Author: Donnie Sewell

Kemdi Ekeanyanwu has an opportunity to do what only 98 rising high school seniors have a chance to do each summer — participate in the American Legion Boys Nation.

This year’s Boys Nation is set to take place July 17-25 in Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area. The program offers delegates from across the nation the opportunity to serve as senators in a mock federal government as well as participate in civic opportunities. The program is supported by the American Legion, the largest U.S. veterans organization with more than 1.6 million members. Boys Nation senators are selected from delegates who participated in Boys State, a similar state-level program. Every state except Hawaii has a Boys State program.

Ekeanyanwu of Little Rock participated in the 85^th annual Arkansas American Legion Boys State held in late May at the University of Arkansas in Conway. He was one of two ASMSA students who were elected to an office during the weeklong program. Ekeanyanwu was selected as a state senator for the mock state legislature. Wyatt Cowan of Texarkana was elected to serve as a justice of the peace for Carvell County.

Ekeanyanwu said Boys State was a great experience that motivated him to come further out of his comfort zone, “meeting and bonding with a community I never thought I’d love so much. The biggest thing I learned about leadership is confidence. What helped me get elected (as a state senator) was confidence as I spoke, and what helped me guide my committee was confidence in my choices and my constituents to get the job done.”

Tristan Henson, a member of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts Class of 2026, has been named a Horatio Alger National Scholar.

Henson was one of 105 recipients of the Class of 2026 Horatio Alger National Scholarship, sponsored by the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc. National Scholars receive a $25,000 scholarship to apply toward educational costs of the college or university of their choice. They also have access to a variety of Alger Association-provided resources including counseling and referral services, career exploration opportunities and association alumni connections.

The Alger Association — named for Horatio Alger Jr., a renowned 19^th century author whose tales of overcoming adversity through unyielding perseverance and basic moral principles were popular — is a nonprofit educational organization honoring the achievements of outstanding individuals and encouraging youth to pursue their dreams through higher education.

Four Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts seniors earned recognition at the 2026 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in May.

The team of Nathan Grady of Blytheville, Emily Lin of Little Rock and Kaitleen Toh of Little Rock received a Fourth Grand Award in the Translational Medical Science category at the competition that was held May 9-15 in Phoenix, Ariz. They earned their trip to ISEF by placing second overall at the West Central Regional Science Fair at ASMSA in February.

Nathan Harbut of Hot Springs earned honorable mention recognition in a special awards category sponsored by the American Mathematical Society. Harbut qualified for ISEF at the Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair in April.

Coley Rogers, a member of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts Class of 2026, was selected as the winner of the 2026 Fourth District Congressional Art Competition sponsored by U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman.

Rogers earned the recognition for her piece called “Chief Wolf’s Robe and the Buffalo.” It was chosen for the top honor by a panel of three judges based on three categories — design/composition, skill/technique and overall execution.

Rogers’ artwork will be placed on display for a year at the U.S. Capitol. The competition is held annually, and each member of the U.S. House of Representatives may host a competition for their district. Top pieces are displayed in Washington, D.C., while other award winners may be displayed in each representative’s offices, both in D.C. and in their home state.

Eight Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts students earned the Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy for the Spring 2026 semester while seven students met the qualifications for the Global Seal of Biliteracy.

The Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy is awarded each spring and fall to students in ninth through 12^th grades who demonstrate a proficiency in English and at least one other language before graduating high school. The program is sponsored by Arkansas Foreign Language Teachers Association and the Arkansas Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. The Arkansas Department of Education officially endorsed the seal in June 2018. The Seal of Biliteracy program is recognized in 49 states and Washington, D.C.

While Makenna Kutzshebauch was a student at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, one thing seemed almost certain — that she would qualify to compete in the National History Day competition.

Kutzschebauch of Benton, a member of ASMSA’s Class of 2026, had previously qualified to compete in the national competition sponsored by National History Day, an educational, nonprofit organization that promotes history and civics education. The competition is open to middle- and high-school students in five categories: papers, exhibits, performances, documentaries and websites. The categories are divided into junior and senior divisions along with individual and group divisions.

Kutzschebacuch had previously qualified for the national competition as both a sophomore and junior at ASMSA in the documentaries category, creating two short documentaries that focused on the creator of forensic dioramas and industrial radium exposure, respectively.

Eleven students from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts earned recognition at the 2026 FBLA State Conference and qualified for the FBLA National Conference.

The state conference was held April 7-8 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. Students competed in categories that included an objective subject test, performance or presentation or a combination of an objective test and a performance component. The top four competitors in each category qualified to compete at the national competition, which will be held June 29-July 2 in San Antonio.

A team from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts won top honors at the 2026 Arkansas State Coding Competition.

The team of junior Moses Coronado of Lonoke, senior Colton Melson of Springdale and sophomore Logan Viveiros of Morrilton placed first at the 10^th annual event which was held at the Arch Ford Education Service Cooperative in Plumerville on March 31. The competition was open to all public, private and homeschooled students in the eighth through 12^th grades. Schools were eligible to enter one team with up to three team members.

The competition featured coding challenges of varying difficulty levels and point values. Only one student at a time was allowed to access the computer to enter solutions, which could be created using any programming language or development environment on their local machine. Teams were not allowed to use AI generative models during the competition.

First-place team members were awarded $1,500 in an Arkansas 529 College Savings Plan. ASMSA was awarded $4,000 to be used to support computer science programming at the school.

Luis Vidal Jr. of Fort Smith, a member of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts Class of 2026, was named a Gates Scholar for the Spring 2026 cycle.

Gates Scholars receive the Gates Scholarship, a highly selective, last-dollar scholarship for outstanding minority high school seniors from low-income households. The scholarship is sponsored by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Kemdi Ekeanyanwu, a student at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, placed in the top 5 national High School Three-Minute Thesis (HS3MT) competition.

Ekeanyanwu, a junior from Little Rock, was one of four national Honorable Mention recipients in the contest in addition to the one winner. HS3MT is a national competition that challenges high school students to turn research in all disciplines (STEM, humanities, social sciences and more) into clear and powerful presentations, according to the competition’s website. Each talk is limited to three minutes while using one slide and no props. Competitors submit videos of their presentations which are later judged. The competition follows the model for the Three-Minute Thesis competition that features college competitors.

Ekeanyanwu’s presentation focused on his research on the disparity in youth’s cardiovascular health. “As the leading cause of death, heart disease impacts millions (of people) a year and disproportionately affects communities,” he said. “My project aimed to locate the disparity and address it before it solidifies in adulthood by assessing a set of biomarkers.”