KIPP students set to produce mural
Students from KIPP Blytheville Collegiate High School have been selected to do a live mural project during the upcoming KIPP School Summit in Las Vegas.
KIPP Blytheville Collegiate, a charter school, was the only one of 200 KIPP schools nationally to be chosen for the honor.
The Arkansas KIPP students worked together, under the direction of art teacher Emily Ellis, to create a mural design, titled More Than Ever. KIPP educators across the country voted on the submitted proposals, and picked the Blytheville school as the national winner.
Students will travel from Arkansas to Las Vegas in late July to spend two days creating a 36-foot mural during the annual gathering of KIPP educators and partners. More than 4,000 attendees will see the work.
More Than Ever centers on a young adult. There is a glimpse of dark scenes to the left, contrasting with brighter scenes to the right to symbolize the struggles and hardships the young adult has experienced in the past. But the young adult points to the right -- to the bright and fantastic future that awaits.
The young adult symbolizes anyone, which is why no gender is depicted, according to information provided by KIPP leaders about the artwork. It demonstrates that everyone has faced hardships, but will always have opportunities to create something "more than ever" in the future. Behind the symbolized young adult, images of people from around the world blend with images of the rural Arkansas Delta to demonstrate a coming together of people. Love, peace and hope grow in the fields. The rising sun symbolizes a spirit of optimism rising across the Delta.
KIPP students contributing to the project are Rashad Veasley, Dangelo Lewis, LaCharles Pigee, Greg Robinson, Heavenly Hopper, Everett Tabunaba, Ly Hoang, Detrick Lane and Ashante Currie.
Principals named in county district
Leaders in the Pulaski County Special School District recently announced school principal changes for the 2017-18 school year.
Yolanda Harris, who has been principal at College Station Elementary School, will be principal of Chenal Elementary School.
Chenal Elementary Principal Felecia Hamilton will take the helm at William Jefferson Clinton Elementary School.
Jackye Parker, who has been the Clinton Elementary principal, is moving to the principal's job at College Station Elementary.
Mike Hudgeons will be the new principal at the district's Sylvan Hills Middle School. He most recently was principal at Jacksonville Middle School in the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District.
$20,000 will start NLR tech classes
North Little Rock Middle School is among approximately 150 middle schools across the nation to receive a $20,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation to implement computer science courses developed by Project Lead The Way, a national nonprofit organization.
The school grants are the result of $3 million provided by Verizon in addition to an earlier $5 million gift, all targeted at expanding pupil access to computer science and technology skills.
Project Lead The Way's middle-school computer science programs -- App Creators and Computer Science for Innovators and Makers -- are hands-on, project-based instructional programs. The units are designed to be engaging to students and empower them to solve problems.
Spa City student goes to arts camp
Joshua Martin, 16, a senior at Hot Springs High School, is attending Interlochen Arts Camp at Interlochen, Mich., a summer arts program for aspiring artists in grades three through 12.
Martin, the son of Shelley Martin and David Martin, is studying trumpet, music literature and chamber music, and is performing with the Interlochen Youth Orchestra.
He is a member of the award-winning Hot Springs High School Band. This past spring, as a junior in high school, Martin was first chair trumpet in both the Arkansas All-State First Band and the Arkansas All-State First Jazz Band.
Interlochen Arts Camp attracts students, faculty and staff from all 50 U.S. states and more than 40 countries to learn from world-class instructors and to produce hundreds of presentations in dance, theater, creative writing, visual arts, music and film, according to a news release.
Metro on 06/28/2017