12 youths winners
in writing contest
Twelve Arkansas pupils in kindergarten-through-third grades are winners of the 2020 Arkansas PBS KIDS Writers Contest.
The 12 writers of original stories were selected from among 145 entries that came from across Arkansas.
All 12 winning stories are available for reading on myarkansaspbs.org/writerscontest. Winners also will be featured reading their stories starting at 2 p.m. Thursday and each following Thursday throughout the summer at facebook.com/arkansaspbs; youtube.com/arkansaspbs; and myarkansaspbs.org/writerscontest.
Winners are:
• Kindergarten -- First place, Ellie Rodriguez of Cabot for "The Magic of a Swing"; second place, Emma Morgan of Conway for "Army Army"; and third place, Madison Collingsworth of Van Buren for "Emmalee and the Magic Jewel."
• First grade -- First place, Cooper Henderson of Sheridan for "Dogs Save the World"; second place, Gunner Duck of Omaha for "Ninja Puppy and the Donut Avalanche"; and third place, Kailey Wright of Centerton for "The Abandoned House in the Woods."
• Second grade -- First place, Savannah Ali of Cabot for "A Pumpkin, A Lake, A Hill, A Splash"; second place, Caroline Kay of Rogers for "A Problem with Litter"; and third place, Jaelle Dennis of Siloam Springs for "Rescue Team."
Third grade -- First place, Drew Mabry of Mena for "Amazing Andrew -- The Wheels Fall Off"; second place, Hadley Landers of Cave City for "Panda P.I."; and third place, Maggie Sims of Conway for "Dragon Big and Strong."
Entries were judged on originality, creative expression, storytelling, and integration of text and illustrations.
To keep students creating, writing and illustrating throughout the summer, Arkansas PBS LearningMedia offers a collection of online resources for parents and educators that demonstrate the elements of story writing to students. Resources can be found at myarkansaspbs.pbslearningmedia.org.
Two schools to get
charter subgrants
The Arkansas Public School Resource Center on Friday announced the award of Charter School Program Expansion Subgrant funding to Future School of Fort Smith, which will receive $1,222,233, and Maumelle Charter High School, which will receive $618,420.
Rob McGill, chief executive officer and president of Academics Plus Charter School, said the money for the Maumelle Charter High will be used to offset costs associated with building a new campus, including new furniture and a new bus.
"I am proud of our students and staff for placing us in a position to expand our program so we can serve more students," McGill said.
Trish Flanagan and Boyd Logan, co-founders of Future School of Fort Smith, said the grant will enable them "to open more doors for more students, create additional capacity for educational leadership within our community, and help our local economy through building local talent."
One of the school's missions is to connect students to the local economy through internships.
"Our team is on a mission to transform high school by being more responsive to kids while connecting them to the local economy.' The Charter School Program Expansion Subgrant will allow that, they said. "We are very grateful for the incredible support from the APSRC Team since opening our doors."
The subgrants are made possible by the $42,525,000 U.S. Department of Education Charter Schools Program State Entity Grant Awarded to the Arkansas Public School Resource Center.
Governor's School
online this year
The 41st year of the Arkansas Governor's School will be one in which the summer program for the state's talented-and-gifted, soon-to-be high school seniors forgoes campus living and goes online.
Jeff Woods, co-director of the program, announced the online plan for the program in an Arkansas Tech University website video. The university is the current host of the program that will be held July 5-Aug. 1.
Typically, Governor's School students spend four weeks during the summer living on a university campus.
"I had so hoped we could meet in person and share the magic of living and learning together," Woods said in announcing the program change made necessary by efforts to contain the spread of covid-19.
The traditional structure of the Governor's School will be unchanged, Woods said. There will be speakers, virtual field trips, projects, competitions and small community groupings just as there have been in past years, he said.
"Covid-19 has separated us, but it cannot destroy our shared love of learning," Woods said.
NW News on 06/01/2020