Author: Donnie Sewell

Jason Hudnell, director of admissions at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, has been selected as a member of Leadership Arkansas Class XX.

Hudnell is one of 53 professionals from across the state who were selected to participate in this year’s cohort. The program is sponsored by the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas (State Chamber/AIA).

“I am truly honored to be selected for Leadership Arkansas and grateful for the opportunity to learn alongside so many talented and accomplished leaders from across our state,” Hudnell said. “Being part of this program will not only allow me to grow personally and professionally, but it will also strengthen ASMSA’s ability to build connections, share our mission and expand opportunities for Arkansas students. I am humbled to represent ASMSA in this work and look forward to the impact we can make together.”

Corey Alderdice, executive director of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, has been named a 2025 Arkansas Executive of the Year finalist by Arkansas Business.

Alderdice is a finalist in the Public Sector/Education category. Other category finalists are Jim Hudson of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Dr. Pearl McElfish of the Institute for Community Health Innovation at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Dr. DuShun Scarbrough Sr. of the Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, and Dr. Todd Shields of Arkansas State University.

“It’s a true honor to be named alongside these exceptional public servants and educators,” Alderdice said. “Any executive is only as successful as the team they build. This recognition is really a reflection of the shared commitment of our colleagues at ASMSA and their daily pursuit of excellence.”

Finalists were also selected for five other categories: Small Private Company, Large Private Company, Nonprofit Organization, Financial Executive and Board Member. In addition to Alderdice and McElfish who both serve at institutions within the University of Arkansas System, UA Board of Trustees Chair Kelly Eichler was named a finalist in the Board Member category.

This is the second year of the program, which is an expansion of the former CFO of the Year Awards. It recognizes and honors the region’s most outstanding senior executives, according to a release by Arkansas Business. Nomination forms were submitted to an independent panel of judges that met in late July to determine finalists and winners.

An awards ceremony recognizing the winners and finalists will be held at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock on Nov. 13. The winners of each category will be announced at the celebration, which is presented by Arkansas Talent Group. A special supplement of Arkansas Business highlighting the finalists will be included in the Oct. 27 issue of the publication.

For more information about the Arkansas Executive of the Year Awards, visit www.ArkansasBusiness.com/event/executive.

Benjamin Dong, a senior at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, placed in the Top 10 in the LingHacks VI competition.

LingHacks VI was a high school computational linguistics hackathon competition. LingHacks is an international nonprofit dedicated to harnessing the intersection of math and language to equip students of all backgrounds with cutting-edge technology, problem-solving and interdisciplinary skills, according to the organization’s website.

LingHacks VI was a weekend-long invention competition in which participants built a software project that integrates computational linguistics and may or may not solve a scientific or social problem. Computational linguistics, also known as natural language processing, is the field of artificial intelligence that applies to the synthesis and analysis of language and speech, according to the LingHacks website. Computational linguistics tools are used by machine language technologies, voice assistants, search engines and chatbots, for example.

Dong created a program called “Medical Condition Explainer” designed to provide users a simpler way of understanding medical technical terms thus making health knowledge more accessible and understandable to anyone.

Nora Medlock, an Arkansas School for the Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts student, traded in the scenery of The Natural State for the opportunity to navigate the corridors of Congress for part of her summer. The rising senior from Dyer served as a U.S. Senate Page alongside several dozen other high schoolers from across the country.

Medlock and her fellow Pages reported to work one hour before the Senate convened each weekday to help ready the chamber for the day’s proceedings. Their responsibilities included placing materials on senators’ desks, assisting staff in the cloakrooms and supporting the operations of the Senate floor. When the body was in session, she was stationed near the dais, prepared to assist senators as they delivered speeches or cast their votes.

“My time as a Senate Page was truly unforgettable,” Medlock said. “While serving, I formed lifelong friendships, made valuable connections and gained knowledge about the inner workings of our democratic system that genuinely deepened my interest in politics. I will always be grateful to Senator Boozman, and everyone else who was a part of my time in D.C., for making the experience so special.”

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts was honored with multiple recognitions at the 2025 Diamond Journalism Awards, hosted by the Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).

The annual awards celebrate outstanding work in journalism, communications and public relations across the state. This year’s event recognized finalists and winners in nearly 80 categories with more than 125 in attendance at the ceremony. This year’s contest drew 704 entries and was judged by the SPJ members from Connecticut. Divisions spanned professional journalism, student journalism and communications.

ASMSA’s public information office received top honors in the Magazine or Publication category in the Communications Division for the Summer 2024 edition of Tangents, the institution’s annual magazine spotlighting student, employee and alumni achievement. In addition, the magazine’s cover celebrating ASMSA’s 30th anniversary was named a finalist in the Cover Design – Magazine category in the Visual Journalism Division, open to all members. Contributors to the publication and cover included Public Information Specialist Donnie Sewell, photographer Mike Kemp and Executive Director Corey Alderdice.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts is marking the successful completion this summer of its 2025 Strategic Plan that has guided the institution through a time in the school’s history that has been defined by transformational progress, perseverance in the face of global challenges and changes in Arkansas’ own educational landscape.

Titled “Sparking Innovation, Igniting Growth,” the strategic plan served as a guide to create greater educational access, expand academic vigor and promote statewide equity to benefit all Arkansans through its residential, out-of-school enrichment, digital learning and educator development programs.

While discussions began in late 2019, the plan was finalized midway through 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The uncertainty of the times helped focus discussions about the school’s pathway forward to not only find immediate solutions to those challenges but strive also to grow and adapt as necessary. A shifting educational landscape in Arkansas with the passage of the LEARNS Act in 2023 and the ACCESS Act in 2025 that highlighted expanded school choice options and an accelerated learning environment offered new challenges for all secondary institutions. The 2025 Strategic Plan placed ASMSA in a favorable position to respond to those changes.

“Strategic planning is supposed to be more than a bureaucratic exercise—it is a declaration of purpose, a statement of values and a vision for the future,” Executive Director Corey Alderdice said in the summary report. “The 2025 Plan, first drafted in early 2020, became all of that and more. What followed were five years marked by innovation and resilience. We held fast to our mission while adapting to new realities.

“These accomplishments were not the work of any one person. They are the result of dedicated faculty and staff, supportive families, engaged alumni, invested partners and (above all) curious, capable students who remind us every day why this school matters.”

When Joseph Filipek was a student at ASMSA, he had the opportunity to visit Japan twice as part of cultural and educational exchange programs.

The first trip was to the Mishima area for the Kakehashi Student Exchange Project organized by the Japan International Cooperation Center in July 2016. In September 2016, Filipek, a member of the Class of 2017, was part of the first ASMSA cohort to visit Kita High School in Hanamaki and Tennoji High School in Osaka as part of a joint Sister City and Sister School trip.

Eight years later and Filipek is back in Osaka, Japan. This time he is serving as a Sister Cities International Youth Ambassador representing the United States at the 2025 World Expo. The World Expo, sometimes known as a World’s Fair in the U.S., is a global gathering of nations with a universal theme dedicated to finding solutions to pressing challenges the world currently faces through engaging and immersive activities.

The ASMSA Quiz Bowl team won the Arkansas Governor’s Quiz Bowl Association Class 7A state tournament, defeating Bryant High School in the final match on April 26.

It is the second state Quiz Bowl title the school has ever won, following a victory in 2012 in which ASMSA defeated Conway High School for the Class 7A state title. This year was the first time since 2013 that an ASMSA team has played for the state title.

Junior Ridgely Bond was named the state tournament’s MVP. He and junior Jacob Lewis also qualified for the All-State team, making them eligible to participate in an All-Stars tournament after the season was completed. The final round of the state tournament was held in the studio at Arkansas PBS in Conway so that it could be broadcast live statewide.

Two Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts students placed in the 2025 Soybean Science Challenge, a competition sponsored by the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board and the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, at the Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair.

Juniors Bianca Navarro and Nora Medlock received an honorable mention for their project, “Using Glutathionine to Increase Salt Tolerance in Soybeans,” at the state competition. They also were recognized for their project at the West Central Regional Science in February at ASMSA. Dr. Lindsey Waddell, a geoscience and chemistry Instructor of Excellence, served as their adviser.

“Through the Soybean Science Challenge, students gain valuable insight into key issues affecting crop outcomes while deepening their understanding of sustainable agricultural practices,” said Brad Doyle, a soybean producer from Poinsett County and ASPB board chairman.

The competition encourages junior high and high school students to explore real-world challenges in soybean production and agricultural sustainability. Using soybeans and sustainable farming as the foundation for their science fair projects, students engage in hands-on research and develop practical solutions.

“Congratulations to all the students who competed in the 2025 Arkansas Soybean Science Challenge,” said Julie Robinson, the Soybean Science Challenge administrator. “The work these students do will have a lasting impact on soybean farmers and producers across the state. We hope these students will continue to study agriculture in the future.”

This year, 11 students from across Arkansas were named Soybean Science Challenge winners and earned the title of Soybean Scholar after completing six online courses. These students were recognized for science fair projects that focused on agricultural sustainability and received cash prizes funded by the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board.

High school students received $400 awards at regional science fairs, with state-level winners earning $1,000 for first place, $500 for second, and $250 for Honorable Mention.

Teachers of winning students were also honored. At regionals, high school teachers received $200 and junior high teachers received $100. At the state level, teacher awards were $300 for first place, $200 for second, and $100 for Honorable Mention.