Category: News

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts is accepting applications for 2026 Summer@ASMSA camps.

Summer@ASMSA is a program that provides free, one-week summer camps for current eighth- and ninth-grade students in all Arkansas schools as well as seventh-graders participating in ASMSA-TIP. All camp activities — including tuition, housing meals and class supplies — are free. The camps will be held on ASMSA’s campus in Hot Springs on Sunday, June 14 through Thursday, June 18.

Students may apply to participate in one of eight different camps that will provide a fun and challenging atmosphere. The camps include:

• Arkansas Goes Global: World Languages and Cultures: Campers will explore the rich connections between global languages and Arkansas’ own cultural and economic landscape. Through a focus on Spanish, French, Japanese and German, campers will discover how each language leaves its mark on the state’s history, community and industry.
• Aviation and Aerospace Engineering (Sponsored by xCelle Americas): Campers will be introduced to the different areas and tools of engineering as well as the standards of the engineering design process as they explore aerodynamics and what makes aviation possible.
• Chamber Music: Campers will expand their instrumental musical experience through ensemble performances, receive personalized instruction from experienced educators, and attend workshops on topics such as music theory and history.
• Environmental Science and Biotechnology: Campers will conduct fieldwork, find a crystal at a quartz mine in the Ouachita Mountains and learn how to evaluate the health of our ecosystems in Hot Springs National Park with immersive experiences. Preference will be given to ninth-graders.
• Ignite Camp: Campers will explore the physical and life sciences, digital and studio arts, literature and more through engaging activities led by ASMSA faculty and community partners. Preference will be given to seventh-graders in ASMSA-TIP.
• Physics in Motion: Theme Park Thrills: Mathematics and physics will come alive for campers as they investigate how concepts from geometry, trigonometry, statistics, probability and physics explain the motion, forces and design behind amusement park rides.
• StoryLab: The Writing Process Across Genres: Campers will explore how writers develop ideas, shape language and bring stories to life across multiple forms.

Application deadline is April 30.

Housing and meals will be provided in ASMSA’s Student Center, where nightly fun activities will be planned by members of the school’s Residential Life staff.

To apply for Summer@ASMSA, visit asmsa.me/summeratasmsa26. For more information, email talent@asmsa.org, call (501) 622-5116 or visit www.asmsa.org/outreach/summer-at-asmsa.

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.

Luis Vidal Jr., a senior at the Arkansas School for Mathematics Sciences, and the Arts, has been named a 2026 Regeneron Science Talent Search Scholar.

The Regeneron Science Talent Search is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science research competition for high school students. The competition sponsored by the Society for Science recognizes the nation’s most promising young scientists who are developing ideas that could solve society’s most urgent challenges, according to the organization’s website.

Vidal of Fort Smith was one of 300 Scholars chosen from a pool of 2,612 entrants from 826 American and international high schools. He is one of three scholars from Arkansas. Scholars were chosen based on their outstanding research, leadership skills, community involvement, commitment to academics, creativity in asking scientific questions and exceptional promise as STEM leaders demonstrated through the submission of their original, independent research projects, essays and recommendations.

Eight Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts students received full-ride scholarship offers in the 2025 QuestBridge National College Match Scholarship program.

The seniors who received matches include:
• Nakoa Beattie of Monticello, Smith College;
• Ridgely Bond of Marion, Princeton University:
• Bridger Foyt of Blytheville, Washington University in St. Louis;
• Jacob Lewis of Clinton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT);
• Lisandro Ramos of Little Rock, Boston College;
• Emma Sedgwick of Arkadelphia, Davidson College;
• Paola Sustaita of Sheridan, Rice University; and
• Faith Wesley of Hot Springs, Wesleyan University.

Eight matches is a new record for ASMSA. The previous high was six matches in 2024. Sixteen members of the Class of 2026 had been named finalists for the 2025 awards.

Nine Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts students earned the Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy for the Fall 2025 semester.

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.

Students who earned the seal this fall and the languages for which they earned recognition include:

• Benjamin Dong, a senior from Arkadelphia, Chinese (Mandarin);
• Alexander Cox, a senior from Russellville, French;
• Priya James, a senior from Mountainburg, French;
• Raegan Smith, a senior from Jonesboro, French;
• Sophia Lee, a senior from Russellville, French;
• Makenna Kutzschebauch, a senior from Benton, Spanish;
• Emily Lin, a senior from Little Rock, Spanish;
• Kira Marshall, a senior from Benton, Spanish; and
• Subi Shakya, a senior from Russellville, Spanish.

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.

Since the 2017 pilot year in Arkansas, a total of 8,110 students from 124 high schools around the state have attained this certification across 46 languages other than English, according to a release from the Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy Committee.

 

Three Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts students have been selected to participate in the 7^th Annual Arkansas High School Artists Competition and Exhibition sponsored by Historic Cane Hill and the University of Arkansas School of Art.

Students who had artwork selected for the exhibition include:

• Kace Capshaw, a senior from Hot Springs, “Centipede,” markers and colored pencils on paper;
• KC Cavin, a senior from Mt. Vernon, “Perryville,” acrylic on canvas; and
• Zee Kidd, a senior from Little Rock, “Fishbowl Astronaut,” ink and graphite.

The students’ pieces will be on exhibition at the Historic Cane Hill Gallery in Canehill in Northwest Arkansas through Jan. 17. The gallery is open Thursdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Participants in the exhibition were chosen through a competition open to any Arkansas high school student currently in the 10^th through 12^th grades. A jury reviewed the works submitted for consideration and selected the exhibition’s featured pieces.

Historic Cane Hill is an organization dedicated to the preservation of the historically significant structures of Canehill as well as western Washington County in Northwest Arkansas. The organization seeks to build on the legacies of architecture, education and the arts by providing programs and a venue to experience art and culture rooted in the history of the region and the Ozark Mountains. To learn more about the organization, visit historiccanehillar.org.

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts STEM Pathways program is serving a record number of students and educators across the state for the 2025-26 academic year.

The hybrid online learning and teacher professional development program aiding 4,059 students and 105 teachers throughout Arkansas through its Computer Science Plus, Advanced Biology Plus and Advanced Statistic Plus cohorts. The Computer Science Plus Program is supporting 3,620 students and 52 educators alone.

The Advanced Biology Plus program is supporting 372 students and 48 teachers. There are 67 students and five educators enrolled in the Advanced Statistics Plus program, which is in its fourth year.

“The continued strength of STEM Pathways lies in its unique approach to supporting educators,” said Lori Kagebein, director of STEM Pathways. “We’re not just providing curriculum or content; we’re building genuine partnerships with teachers across Arkansas throughout the entire school year. Our instructors serve as ‘buddy teachers,’ creating relationships built on trust where educators know they can always reach out with questions, challenges or ideas.

“That year-round availability and support fill a critical gap in professional development. Teachers don’t have to navigate advanced coursework or computer science licensure alone. They have a dedicated team at ASMSA invested in their success and their students’ success, and that makes all the difference.”

The STEM Pathways program began in 2015 with the creation of the Coding Arkansas’ Future initiative. That program offered high schools across the state the opportunity to expand their computer science curriculum while receiving guidance and professional development from ASMSA staff members. While ASMSA instructors taught some computer science courses for schools through digital learning, the main emphasis was preparing educators to gain licensure in computer science through the Computer Science Plus program as a response to the legislative need to increase the number of licensed computer science educators statewide.

That includes offering summer boot camps to introduce teachers to computer science. Those teachers receive guidance throughout the school year from ASMSA, including continuing professional development through weekly video meetings and a follow-up camp at the conclusion of the academic year. The goal is to prepare those educators to earn their license to teach computer science while also becoming the primary computer science teacher at their school. Additional camps are held throughout the school year to prepare educators for the licensure test.

The program expanded in recent years to offer a middle school coding block and the Advanced Biology Plus program. In the Advanced Biology Plus program, instructors around the state receive professional development from ASMSA’s life science specialists in the instruction of AP Biology. ASMSA’s biology teachers guide camps prior to the beginning of the school year. They then help educators prepare their curriculum for the year and provide unique lab learning activities that the individual schools may not be able to offer otherwise.

The program expanded again in 2022 with the addition of the Advanced Statistics Plus program, providing mathematics educators with instructional assistance and curriculum guidance for statistics students.

STEM Pathways is made possible in part by an annual grant from the Arkansas Department of Education.

ASMSA Executive Director Corey Alderdice noted the work of programs like STEM Pathways and the Talent Identification Program (ASMSA-TIP) are the heart of the school’s legislated mission.

“At ASMSA, we believe that talent development is not limited to one campus,” Alderdice said. “Instead, it’s a statewide commitment. STEM Pathways allows us to grow student potential through advanced coursework while simultaneously equipping teachers with the confidence, content expertise and support to sustain those opportunities long after the cohort ends.”

Schools and educators interested in participating in STEM Pathways can contact Kagebein at kagebeinl@asmsa.org. Additional details are available online at https://asmsa.me/digitallearning.