STUDENT SPEAKERS. Tu Nguyen, left, a junior at Fort Smith Southside High School, won the $1,000 first place award among 19 students in the 2021 ASBA Student Essay/Speaking contest. Students were asked to write an essay and deliver a short, recorded speech on the topic, “Individual rights vs. the common good: What is the proper balance?” Katie Prejean, middle, a junior from Joe T. Robinson High School in the Pulaski County Special School District, placed second and was awarded $750. Celia Mayfield, right, a senior at Jonesboro High School, was third and won $500. The three spoke at the ASBA Annual Conference.
smiling, telling the truth, and having a thick skin. Chapman told the story of Anna, who as a young student couldn’t sit still, scored poorly on tests and was considered to have below-average intelligence.
However, she worked hard and managed to get into college, where she scored a grade point average of 1.0 her first semester but then flourished, graduated with honors, and later became a self-made millionaire and a best-selling
writer. At the closing of her remarks, Chapman revealed that Anna is her first name. “We’ve got to understand that one test does not define a person’s entire academic or educational career, that several tests may not define some people’s academic careers, and when they’re not a fish, we don’t need to ask them to swim in water. … But when they are a fish, we need to provide the water for them to swim in and become adapted to,” she said. In a general session, Tim Brown and Dr. Regina Owens with Solution Tree, a company that provides professional development services, described the advantages of professional learning communities. That’s a process where teachers collaboratively work, continuously improve and hold themselves accountable. “A characteristic of a professional learning community is this constant dis-
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