Six students at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts have been named 2026 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists.

The National Merit Scholarship Corp. announced the names of more than 16,000 Semifinalists in the 71^st annual National Merit Scholarship Program on Sept. 10. The students, all members of the Class of 2026, will have an opportunity to continue in the competition for 6,930 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $26 million that will be offered next spring.

The ASMSA seniors named Semifinalists are:

• Aarush Goyal of Bentonville;
• Tristan Henson of Maumelle;
• Anna Le of Fort Smith;
• Catherine Van Dorple of Cabot;
• Faith Wesley of Hot Springs; and
• Kaiyan Yu of Benton.

To be considered for the National Merit Scholarship Program, students take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as a junior. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of anticipated graduating seniors.

Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist standing, including a detailed scholarship application that includes information about a Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received.

Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The National Merit Scholarship Corp. is a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance. It was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced in four batches in the spring and summer of 2026. Winners will receive scholarships sponsored by the National Merit Scholarship Program, national corporations and businesses, and colleges and universities across the nation.

University of Arkansas System President Jay B. Silveria has announced the names of a 12-member advisory search committee set to help the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences & the Arts (ASMSA) identify a new executive director at one of the nation’s top residential high schools in Hot Springs.

Current ASMSA Executive Director Corey Alderdice announced in June his plans to step down in December after 13 years of leadership at the school. Michael Moore, Ph.D., the UA System’s vice president for academic affairs, will chair the search, working with the committee to advise Silveria as he seeks a candidate to recommend to the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas for final approval.

“Anyone who’s ever stepped foot on the campus at ASMSA or has interacted with its students knows the caliber of quality Director Alderdice has grown at the institution,” Silveria said. “The campus has an outstanding trajectory and tremendous momentum moving toward the future, and I thank Dr. Moore and all of the members of this committee for volunteering their time and efforts in ensuring the campus will be in good hands moving forward.”

The committee members include representation from the institution’s board of visitors, campus faculty and staff, parents of students, alumni and community stakeholders. Moore said his initial goal will be to create a web presence through the institution to keep students, parents and the public informed of the process, and that he is eager to get started.

“It goes without saying that we’re entering this process with student success and wellbeing in mind so the Hot Springs community and the state can continue relying on ASMSA being a high- quality institution that fosters the growth and education of some of Arkansas’s brightest learners,” Moore said. “I look forward to working with the search committee, listening to the needs of all ASMSA stakeholders, and finding the next leader to advance the legacy of ASMSA.”

The ASMSA Advisory Executive Director Search Committee Includes:

• Dr. Michael Moore, Vice President for Academic Affairs, UA System
• Dr. Marlene Battle, ASMSA Class of 1997, Director of Education for the Arkansas Pharmacists Association, ASMSA Board of Visitors Chair
• Dr. Alicia Cotabish, ASMSA Parents Advisory Council, parent
• Dr. Jack Waddell, ASMSA Class of 1999, ASMSA faculty, physics Instructor of Excellence
• Dr. Zac Cowsert, ASMSA Class of 2008, ASMSA faculty, history instructor
• Stuart Flynn, ASMSA Dean of Academic Affairs
• Dr. Patrycja Krakowiak, ASMSA, Chair of the Science Department
• Dr. Mary Leigh, ASMSA, Chair of the Arts and Humanities Department
• Maddisyn Karn, ASMSA, licensed social worker
• Brandi Brazil, ASMSA, Director of Human Resources and Campus Culture
• Eric Jackson, Senior Vice President, Oaklawn
• Donnie Sewell, ASMSA, public information specialist

About the University of Arkansas System (www.uasys.edu)

Since its inception, the University of Arkansas System has developed a tradition of excellence that includes the state’s 1871 flagship, land-grant research university; Arkansas’s premier institution for medical education, treatment and research; a major metropolitan university; an 1890 land-grant university; two regional universities serving southern and western Arkansas; eight community colleges; two schools of law; a presidential school; a residential math and science high school; and a 100 percent-online university and divisions of agriculture, archeology and criminal justice. As the premier higher education system in the state, it enrolls more than 70,000 students, employs more than 27,000 employees, and has a total budget of more than $4 billion. An intrinsic part of the texture and fabric of Arkansas, the UA System is a driving force in the state’s economic, educational and cultural advancement.

About Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts (www.asmsa.org)

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts is one of 17 public residential high schools in the country specializing in the education of academically gifted students with a STEM focus. Located in historic downtown Hot Springs, the school is the early college campus of the University of Arkansas System. For more information about ASMSA, visit asmsa.org or call (501) 622-5100.

Kira Burnett, a member of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts Class of 2025, was named a 2025 U.S. National Runner Up in the U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP) competition.

SWJP is a prestigious competition that recognizes high school students in grades 9-12 who have conducted a water-science research project. The competition was founded in 1997 by the Stockholm International Water Institute to complement the Stockholm Water Prize. The U.S. national competition was held June 19-22 at Washington University in St. Louis. Burnett qualified for the national competition by winning the state competition to represent Arkansas this spring.

Burnett was recognized for her research project, “Urbanization’s Impacts on Aquatic Ecosystems: Assessing Phosphorus Transport, Biological Health, and for Endocrine Disruptors.” She conducted the research as a student at ASMSA. Burnett observed the travel of phosphorus, a potentially harmful nutrient when in excess, within Hot Springs Creek to protect the downstream habitat of the Ouachita River. She also examined phosphorus’ effect on macroinvertebrates, which are important stream organisms, and plastic pollutants called phthalates in another body of water that leads into the Ouachita River.

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.