Month: February 2026

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts recognized winners of the 27^th annual West Central Regional Science Fair during an awards ceremony on Feb. 27.

Tanvi Marupally, a senior from Conway, won first place overall for her project in the Biomedical and Health Sciences category. The team of seniors Nathan Grady of Blytheville, Emily Lin of Little Rock and Kaitleen Toh of Little Rock won second place for their Translational Medical Science project. Third-place overall went to senior Miranda Lee of Conway for her Materials Science project.

The overall winners were awarded a trip to participate in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, which will be held May 9-15 in Phoenix, Ariz. The event is the world’s largest pre-college STEM competition. Students from around the world are expected to compete for awards, prizes and scholarships.

The science fair featured 54 projects, 37 by individuals and 17 by teams. The projects were completed by 73 ASMSA students representing 55 different high schools from around the state.

Individual awards were also announced in various categories. The top three projects and some high-placing honorable mentions in each category earned entry into the Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair that will be held at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway on April 3-4.

Individual category winners included:

Animal Science: 1. Team of Paola Sustaita of Sheridan and Nora Medlock of Dyer 2. Team of Paisley Hillman of Hot Springs and Ayda Coleman of Texarkana 3. Cael Arnold of Mountain View

Behavioral and Social Science: 1. Isabella Zhang of Jonesboro 2. Sophie Lee of Russellville 3. Team of Claira Hartig of Greenbrier and Lydia Robertson of Pea Ridge Honorable Mention: Team of Alexander Cox of Russellville and Errol Nagy of Little Rock

Biomedical and Health Sciences: 1. Tanvi Marupally of Conway 2. Jack Ghotra of Little Rock

Cellular and Molecular Biology: 1. Luis Vidal of Fort Smith 2. Team of Graydon Anderson of Little Rock and Rasikh Imam of Little Rock

Chemistry (Sponsored by Evonic Inc. and presented by Megan Tustison Alvardo of the ASMSA Class of 2017): 1. Subi Shakya of Russellville 2. Sophie Milton of Jonesboro 3. Jacob Clingan of Benton 4. Colten Ward of De Queen

Earth Science: 1. Team of Riley Richardson of Belleville and Dray Makepeace of Hagarville 2. Zoey Terry of Malvern 3. Blue Smith of Searcy

Engineering Technology: Honorable Mention: Bridger Foyt of Blytheville and Grey Ivy of Paragould

Environmental Engineering: 1. Catherine Van Dorple of Cabot 2. Rose Patella of Little Rock

Environmental Sciences: 1. Aarush Goyal of Bentonville 2. Team of Addie Nance of Delight and Jade Espinoza of Corning 3. Team of Spencer Schaaf of Prairie Grove and Lydia Gray of Melbourne

Materials Science: 1. Miranda Lee of Conway 2. Team of Derek Ramey of Dardanelle and Gavin Rion of Pottsville Honorable Mention: Team of Afton Krebs of Alexander and Montgomery Wines of Vilonia

Mathematics: 1. Anna Le of Fort Smith 2. Nathan Harbut of Hot Springs 3. Jacob Lewis of Clinton

Microbiology: 1. Isaac Cotton of Stuttgart 2. Team of Beau Goldthorpe of Benton and Stevie Watkins of Perryville 3. Bella Guzman of Benton

Physics/Astronomy: 1. Kaiyan Yu of Benton 2. Team of Michelle Li of Sherwood and Mason Sims of Compton Honorable Mention: Team of Yun Park of Maumelle and Paul Boerwinkle of El Dorado

Plant Science: 1. Jeremiah Chen of North Little Rock 2. Pilar Johnson of Hensley 3. Raegan Smith of Jonesboro Honorable Mention: Elijah Antonacci of Greers Ferry

Software Development: 1. Kian Shojaei of Russellville 2. D’Kirrah Ragland of North Little Rock 3. Mason Vaden of Dardanelle Honorable Mentions: Benjamin Dong of Arkadelphia, Caleb Keeling of Arkadelphia

Translational Medical Science: 1. Team of Emily Lin of Little Rock, Nathan Grady of Blytheville and Kaitleen Toh of Little Rock 2. Kemdi Ekeanyanwu of Little Rock 3. Elijah Stanton of Eudora

Several special awards and recognition were also announced during the awards ceremony. They include:

Regeneron Science Talent Search Recognition: Luis Vidal of Fort Smith

Soybean Science Challenge award recognizes a student for their project as well as their project adviser for an outstanding project in soybean science or agriculture: Raegan Smith of Jonesboro, advised by Dr. Burt Hollandsworth

Missouri University of Science and Technology Kummer Center for STEM Education award for outstanding junior research students: Isabella Zhang of Jonesboro, Zoey Terry of Malvern, and the team of Paisley Hillman of Hot Springs and Ayda Coleman of Texarkana

Trinity Environmental Consultants award recognizes a project that best develops a solution for an environmental problem with a preference given to an outstanding junior: Team of Spencer Schaaf of Prairie Grove and Lydia Gray of Melbourne

Association of Women Geoscientists for outstanding geoscience project by female or non-binary student(s): Zoey Terry of Malvern

NASA Earth System Science Award for outstanding earth science project: Blue Smith of Searcy

NOAA Taking the Pulse of the Planet Award for a project that emphasizes science, service and stewardship in addressing issues related to climate, weather, oceans and coasts: Team of Riley Richardson of Belleville and Drayton Makepeace of Hagarville

Ricoh USA, Inc. for Sustainable Development award: Aarush Goyal of Bentonville

Stockholm Junior Water Prize to the top project related to water quality and water resource management: Team of Riley Richardson of Belleville  and Drayton Makepeace of Hagarville

United States Air Force award: Miranda Lee of Conway, Subi Shakya of Russellville, Tanvi Marupally of Conway, Kian Shojaei of Russellville, Nathan Harbut of Hot Springs, Grey Ivy of Paragould, Bridger Foyt of Blytheville, Sophie Milton of Jonesboro

U.S. Navy: Catherine Van Dorple of Cabot, D’Kirrah Ragland of North Little Rock

U.S. Metric Association award for best use of the International System of Units: Miranda Lee of Conway

Yale Science and Engineering Association award for best 11^th-grade exhibit in computer science, physics, chemistry or engineering: Jacob Clingan of Benton

Citadel Securities Innovation Prize for an outstanding project demonstrating data-driven decision making: Team of Emily Lin of Little Rock, Nathan Grady of Blytheville and Kaitleen Toh of Little Rock

Regeneron Biomedical Science Award for an outstanding project in translational medical science, microbiology or medical science: Kaiyan Yu of Benton

Public viewing for the West Central Regional Science Fair at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 27.

The event will be held in the Creativity and Innovation Complex on the ASMSA campus, which is located at 200 Whittington Ave. in Hot Springs. The event is free and open to the public. It will feature research conducted by ASMSA students.

An awards ceremony will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Friday in the CIC. The top overall winners will earn a trip to the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair that will be held May 9-15 in Phoenix, Ariz.

Five Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts student musicians were selected as Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association All-State Musicians.

Students who earned All-State recognition are participating the Arkansas All-State Music Conference on Feb. 19-21 in Hot Springs. A limited number of musicians were selected for three bands — Wind Symphony, Symphonic and Concert — as well as a Symphonic Orchestra.  Wind Symphony is the top band followed by the Symphonic and then Concert bands. Symphonic Orchestra is the only group that includes strings. Each band will hold clinics on Thursday and Friday followed by a concert on Saturday.

ASMSA students selected to participate in the All-State Music Conference include:

• Giea de los Reyes, a senior from Hot Springs, third-chair percussion, Wind Symphony, No. 3 overall in the state.
• Sophie Carroll, a junior from Little Rock, first-chair oboe, Symphonic Band, No. 3 overall in the state;
• Jacob Lewis, a senior from Clinton, fifth-chair flute, Symphonic Band, No. 13 overall in the state;
• Beckett Beam, a senior from Russellville, sixth-chair tuba, Concert Band, No. 20 overall in the state; and
• Anna Le, a senior from Fort Smith, sixth-chair viola, Symphonic Orchestra, No. 6 overall in the state.

Saturday’s concerts will be held in the Bank OZK Arena at the Hot Springs Convention Center. The concert schedule for Saturday is:
• Symphonic Orchestra, noon;
• Concert Band, 1 p.m.;
• Symphonic Band, 2 p.m.; and
• Wind Symphony, 3 p.m.

Members of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts Forensics, Speech and Debate Club capped a successful fall semester with several students earning 2026 All-State Speech and Debate honors.

Seven ASMSA students earned All-State recognition in at least one event during Fall 2025 competitions and qualified for the Arkansas State Forensics and Debate Championship tournament that will be held in April. Events cover different styles of speech and debate. All-State recognition was recently announced by the Arkansas Communication and Theatre Arts Association (ACTAA).

Phoenix Dunkley, a senior from Little Rock, has qualified for three state tournament events — Congressional Debate, Extemporaneous Speaking and Impromptu Speaking. Dunkley earned the All-State qualifications at the Arkansas Student Congress, Bentonville Tigers Eye, Scary Thankful and Conway Classy Classic events.

Other ASMSA students who have qualified for at least one All-State competition, the qualifying event and the contest at which they qualified include:
• Clem Suttefield, a senior from Little Rock, Congressional Debate, Arkansas Student Congress;
• Judah Raimandi, a junior from Summit, Public Forum Debate, Conway Classy Classic;
• Kemdi Ekeanyanwu, a junior from Little Rock, Congressional Debate, Arkansas Student Congress and Bentonville Tigers Eye;
• Nora Medlock, a senior from Dyer, Congressional Debate, Arkansas Student Congress;
• Paris Goodman, a junior from Black Rock, Public Forum Debate, Conway Classy Classic; and
• Tristan Henson, a senior from Maumelle, Congressional Debate, Bentonville Tigers Eye.