University. One thing in common among each of those institutions was the need for a strict disciplinary system — some more so than others. He approached discipline in the same manner when he first started at ASMSA. He soon learned that he would have to change his approach.

During his first year at ASMSA, a female student was required to visit his office because an incident report had been filed after she had to receive stitches for an injury she sustained playing ultimate Frisbee on Charter Field, where the Student Center now stands.

She thought she was in trouble, and Currier initially thought she had been written up, but once they discussed the incident, he said, no further action was needed. That made him take notice of the student, however.

Currier said the student seemed to be an introvert, often sitting at a table by herself.

While she may have seemed quiet and introverted, Currier learned his impression of her was not fully informed.

One day in the spring, Currier went to watch a couple of the male students play baseball on the Hot Springs team. While there, he heard there were a couple of female

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students on the softball team, as well, so he decided to attend one of their games.

The pitcher on the mound that day was the female student who had received stitches. She also batted cleanup for the softball team, but she never talked about her softball accomplishments. She attended a research trip to Colorado for a class. When a local merchant asked Currier to help him find a tutor for his daughter, he decided to see if the female student with the highest grade point average in the school would be interested. It was the same female student.

“I knew at that point I had to step up my game. With that kind of accomplishment and modesty you realize you have to be at your best, too,” Currier said.

He found that ASMSA students, who often call him D.C. short for Dean Currier, held a different respect for himself as dean and the residential mentors. The students viewed them as adults and not peers. Currier said he probably started out a little too rigid and had to adjust accordingly.

Now 10 years later and as he ends his tenure at ASMSA upon retirement July 1, Currier said that student attitude is still prevalent among the students at the school. His interactions with the students over the last decade taught him new lessons in how to deal with situations.

“I think I trusted students more here than ever trusted before, and I think it’s well founded,” Currier said. “I start out trusting them, and then if something goes wrong, I take a different approach. But 19 times out of 20 I don’t have to do that. They have character.”

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Bob Gregory, left, dean of academic affairs, and Director Corey Alderdice, right, present Bill Currier with items of appreciation during the 2017 Honors Convocation in May. Currier is retiring July 1 after serving 10 years as dean of students at ASMSA. Having a supportive faculty and administration also played an important role whatever success he had at ASMSA, Currier said. He was hired by then-director Dr. Janet Hugo and worked closely with her and Melanie Nichols, the dean of academic affairs at the time. He found a group that learned how to work collaboratively and could agree to disagree on matters, he said. That carried through to the current administration of Director Corey Alderdice and current Dean of Academic Affairs Bob Gregory.

At the 2017 ASMSA Honors Convocation this spring, Currier was recognized for his work with ASMSA by Gregory. During the ceremony, Gregory said Currier served as a guide around campus for him and his son Jackson, a member of the Class of 2017, in summer 2011 before he started as a mathematics instructor.

“He was as kind as he could be,” Gregory said. “It made me know that this was going to be a place I could be, that I could thrive and I could aspire for my son to come to. He has represented throughout as I changed from a math teacher to a dean who had to make some hard decisions and some hard choices. He has turned into a great friend and an ally.”

That description fits in with the work example Currier tries to display — servant leadership. He said he believes that a leader must be a role model and do the work that they expect others to do as well. That’s true whether you’re serving as the chief of discipline or moving mattresses between rooms when needed, he said.

“You have to be willing to do the work if you’re asking other people to do the work. I think when you have people who have integrity it’s very successful because they buy into it and they’re a team rather than a staff,” he said.

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When he took the job at ASMSA, he was actively seeking his “last job,” Currier said. He was finishing up four years at the Culinary Institute. Hot Springs and ASMSA were interesting because it was a small town and small school, both things he liked. Hot Springs National Park, where he could hike, was also attractive.

He decided now was the time to retire because he wanted to be healthy enough to enjoy retirement, he said.

At 63, “I’m not getting any thinner,” Currier said. Once he officially retires July 1, he will be moving back to a familiar place — Silver City, N.M. He still has friends in the community from his previous stint there, and he would like to pursue some graduate history courses in his free time.

In the past several years when someone who had served at ASMSA for a long period of time retired, they would receive a special gift from Currier. When he wasn’t in the Student Center, you could often find Currier in the woodshop crafting speaker cabinets with ebony or his favorites padauk or ash. Retirees would often be gifted a set of crafted speakers from Currier as a going-away gift.

He started building speakers while playing in a band in high school. While working for an electronics company, he had a friend who was a good woodworker who built speaker cabinets. He taught Currier how to build nice cabinets and pair them with the right speakers. It’s a hobby he has enjoyed ever since.

While he won’t be gifting himself a pair of speakers, that doesn’t mean someone won’t receive a set of speakers upon his retirement if he gets all of the work done, Currier said.

“There’s a few people I’d like to give some to,” he said.

5 earn recognition at Intel ISEF

Five ASMSA students earned recognition at the recent Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

Two students were recognized as Grand Award winners at the competition held by the Society for Science and the Public in partnership with the Intel Foundation in Los Angeles from May 15-19. Grand Awards recognize the top competitors in individual categories. The awards were announced May 19.

Martin Boerwinkle (’17) earned a Third Award and $1,000 prize in the Systems Software category. His project “Variable Density Cubic Infill for Fused Filament Fabrication” focused on writing software that provided a more efficient way for 3D printers to use filament to produce items, particularly if they have curves.

Krishna Patel (’17) earned a Fourth Award and $500 prize in the Earth and Environmental Sciences category. Her project was titled “Groundwater Quality of the Aquifers Underlying the Mississippi Embayment and the Gulf Coastal Plain.”

Four students earned Special Awards at the competition. Special Awards are sponsored by various organizations in a wide variety of disciplines. Awards may include cash prizes, scholarships, internships and scientific explorations. The awards were announced May 18.

Liam Johnson (’17) was one of eight students awarded $3,000 in United Technologies Corp. common stock for projects showing excellence in science and engineering. Johnson’s project focused on designing a scalable 3D printer with a novel elevation system.

Boerwinkle won a Fourth Award and $200 prize for his project from the Association for Computing Machinery, the premier membership organization for computing professionals.

Carson Cato (’17) received an honorable mention in mathematics from the National Security Agency Research Directorate.

Joe Sartini (’17) received an honorable mention award from the Acoustical Society of America for his project,

Eight students qualified to compete at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, tying a school record. Qualifiers were, from left, Taylor Mosely (‘17), Martin Boerwinkle (‘17), Rebecca Parham (‘17), Joe Sartini (‘17), Liam Johnson (‘17), Krishna Patel (‘17), Carson Cato (‘17) and Tristan Tompkins (‘17).

“Real-Time Sound Localization Using a Microphone Array.” The Acoustical Society of America is the premier international scientific society in acoustics.

The five students who earned awards were among a group of eight seniors ASMSA sent to ISEF this year.

Boerwinkle, Patel and Cato earned a trip to the competition at the West Central Regional Science Fair held in February at ASMSA. Johnson, Sartini, Rebecca Parham (’17), Tristan Tompkins (’17) and Taylor Mosely (’17) earned trips to the competition by winning five of the top six prizes in the Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair held in April.

The eight qualifiers tied a school record for the most ISEF competitors in one year.

ASMSA won first place overall for the fifth consecutive year at the Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair held in April. ASMSA students earned 26 individual awards in the State Science and Engineering Fair categories. ASMSA swept the awards for the Computer Science category.

Dr. Brian Monson, director of the West Central Regional Science Fair and chair of ASMSA’s Science De-

partment, said having five students receive some type of award at ISEF was a major achievement.

“Typically only 25 percent of ISEF finalists receive an award,” Monson said. “ASMSA students did much better than this average indicating the strength of our student research program.”

The students each said they were surprised to learn they had won an award. Having the opportunity to see the quality of projects on display from around the world was impressive and informative.

“Making new friends and meeting entrants from other countries was my favorite part,” Boerwinkle said. “Seeing international students’ projects was really interesting because it shows the subtleties of the spirit of science in different places.”

Patel said she enjoyed the judging process because it gave her an opportunity to really speak about her project with others who were interested in similar topics.

“Getting the right questions asked is the best part because you can truly let the judges know how much you’re into your project and really connect with them,” she said.

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Seniors win Thea scholarships One project took months to plan and was inspired by role playing games while another focused on inner reflection but was produced quickly as a deadline approached. The results were similar, however — scholarships from the Thea Foundation.

Amanda Lee (’17) won first place and a $4,000 scholarship in the Thea Foundation Fashion Design Scholarship Competition while Noah Balushi (’17) placed 10th for a $2,000 scholarship in the Visual Arts Scholarship Competition.

Lee was required to design and create a piece of fashion wear made of at least 75 percent recycled material. She didn’t want it to look recycled, however. She didn’t want it to be made out of trash bags or paper or recycled clothing.

“A lot went into my piece to make it look not recycled,” Lee said. “I wanted it to be a piece people would see and say I’d like to see that. I wanted something unique in itself but wearable.”

She decided to use something she is passionate about, role playing games, also known as RPGs, for inspiration.

RPGs are often played within an imagined world online. Players create characters with different attributes, skills, tools and weapons to participate in individual and group adventures.

“I liked within the game you could be female or male or not even human,” she said. “Regardless of gender you perform whatever task you’re given by the king.”

She looked online for inspiration, studying creation mods on RPGs where players are allowed to create their own clothing, including sites that showed samples of clothing inspired by the games. She also turned to her favorite RPG, “Skyrim,” for inspiration.

Starting in early December 2016, she decided to pick her model first. It was an important step for her design because she wanted the piece to fit the model well.

“I picked the model first because if she is going to be wearing it it has to fit her or the piece wouldn’t be as amazing as it could be,” Lee said.

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Noah Balushi (‘17) and Amanda Lee (‘17) won scholarships in this spring’s Thea Foundation Scholarship Competition. Balushi won 10th place and a $2,000 scholarship in visual arts while Lee won first place and a $4,000 scholarship in the recycled fashion category.

Lee decided to create a piece that resembled armor. She didn’t want it to be big and bulky as if it were built for a male warrior. She wanted it to make it more slender and feathery, giving it a feminine tone. She settled on using soda cans for the scales and notebook wire for the back.

She ran into some struggles, most because she hadn’t designed or created a piece before. She hadn’t sewn anything before or taken measurements. “A lot of time and effort went into it,” she said.

The struggles paid off, however, with her piece winning not only the Thea Foundation award but she also received the Most Creative Singer Advertising Award in the Clinton Foundation’s Curbside Couture competition at the Clinton Presidential Library.

The competitions allowed her to take her interest in general design

and fashion. She took 3D design her junior year at ASMSA which boosted her confidence and skill in 2D design.

Lee said she was often bullied for the clothes she chose to wear before coming to ASMSA. When she found out that she had won the Thea Foundation competition, she screamed. It reinforced her belief in herself.

“It was the first time I really put myself out there and showed people what I was passionate about. It is one of the things I worked the hardest on ever. I worked every day on it. People would pass by in the library and give me encouragement. People gave me so much motivation that when I was able to tell everybody I won that it was a nice experience,” Lee said.

She said several people saw her work on the piece as a waste of time, especially if she did poorly on a test.

“Something kept telling me to keep

Left: Amanda Lee (‘17) crafted a piece that resembled armor made of recycled soda cans for the scales and notebook wire to hold it together.

She used role playing games such as ‘Skyrim’ for her inspiration. Above: Noah Balushi (‘17) used the prompt of a shift in perspective to create a self-portrait titled ‘Personal Quadrants.’ The four faces in the painting represent various attitudes he can display, he said.

pushing myself to work on this piece.

That I could win. Now that I won, I feel like you should keep pushing and working on what you’re passionate about,” she said.

Lee plans to seek a career in the fashion business in the future, but first she wants to learn the business side.

She plans to seek an undergraduate degree in business and marketing at Hendrix College. Hendrix will match the Thea Foundation scholarship.

A shift in perspective Noah Balushi’s experience in preparing for the Thea Foundation competition was very different than Lee’s.

He began working on the piece three days before it was due. The prompt for the visual arts competition was a shift in perspective.

Balushi decided to do an abstract self-portrait that he called “Personal Quadrants.” The painting features four faces tied together by the top of their heads.

“Each one is not necessarily a different personality but a different aspect within myself,” he said. “I had

some flexibility with the colors. I totally disregarded reality to express inner emotions instead of out-

ward.”

He initially had a different idea that was more complicated, but he felt he didn’t have the time or technical ability to do it. He started brainstorming by sketching on small pieces of paper in pencil until he found a concept he found manageable.

“The whole time constraint classes put on me forced me to come up with a creative solution quickly,” Balushi said. “I usually procrastinate. I’m not going to say it makes me do more quality work when I’m pushed for time, but it has prepared me to make those creative on-the-spot decisions.”

Balushi didn’t believe he had much of a chance to win a scholarship. “My work was more loose and more abstract than the tighter and more refined pieces of my peers. I expected judges to pick more realistic pieces,” he said.

So he was quite surprised when he received a phone call from one of his ASMSA friends telling him he had won a scholarship. Balushi was in the backseat of a friend’s car at home when he got the call.

“He said, ‘Hey, you won $2,000.’

I started yelling and shouting as if I had won a million dollars. I didn’t even think this was my type of art to do. It gave me a great confidence boost, not just in my painting but in all of my artistic endeavors,” he said.

Balushi considers creative writing his main artistic endeavor. He found he enjoys writing poetry through a poetry class at ASMSA. He was also interested in journalism at his home school where he won awards for columns he wrote. He said his goal in college is to major in English and minor in film with the hope of becoming a screenwriter.

He found he liked visual arts through the school’s regional art survey class. Students visited art museums and studios throughout Arkansas and Texas among others thanks to a grant from the Windgate Charitable Foundation. While at the museums, students would sometimes have assignments to paint. Balushi was encouraged by art instructor Brad Wreyford to take an art class. He had an open spot in his schedule and took painting.

“It’s a really cathartic experience for me. I zone out and let whatever’s there bubble up,” he said.

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A Good Scrum

Students bond on rugby pitch for club team

From left, Ryan Fulbright (‘18), Leotis McClure (‘18) and Logan Jones (‘17) are members of the Little Rock Junior Stormers.

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One of the questions often asked by prospective ASMSA students and parents is in relation to participating in prep sports. Since the residential program doesn’t have teams of its own, students interested in playing team sports are eligible to play at Hot Springs World Class High School. Every year there are a few who continue to don Trojan uniforms for football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, track and other sports.

Those aren’t the only athletic pursuits in which students participate.

Ultimate Frisbee is popular among students, and the grass in the back courtyard of the Student Center often feature dirt patches where the grass has been worn away during games of volleyball.

Three students chose to participate in an area club sport — rugby.

The Little Rock Junior Stormers are the youth team for the Little Rock Rugby Club. The team is comprised of about 20 players, mainly from Central Arkansas.

Logan Jones (’17) and Ryan Fulbright (’18) have played on the team for several years. Their fathers, who have known each other since they played together in college in Fayetteville, both play for the Little Rock Stormers. Jones and Fulbright have grown up watching their fathers play on the team. Both were members of the junior team when it first formed.

The students began playing when Jones was 13 and Fulbright 12.

This year they convinced Leotis McClure (’18) to join the team. Fulbright and McClure met at the school’s College Algebra Readiness Camp in the summer of 2016 before beginning their junior year at ASMSA. They started playing Ultimate Frisbee together with other students. Fulbright told McClure he should play rugby after watching him run and accidentally knocking down players at Ultimate.

McClure attended a game, and when Ryan’s father asked him if he’d want to play rugby he said yes.

“Now I don’t get fussed at for popping kids,” McClure said with a chuckle. He said the sport also helps you with tackling and ball-handling skills, which will be good for football.

“It’s like playing backyard football with your friends.”

‘The rugby community is high energy, salty, crusted-over and covered in scars but are the happiest people.’

Logan Jones (‘17), on his love for the sport of rugby

While that is a good way to initially describe the game, it is very different from football as most Americans think about it and it is older than football. It uses a ball similar to a football, but it is larger and more diamond shaped.

There are 15 players per team on the field, and the ball is passed laterally or backwards, not forwards. The only way to advance the ball is to run it or to kick it forward. Players score a “try” by placing the ball on the ground in the opponent’s goal.

Action is continuous for the most part during the game. Jones said that is what makes the game special.

“You have to think on your feet,” he said. “You’re often sprinting as fast as you can. You have to pay attention to the guy in front of you as well as the teammates next to you on each side. You have to stay sharp the entire time.”

Players aren’t also pigeon-holed as exclusively ball-handlers or defensive players, Jones said. When he played football in middle school and early high school, his size usually meant he was playing lineman or linebacker. He didn’t get to handle the ball much.

“You contribute more than in football. Everyone gets to do what everyone else does,” Jones said.

McClure added that the key to success is for the team to act as one.

“It’s 15 guys all together with the same agenda and same plan. You know what the person next to you is going to do,” McClure said.

The Junior Stormers are the only junior team in Arkansas, forcing them to play games in Missouri, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana and other states in the Southeast and West. They average 15 to 16 games a season. That means a lot of road and hotel time for the teams on game weekends.

“We travel all over the country together. We get to bond so much,” Jones said.

Fulbright said that’s his favorite part of playing on the team. “Being with everybody on road trips and being with the team after the game, especially after winning,” he said.

The team has evolved over its five years of existence. Originally, players didn’t take the games as seriously. “When we first started playing, we were goofy and would play spur of the moment. But then as we took it more serious and we became higher ranked it was like someone snapped their fingers. We were like ‘this isn’t a joke anymore,’” Jones said.

The past couple of seasons the team was coached by Pieter de Hass, a former South African national team and professional player. Fulbright and Jones said he shared a lot of knowledge about the game.

“It was really intuitive to him,” Jones said. “He’s been playing for so long. His dad and grandfather were professionals.

“Learning from someone who understands the game on such a fundamental level is great. He can speak to someone who is new to the sport and boil it down to the basics. That’s when he lets you bloom out to your rugby potential.”

Fortunately for the ASMSA players most of the practices were held at nearby Jessieville High School, where de Haas’ son went to school. That meant they could travel together to practice and back to campus. That helped them grow closer as well.

“Between the three of us there is a lot of coherence,” Jones said. “I don’t want to say we work well together because we live together, but the rides together to practice and after practice kind of made us a mini-team.”

Fulbright and McClure have one more year left to play for the Junior Stormers. Jones graduated this year, but he plans to continue playing as he can, whether it’s on a college club or with the Little Rock adult team. He said he loves the rugby community.

“The rugby community is high energy, salty, crusted-over and covered in scars but are the happiest people. I love watching and playing the sport,” he said.

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Team wins regional Dolphin Challenge No ocean nearby? No problem.

A team from ASMSA won the Dolphin Challenge, the northern Texas regional competition of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl.

NOSB is a quiz bowl-style competition in which students answer questions in all disciplines of ocean sciences: biology, chemistry, physics, geology, geography and the social sciences. It is managed national by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. The competition was held in February by the Texas Sea Grant College Program at the Texas A&M University campus in Galveston, Texas.

Two teams from ASMSA participated in the competition. ASMSA’s “Team A” won the competition and advanced to the NOSB competition finals held in April in Corvallis, Ore. Team members included Tristan Tompkins (‘17), Jason Ly (‘17), Rebecca Parham (‘17), Juliet Green (‘17) and Will Duke (‘17). The team was coached by Dr. Lindsey Waddell, a geoscience and chemistry instructor at ASMSA. NOSB is designed to encourage and support the next generation of marine scientists, policy makers, teachers, explorers, researchers, technicians and informed citizens to be stewards of the ocean. About 2,000 students from more than 300 high schools around the country participate each year.

Waddell said the trip to Galveston to compete in the Dolphin Challenge serves as the “capstone experience” for students who have completed her semester-long oceanography course.

It was the first year one of her teams earned a trip to the national competition.

“This is one of the strongest teams that I have coached in terms of their overall math and science preparation,” Waddell said.

The national competition was held at Oregon State University in Corvallis. ASMSA placed 16th out of the 25 teams at the national competition.

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Will Duke (‘17), left, and Nick Nahas (‘17) listen to a question while doing a presentation on the Coral Gardens reef they studied during a trip to Belize in summer 2016. The team were regional finalists in the Siemens Competition in Mathematics, Science and Technology.

Duo first Siemens regional finalists in school history

Will Duke (’17) and Nick Nahas (’17) were named 2016 Siemens Competition in Mathematics, Science and Technology Semifinalists and Regional Finalists in October 2016.

The Siemens Competition is the nation’s premier competition in math, science and technology for high school students. Every year, students submit innovative individual and team research projects to regional and national levels of competition as they vie for college scholarships.

This year more than 1,600 projects were submitted and 498 students were selected as semifinalists. Only three students in Arkansas, including Duke and Nahas, were recognized as semifinalists.

This is the first time ASMSA students have been recognized as a regional finalist. A select group of semifinalists are chosen to advance to one of six regional competitions, which were held in November 2016. This year there were 96 regional finalists named.

Duke and Nahas competed in but did not advance from Region 2 at the University of Texas at Austin. They were guaranteed at least a $1,000 college scholarship for being named a regional finalist.

Duke and Nahas submitted a team

project to this year’s competition.

Their project focused on the Coral Gardens reef in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Belize. They conducted research on the health of the reef during an ASMSA Global Learning Program trip in summer 2016 to the Tropical Marine Research and Education Center in San Pedro, Belize.

During a snorkeling trip to the Coral Gardens, Duke and Nahas recorded footage of the reefs.

Duke and Nahas used the video footage of the Coral Gardens reef to compare the data to previous studies as well as to two other reefs in general. The data allows them to study the reefs in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico in a broader sense.

Duke and Nahas both said they were surprised and excited about garnering such high recognition for their project. Both received a phone call to inform them they had been selected regional finalists and semifinalists.

Nahas didn’t answer the call initially thinking it was a junk call from a number he didn’t recognize. “They left me a voicemail, but didn’t tell me I was a semifinalist. I didn’t get an answer when I called back. Then I got an email from (Duke) telling me we were semifinalists. I was sitting there

with my mom, and she got up and whooped and hollered,” Nahas said.

Duke did answer his phone although he didn’t recognize the number. Once he hung up, he just let it soak in and then told his parents.

“It was a huge relief,” Duke said.

Nahas said during their trip they recognized their study of the coral reefs would be important information for those who work with and in the reefs in Belize but not that it would garner recognition beyond that. Duke said they now realize that their work can be applied to many other reefs around the world.

Nahas and Duke decided in the months before the trip that they would produce a joint Fundamentals in Research Methods project from the trip. Each ASMSA senior must complete a FIRM project as part of their graduation requirements.

The students received a Murphy USA Summer Research Fellowship from the ASMSA Foundation to go toward the trip.

It was the first research-related trip in ASMSA’s Global Learning Program. Previous trips were language and humanities based. Dr. Lindsey Waddell, a chemistry and geoscience instructor at ASMSA, coordinated the group’s trip to Belize in cooperation with a group of undergraduate students from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia.

Waddell said Duke and Nahas had a passion for marine biology that attracted them to the opportunity to study in Belize.

“That passion has continued to carry them through the countless hours of analyzing video footage and writing in the months since their return,” she said.

Waddell said when Duke and Nahas selected Coral Gardens for the focus of their project there was every expectation that there would be plenty of previously published studies to which they could compare their findings.

“They quickly discovered that this was not the case, which makes their study important as a baseline for future comparison,” she said, particularly because Coral Gardens is the home of a large sample of staghorn coral nonexistent or rare in other reefs.

Hayward Battle, center, was the speaker for the Class of 2017 commencement ceremony held in May. Battle serves as chair of the ASMSA Board of Visitors.

Class of 2017 sets ACT mark ASMSA held commencement for the 107 members of the Class of 2017 during a ceremony May 27 at Horner Hall in the Hot Springs Convention Center.

The Class of 2017 celebrated many accomplishments. One of its most impressive achievements came on the ACT test. This year’s class averaged 30.6 on the college entrance exam, the highest composite of any class in school history. Class members also received $11.2 million in scholarship offers, pushing the total of scholarship offers made to ASMSA students in the school’s 23 years to more than $215 million.

Hayward Battle, chair of the ASMSA Board of Visitors and a longtime practicing attorney and pastor, served as the main speaker for the commencement ceremony.

“I want you to realize that you will have plans and you will dream, and I don’t want to discourage about making great plans,” he said. “In fact you should plan. But realize that plans do fail. Sometimes things will unexpectedly happen. Sometimes things will fall apart and not work as you had planned out. But you must understand it is better to fail with a plan than to fail without one. Ask me why? Because you have a document to memorialize how not to do it next time.”

He told the graduates to choose to face their fears and not to be afraid to fail. “Failure is inevitable, but make it a temporary detour rather than a permanent distraction or excuse. Don’t stop,

but come back with another plan,” he said, advising them to choose to be happy even in times of failure.

“In more cases than not, happiness leads to success. You don’t always have the power over some of the things that happen to you in your life, but you do have the power to how you respond to those things. Choose to be happy. Surround yourself with people who will encourage you, who will have faith in you, who will believe in you,” he said.

Dr. Donald Bobbitt, president of the University of Arkansas System, and Jason Ly (‘17), president of the ASMSA Student Government Association, also spoke at commencement.

Bobbitt praised the work and dedication of the faculty who worked daily to guide the students in independent, unique scholarship.

“This is a committed, inspired faculty. This is more of a calling than a vocation. I believe this faculty has chosen as their life’s work to share their considerable knowledge and indeed their experience with the next generation. I hope you will take this gift, graduates, and be inspired to share your gifts with others,” Bobbitt said.

Ly reminded his classmates that through their experiences at ASMSA they had become a family.

“ASMSA gave us this crazy, disjointed, mess of a student body that not only has some of the closest friends you could ever meat, but also a family we could all rely and trust through two of the most grueling years of our high school career,” Ly said.

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Taking AIM at language Bryan Adams targets better results by teaching students French with interactive method

Visitors to Bryan Adams’ French I classes may initially wonder whether they’re in the correct class.

They may notice the sign at the door on the way into the classroom advising students that once they enter they are not allowed to speak English. Rather than sitting at their desks repeating verb tenses or asking where the library is in French, students are more likely to be standing in a circle responding to Adams’ gestures or acting out a scenario.

For his classes with new French speakers, Adams uses a teaching methodology known as Accelerative Integrated Method, or AIM, as an introduction to the language. AIM encourages instructors to use gestures, music, dance and theater to help students learn a foreign language.

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The method may seem odd at first, possibly even unnerving or amusing.

That’s okay with Adams, however, as long as his students are learning.

“The thought of a lot of traditional foreign language classes is that you should be speaking 90 percent of the time in the language,” Adams said.

“That’s fine. The problem is if the student doesn’t know what’s going on it’s a waste of time. AIM is not the only thing out there, but it’s good because it forces you as a teacher that you have to describe, act out or perform, whatever you have to do to get students to understand what’s happening.”

Through the use of gestures, students begin to associate a sound or word with an action, Adams said.

AIM was developed in Canada as a response to the prevalent thought of

many Canadians that they should be bilingual, he said. Students were taking French courses but not necessarily gaining fluency.

Adams uses a pared down language along with the gestures in order to introduce students to the language. The pared down language focuses on basic, everyday, high-frequency vocabulary words. By stringing together the gestures, students are soon thinking in more complete thoughts rather than broken phrases.

“The good thing about teaching idiomatic expressions over and over and over is the memorization without using the grammar rules,” Adams said. “They know the phrase without having to memorize abstract grammar rules. The method makes it relevant to their lives.

ASMSA French instructor Bryan Adams, right, leads participants in a Summer@ASMSA French language camp in June 2016.

Adams uses the Accelerative Integrated Method, or AIM, to teach beginners how to speak the language. The method uses gestures, music, rap, rhymes, dance and theater to get students speaking the language more quickly.

“It’s immersion in the classroom.

It’s a balancing act I have to do. How do I get these kids as fluent and conversational as possible while also teaching formal grammar so they can get concurrent college credit?

“AIM was really developed to address that conversational side. I use it when they need to be able to speak it and understand it. In French II and beyond, we’re doing a lot of complex grammar patterns that they need to know not only for speaking but also for writing and reading.”

Learning in a conversational matter can pay big dividends later, Adams said. An example he uses is a rap the students learn in French and practice each day in class. They use the rap as a warmup for class, setting the tone that they are going to be speaking French.

Another benefit, however, is that students are practicing verb forms, naturally conjugating verbs without thought. They are using infinitive forms with idiomatic expressions much earlier than if they were strictly using a book method. They end the class with a similar routine. He usually swaps out the raps and phrases after a few weeks.

“All of this complex grammar is being taught with rhymes and raps,” Adams said.

Adams learned about the method

at a summer conference for foreign language teachers in Hot Springs. A teacher who uses AIM presented at the conference. He showed samples of his students’ writing and videos of the students being engaged in learning. “At that point I said I want what he has as a teacher. I didn’t know what it was, but I wanted it,” Adams said.

He visited with the presenter and learned how to get more information.

Adams did the training he needed shortly before the semester started. He was still learning more about AIM himself when he dove into using it in his classroom. He adapted portions of it to make it fit the maturity level of his students, but they responded well, he said.

“The hardest thing was memorizing an entire new sign language,” Adams said. “You’re having to associate the gestures with the words as well. I have an older brain and was having to learn a whole new language myself.

This is ‘want’ (doing the gesture for it).

As a kid it makes sense but for an older brain it doesn’t automatically work.

“When the students came in that first day there were no desks, only chairs. I didn’t want them writing anything or looking at anything in front of them. I could tell within 20 minutes that it was working.”

Especially since the method was originally designed to be used with

younger learners, Adams was worried that his students may find it too simple or silly.

“You have to have a buy-in as well. Some parts of the program may seem cheesy so I would make fun of it. I knew if I have them on my side it could work. You have to have the attitude that the classroom is a safe space. They have to be able to laugh at one another without taking it personal because everyone is learning the same thing,” he said.

Adams said he has seen remarkable response from students to the method. Not only were students speaking strictly French in his classroom, but he was also hearing students speaking the language outside of the classroom.

Logan Watts (’17) said he had no foreign language experience before taking French I. When he saw the sign on the first day of class that there would be no English spoken in the classroom that he was a bit concerned. Then as they began learning the first rap he remembers feeling overwhelmed at first.

“But I was intrigued because it was unlike anything I had done before,” Watts said. “It took me the first week to begin to understand the rap. The See AIM, Page 32 31

RiP

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Hill, and Brian Schwieger.

“The level of stewardship demonstrated by these students is truly impressive, and I am excited for the impact that this formal recognition will have on the path of our current students, as well as the future of the Research in the Park program at ASMSA.” Kusch said the award reflects the quality of students at ASMSA. “I’m excited for students not only this year but also last year’s students as well. It just shows the top-flight nature of the students at ASMSA. And to have it demonstrated on the national level is great,” he said.

The National Park Service and National Park Foundation will hold an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., to recognize various award winners on Aug. 1. The Hartzog Awards are named for former National Park Service Director George B. Hartzog, Jr. and his wife, Helen. Hartzog served as the head of the National Park Service from 1964 to 1972. He established the Volunteers-In-Parks Program in 1970.

Just the beginning Waddell said RiP is just the beginning of what she hopes grows to become a multi-disciplinary effort. The success of the program is laying the groundwork for it to possibly expand in the future. That will depend on finding the right resources, including faculty members dedicated to the program and the right partners.

“Not all of our students are interested in the park,” she said. “If we could get classes to start on other topics, it will

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hardest part was getting into abstract things. There aren’t actions great at describing those, things that aren’t more obvious. The more abstract things were slower but understanding the physical or tangible things went much faster.”

Once he adapted to the class, however, he found himself preferring to speak in French. “If I wanted to talk to my classmate or ask for something, I would ask in French. It was more like I wanted to say it in French. I had an interest in learning how to say new things in French,” he said.

He began to speak to Adams exclusively in French, whether it was in the classroom or if he was passing him in the hallway. Watts wasn’t the only student doing so either. Many of the French students would speak to each other in French outside of the classroom.

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give our students more options. It will be good to get more programs where students have time to grow projects.”

There are always more ideas available then students, but they purposely limited the number of students last year to try to build a good base for the program.

The first year there were eight students in RiP. They doubled it the second year, but it turned out to be too soon to take such a step, both Waddell and Ruehle said. They stepped it back to 12 this year, and the results were good.

The success of Research in the Park led the school’s Teaching and Learning Committee to explore other options for acceleration in the research and capstone experience. Over the spring semester, the group of faculty, staff, and administrators developed a new Applied Research Methods and Applied Creative Explorations sequence that mirrors the model pioneered by RiP. Yearlong courses beginning this fall will allow members of the Class of 2019 the chance to explore entrepreneurship, integrated computer science, mathematical modeling, physical sciences, creative writing, or studio art.

“I have been pleased with the projects,” Waddell said.

“They always have far more ideas than what we can do or have time for. It’s always an exercise in scaling. Many of them will pick an existing project and take it in a different direction. They are really out there on their own quite often.”

It also speaks to the quality of student involved in the program that they are willing and ready to take on extra work early in their ASMSA career, Ruehle said.

“They don’t complain about it. They ask for extra work by starting FIRM a year earlier,” Ruehle said. There all these different ways that students can get started doing real things early. When they get to college, they’re not running; they’re flying.”

Dan McElderry, the Spanish instructor, began to notice that as well.

He has taught at ASMSA for almost 20 years, and this was the first time he heard French students using the language in the hallways, he said.

“I am thrilled when I hear students in the hallway speaking French with each other or with me,” McElderry said. “It is great that they have the willingness to speak the language not only in the classroom but out of the classroom as well. It’s one of the good things that the AIM program has done for the French program.”

He said finding the best way to teach is a common struggle in the world of language instruction.

There’s never one best way to teach a language and that much of a method’s success actually depends on the teacher’s personality. For Adams, finding the AIM method was an inspirational moment, McElderry said.

“After the conference, he came out all inspired. He was enthused. I was

happy for him because it gave him something that felt different, that invigorated him as a teacher,” he said.

He said it amazes him sometimes to go into a French I class and see things Adams’ is doing with his students.

The results Adams and the students are achieving are an indication that he is being successful at building a relationship with the students, McElderry said. “They are allowed to make mistakes and learn how to correct those mistakes in a nonthreatening way,” he said.

Adams realizes there is a no-sizefits-all approach that can be successful for every teacher. He has used different approaches as well, but he is pleased with the results he sees from AIM. Ultimately it is about the students, not the teacher, Adams said.

“There is nothing more satisfying than to see their progress, to hear their progress. I enjoy hearing them talking to each other without them knowing I’m there,” he said.

Editor’s Note: Lauren Capes (‘17) delivered the following address during this year’s commencement.

It all started with the letter. I’m sure we all remember the weeks leading up to it: the bubbling excitement, growing anticipation and all-consuming worry that we wouldn’t be accepted into the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts.

We were afraid that we would get a letter in the mail that began with the apologetic words “thank you for applying, but we’re sorry to inform you.”

Because getting accepted didn’t just mean we would get to go to ASMSA, live in a dorm or attend more rich and fulfilling classes; it would also be something that changed our lives.

And maybe all of us weren’t completely aware of it, but we knew that going to ASMSA would change us.

It would set our lives on a different course than they had previously been sailing, and while we were excited—even thrilled for this change­—we were also scared. Scared of change, scared of leaving our friends, scared of making new friends and scared of getting rejected.

So when we finally did receive the long-awaited letter in the mail, it was a pretty significant moment. Some of us opened it with our parents, some of us called friends, some of us preferred to be by ourselves. Some of us tore it open without preamble, while others waited and deliberated, not quite sure if they wanted to know what was inside. But in the end, we all opened the letter that did not only inform us of our acceptance but was also the start of our journey at ASMSA. Before we knew it, Move-in Day was upon us. There was chaos, tearful goodbyes, enthusiastic hellos, a lot to learn and so many new faces. There we were, a whole grade of strangers on our first day living in a dorm. And soon enough, we weren’t all strangers. Conversations began, friendships were made, friendships were broken, roommates began to cross the bridge to their suitemates room—otherwise known as the bathroom—and there were lots and lots of volleyball games.

Together, we learned names, discovered our favorite classes and

End Note ‘Never let others stuff you into a box that is built around their ideals.’

Lauren Capes (‘17), speaking to her classmates during this year’s commencement ceremony

found our friend groups. Together, we stressed when we had tests and celebrated when we got A’s. Together, we went to Greece, London and Japan.

Together, we spent countless days on FIRM, encouraged one another not to give up, cheered when it ended, and then cheered again for the ones who went to state. Together, we let ASMSA change us and our perspective on the world, to help us learn more about the importance of education, diversity and hard work. We picked each other up when we were feeling down, brought our friends coffee and tea during finals week and we didn’t give up. Together, we are graduating ASMSA. But we can’t forget to thank the ones who have gotten us this far.

Our parents, who have watched us from the moment we were born and then allowed us to go to ASMSA—despite knowing they’d be losing their babies a little earlier than planned.

Our teachers, who spent countless hours making lesson plans and grading work and then even more hours tutoring. Who opened up the world through different subjects and did their best to not only impart their knowledge and wisdom onto to us but also ignite our own independent thinking and creativity so that we can thrive. Our residential life staff, who were not just mentors but the people we could go to with any concern, always knowing they would be there for us. And our deans, who never failed to encourage us, inspire us, or greet us with a “Happy Monday!”

From this point forward, we’re all going to go out there and accomplish our dreams! Wait, that’s wrong.

Dreams don’t always come true. Now, I’m not telling you to not dream, because dreaming is an essential part of motivation. Rather, I’m saying to not let your dreams dictate what you do. Don’t let them stop you from trying a new hobby, from branching out, from doing.

Afterall, dreamers write stories about doers, but doers are the ones that go out there—both afraid and unafraid of what may come—but facing it all the same. ASMSA has not taught us how to dream. It has taught us how to think for ourselves, how to evaluate our opinions and stances on different issues, how to manage our time and, most importantly, how to follow our heart: that the building blocks to discovery are not dreams but, rather, passion and drive.

I want you all to remember while, yes, it is important to think with your heads it is sometimes more meaningful to follow your heart, emotions and intuition. Don’t be afraid if you start to leave the road you paved for yourself.

Don’t be afraid to let your passions get redirected, to have your opinions change, to go on an adventure, to be kind, to go crazy, to be diligent, to break-up, to make-up, to pull yourself up when you fall down, to throw yourself down, to reach for the top, to be content where you are, to laugh when you fail and cry when you succeed.

Don’t be afraid to be you. To the Class of 2017: dream big, but don’t be afraid to do even bigger.

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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

Daniel Moix (‘98) has been instrumental to the success of ASMSA’s Coding Arkansas’ Future initiative. Serving as a computer science education specialist for the school, Moix has led institutional efforts to provide computer science courses for students across Arkansas as well as prepare educators to meet requirements to receive computer science endorsements.

For his efforts both with ASMSA and a prior faculty position, Moix has received national recognition. In August 2016, Moix received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, the highest recognition a science or mathematics teacher may receive for outstanding teaching in the United States.

At most, 108 teachers are recognized each year. In December 2016, Moix was named as one of 10 winners of the Awards for Teaching Excellence in Computer Science from Infosys Foundation USA, Association for Computing Machinery and the Computer Science Teachers Association.