2014 Arkansas Times Academic All-Stars by Arkansas Times

APRIL 24, 2014 / ARKTIMES.COM/ NEWS + POLITICS + ENTERTAINMENT + FOOD

STARS IN THE MAKING

Meet the 20th class of Academic All-Stars, including Mount St. Mary’s Alexandra Glenn.

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A C A DE MIC A L L-S TA R S

BRIAN CHILSON

A R K A N S A S T IME S

ANDREW WILLOUGHBY

THE 20TH TOP 20 The 2014 Arkansas Times Academic All-Star Team.

t’s time again to meet our judges’ choices for Arkansas’s top 20 high school seniors. The class of 2014, our 20th, is a dizzyingly smart bunch, with rarely a B on their transcripts and near perfect test scores. They fill their lives with far more than studies; when they’re not in school, they’re shadowing doctors, building robots, growing exotic plants, playing in orchestras and volunteering overseas. Back in 1995, we created the Academic All-Star Team to honor what we called then “the silent majority — the kids who go to school, do their homework (most of it, anyway), graduate and go on to be contributing members of society.” Too often, we argued then, all Arkansans heard about young people was how poorly they were faring. Or, when students did get positive attention, it came for athletic achievement. As you read profiles of this year’s All-Stars, it should be abundantly 16

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clear that good things are happening in Arkansas schools and that academic achievers deserve to be celebrated. To mark this milestone anniversary of Academic All-Stars, we checked in with alumni to see how far the promise of high school excellence has taken them. As you’ll see on page 26, today, alumni are doctors of every variety, research scientists, international aid workers, award-winning teachers, critically acclaimed filmmakers — the dozens we managed to contact are spread out around the world doing fascinating, meaningful work. Who knows where the future will take this year’s All-Stars? We can say with some confidence that most of them will attend a ceremony at UALR this week where they’ll be honored with plaques and $250 cash awards. The final deadline for college decisions has not yet arrived. College plans listed here are, therefore, not set in stone.

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A FUTURE WITHOUT BORDERS

itting in a peaceful classroom, it might HYTHAM AL-HINDI be hard to believe AGE: 18 that there are places in the HOMETOWN: Jonesboro world where people are HIGH SCHOOL: Jonesboro High dying for a drink of water, or School a plate of food, or the right PARENTS: Ahmad and Manal Al-Hindi to go to school. One scholar COLLEGE PLANS: Vanderbilt who keeps those truths in University mind every moment he’s in class, however, is Hytham Al-Hindi. The state student actions coordinator for Amnesty International, Hytham helps plan protests and student actions all over the state. Hytham said that helping people around the world has been a passion of his from a young age. This year, for example, he has been active in discussing and staging events in opposition to U.S. drone strikes in the Middle East, and advocating for the closing of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay. Hytham said it’s amazing that people have the power to change the life of someone on the other side of the world. “Just a couple of people who take the time to write letters and petitions can save the lives of people who are oppressed for their beliefs,” he said. “I really think it’s humbling and empowering for anybody, even if you’re in high school, to do something like that — to help people around the world just by doing activist work.” Hytham currently has a 4.33 GPA and runs on Jonesboro High School’s track and cross-country teams. He has been accepted into the Ingram Scholarship Program at Vanderbilt, which will allow him to work in the summertime with groups like Doctors Without Borders and the United Nations. He plans to become a doctor, and said his parents have been a huge influence on him. “They always taught me to try your hardest, no matter what situation you’re in,” he said. “They’ve taught me to just look to the future and do your best in the present.”

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THE ACCIDENTAL ALL-STAR

orth Little Rock High School’s MCKENZI BAKER McKenzi Baker AGE: 18 said she never set out to HOMETOWN: North Little Rock be the best in her class, she HIGH SCHOOL: North Little just happened to get there Rock High School on the way to achieving PARENTS: Willie and Kathy Baker her dreams. An avid writer COLLEGE PLANS: University of from a young age, McKenzi Arkansas at Little Rock — ranked No. 1 in her class at North Little Rock High with a 4.3 GPA — said that creative writing, and fiction in particular, has always been in her blood. “I love writing. I’ve always loved writing,” she said. “It’s a very special passion of mine. It is a way for me to understand things. When I write about them, I can see things from different perspectives. It makes me understand people’s perspectives as well.” McKenzi will be attending the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where she has been offered a scholarship in the school’s Donaghey Scholars Program. After college, McKenzi hopes to turn her love of the written word into a career in the publishing industry, though she hasn’t yet decided if she wants to work for a large publishing house or start her own press. Asked why she pushes herself to succeed, she said a lot of the credit for that drive goes to her parents, though she reserves some for herself. “They were responsible for establishing my studying habits when I was little,” she said. “But a lot of that would also have to come from having a plan of what I want to do after high school. Once you have a plan of where you’re trying to go, then you can figure out what you need to do to get there. ... I just wanted to make sure that I was on the right track to get to my dreams.”

A HOME RUN

iven how challenging it is — both in terms of time and energy — to be either a star high school athlete or a standout in the classroom, JOSEPH “JAY” it’s not surprising that we BOUSHELLE can count on one hand the AGE: 18 number of Arkansas Times HOMETOWN: Fayetteville Academic All Stars over the HIGH SCHOOL: Fayetteville High School years who have also been PARENTS: Chris and Mary members of high ranking Boushelle athletic teams. At some COLLEGE PLANS: University point, most students just of Tulsa have to choose: Do I want to devote the time to my studies or to the field? One of the rare students who has done both is Fayetteville’s Jay Boushelle, who normally plays right field on his school’s varsity baseball team, crowned state champions last year. With a pop-fly of a GPA — 4.34, for those into a player’s stats — he said he’s a “math and science person” whose particular love is calculus. “It’s been a life journey for me,” he said. “The process of improving, the process of making my way up in high school teams and competitive teams. Being able to improve myself is very fulfilling.” Boushelle said that splitting his time between academics and sports can be challenging, especially during baseball season, but he’s been able to make it work. “It really gets very challenging, especially when the spring semester comes around,” he said. “I’m at school until 6 p.m. almost every day, if not later. That gives me very little time to fit in my homework. I’m in five AP classes this year, five last year, so it’s been a challenge, but I’ve been able to work my way through it, and I’ve come out on top.” On the field and off, he said, he has always been working for a brighter tomorrow for himself. “I know that might be the stereotypical answer,” he said, “but that’s absolutely true for me. ... I’m always just working toward a better future.”

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SKETCHING HER DREAMS

hough science has pretty much debunked the idea that there’s a “right brain” and a MADELEINE CORBELL “left brain,” with one dediAGE: 18 cated to creative pursuits HOMETOWN: Fayetteville and the other tied to math HIGH SCHOOL: Fayetteville and science, you might High School not be able to convince PARENTS: Mark and Leslie Corbell Fayetteville High School’s COLLEGE PLANS: University of Madeleine Corbell of that. Arkansas A math and science whiz with a grade point average of 4.14 at last count, Madeleine has come to see her artistic pursuits as a welcome respite from her more numbers-heavy passions for math and science. She’s loved sketching and drawing her whole life, she said, but never pursued it until recently. Her art has since become a sort of mental cushion when the rigors of her challenging academic schedule become too much. “I have really come to love it really as a sort of escape from the strain of everyday life,” she said. “It’s a great way to direct my energy elsewhere so that my brain can rest. I love being creative and doing things handson. It’s a really relaxing and enriching experience for me.” These days, Madeleine — recently selected as a National Merit Scholar and awarded the Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship — paints in both oils and water, sculpts, and draws in pen and ink. She’ll put her pens to good use in coming years at the University of Arkansas, where she plans to study to be an architect. “I feel like I have quite a bit of inner motivation and self-discipline, the desire to perform to the best of my abilities, and not take an easier route. I know I can do better and I want to do the best that I can. I’m sure that stems from my family’s background. My parents have always stressed the pursuit of knowledge, and that inspired a love of learning.”

PRESSED FOR SUCCESS

he best class Seth Daniell ever took was a philosophy class, part of the Arkansas SETH DANIELL Governor’s School summer AGE: 17 program at Hendrix College. HOMETOWN: Arkadelphia “We talked about what is reHIGH SCHOOL: Arkadelphia ality and what is truth,” Seth High School said. “We spent a whole 90 PARENTS: Toby and Dorothy Daniell minutes discussing whether COLLEGE PLANS: Considering a tree was more real than Belmont University and the color red or the other Ouachita Baptist University way around.” When he isn’t considering the nature of reality, Seth is usually playing music. He plays trumpet in jazz band, sings in the choir and plays French horn in his school’s marching and symphonic bands. His parents are music lovers, he said, and he’s always had a gift for it. As you might expect, he is particular about his listening habits. “I’m not a huge fan of rap or hip-hop or that kind of thing. Though some pop music, I think, is good,” he says. He cites the contemporary Christian singer Michael W. Smith as an artist he especially looks up to. Aside from music, he also participates in Quiz Bowl, which he calls an “outlet for useless knowledge,” of which he has a lot. He remembers one recent victory — what word could mean both a support element on the wing of a plane and a way of walking? (Strut.) His classmates, for reasons he prefers not speculate about, voted him “Most Likely to Succeed.” “I kind of have mixed feelings about that,” he said, “because now I kind of have to succeed or else I’ll look like even more of a failure.” He plans to study music composition in college, and hopes to eventually write film scores. He cites John Williams, Hans Zimmer and Daft Punk as influences.

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STILL COOL

“I

always felt it was cool to know things,” says Andrew Fleming. “Even if they have no real meaning.” It’s a sentiment that ANDREW FLEMING Fleming, ranked No. 1 in AGE: 18 his class at Watson Chapel HOMETOWN: Pine Bluff High School in Pine Bluff, HIGH SCHOOL: Watson Chapel embodies daily as a star High School participant in Quiz Bowl, PARENTS: David Fleming and Karla Hefty which at Watson Chapel is COLLEGE PLANS: Hendrix taken fairly seriously. The College team practices every day at lunch and three days a week after school, competing in tournaments almost every weekend. He describes earning a reputation as a smart kid early in life and enjoying it. “People would always ask me things,” he said. “That was a time when it was really cool to be smart, and I guess I never really lost that — I held onto that.” He said his best area is history, though he’s also good at “trash questions: popular culture, sports, pop music.” Fleming also takes part in Modern Arab League, most recently representing Jordan. “We always hear about these other places, and sometimes I wonder if half the people in the U.S. know what the news is talking about,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t even know.” He also sings in the choir and has been All-State for the past two years. When his school band director needed a tuba player, he asked Fleming, who had no prior experience with the instrument. “Now I’m the only tuba in the band,” he said. ”Just because he asked me to.” Fleming has been selected as a Governor’s Distinguished Scholar.

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DETERMINED TO CARVE HER OWN PATH

hen Alex Glenn told her parents ALEXANDRA GLENN that she planned AGE: 18 to join Arkansas’s first allHOMETOWN: Little Rock girls ROTC program, they HIGH SCHOOL: Mount St. Mary were more than a little Academy concerned. “Are you sure PARENTS: John and Elisabeth Glenn you want to do this?” she COLLEGE PLANS: University of remembers them saying. North Carolina at Chapel Hill “You don’t want to join the military, right?” She laughs thinking about it now, offering that they were probably worried she would “sign up and, like, go to war.” Her friends at Little Rock’s Mount St. Mary Academy were equally surprised. “When I started showing up to school in a full-on military uniform,” she said, “they were a little taken aback at first.” But as Alex explained, “I was determined.” This has been a pattern in Alex’s life. She tells a story about a taekwondo tournament she attended in the sixth grade, in which she found herself the only girl participating in a group that included nine boys in her age bracket. She came in first. “They were a little mad,” she says. She eventually earned a black belt, and is now working toward her second degree. Is she planning to join the military? She acknowledges she’s thought about it. “I really want to go into a medical career,” she says. “So I’ve thought about becoming a military doctor.” She describes a visit to a veteran’s hospital as “eye-opening,” and said it left her convinced that she would go into a career working with veterans, “maybe physical therapy or psychiatry,” she said. Either way, she’s certainly capable. As her school guidance counselor explains, “There are strong academic students, and then there is Alex Glenn.”

CLASSIC ROCKER/ SCHOLAR

rman Hemmati’s calculus teacher ARMAN HEMMATI calls him “intelAGE: 18 lectually brilliant,” while HOMETOWN: Fort Smith his English teacher settles HIGH SCHOOL: Southside High for “gifted,” noting also that School working with Arman on PARENTS: Jill and Ignacio Guerra ACT prep questions “helped COLLEGE PLANS: Washington to improve my grammar University in St. Louis skills.” In a letter of recommendation written to the Arkansas Times on Hemmati’s behalf, his guidance counselor Amy Slater notes simply, “He is brilliant.” Arman is a National Merit finalist, one of six students in the state to earn a perfect score on his ACT, and also the captain of his high school soccer team. “It’s gotten more serious lately,” he said of his soccer obligations. “There are actually things at stake.” In addition to his various academic and athletic responsibilities, Arman is also a more than competent pianist and plays keyboard and rhythm guitar in a classic rock cover band called Just The Chips (“Like ‘no salsa, just the chips,’ ” he explains). Denizens of the greater Fort Smith area music scene will no doubt will be familiar with the band’s rendition of Boston’s prog-rock anthem “Foreplay/ Long Time,” which opens with a virtuosic keyboard intro from Arman. He cites the song as his favorite to play, along with Journey’s “Separate Ways.” They’ve played “some festivals and churches” and local spots like Neumeier’s Rib Room and La Heurta Mexican Restaurant. Arman plans to keep his piano lessons up in college but won’t make it his focus. Instead, he’s leaning toward “chemistry or physics, or just theoretical math, because that stuff is cool.”

CODE CREATOR

ike many scienceminded Arkansas students, Yeongwoo Hwang chose to leave home (in his case, Jonesboro) to attend the Arkansas School YEONGWOO HWANG for Mathematics, Sciences AGE: 17 and the Arts in Hot Springs HOMETOWN: Jonesboro so he could advance beyond HIGH SCHOOL: Arkansas the calculus class offered School for Mathematics, by his high school. “It’s reSciences and the Arts PARENTS: Dr. Yeonsang Hwang ally amazing,” he said of the and Kyoungsuk Ahn school: ASMSA has 10 comCOLLEGE PLANS: Carnegie puter science classes (there Mellon University were zero at his home high school) and has made it possible for him, for example, to do research into ad hoc networks for mobile devices. He’s given back to ASMSA too, writing the code for the school’s class registration website and creating an app that allows users to upload 3-D printer diagrams from the school’s server. We may all take comfort in the fact that Yeongwoo wants to work for the government as a network security analyst; sounds like he can do the job. Yeongwoo is a multidimensional sort of guy; he enjoys hiking in the national park with his friends and he plays clarinet in the Arkansas Youth Symphony. Music, he says, is “really cool. ... Every time you play music, it’s different from what you played before ... there are so many emotions and feelings” that go into it. Which is also why he likes computer science: “Every time you write a program, you’re always creating something new.” He’ll continue to pursue computer science and engineering studies at college.

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PLANNER

atie McGraw’s high school counselor, Carla Choate, said Katie “doesn’t wait to be told what to do or to be shown how to do something. She MADISON KATE is already way ahead in her “KATIE” MCGRAW thinking and usually has a AGE: 18 plan already well in place.” HOMETOWN: Beebe So if you ask Katie what her HIGH SCHOOL: Beebe High School college and career plans are, PARENTS: Lance and Penny you get the idea that what McGraw she thinks now is what she’ll COLLEGE PLANS: Lyon College think in four years, and that is to enter medical school and specialize in anesthesiology. She knows this because she job-shadowed at White County Hospital and, while she’d hoped to shadow a cardiologist, was assigned to an anesthesiologist instead. She met him at 7 a.m., followed as he did seven surgeries, “and he told me all about the different things he was doing. … You wouldn’t expect surgery to be so calm,” she observed. Katie plans to do a dual major at Lyon, where she is attending on the full-ride Brown Scholarship, adding Spanish into the pre-med mix, with a minor in creative writing. (Why Spanish? “I’ve always wanted to go to Spain,” she said, again planning ahead.) Katie’s writing — on the need for primary care physicians — won her a first prize from the Clinton Foundation when she was just a junior. She got to meet President Clinton. “He talked to [all the contestants] for a long time about our essay ideas. ... I was kind of surprised because he actually read all of our essays.” Katie has a deep faith in God, and despite all her wide-ranging talents and honors — first in her class, National Merit scholar, winner in Stamp Out Smoking essay and poetry contests — she said her most significant achievement is “making it through school without sacrificing my Christian testimony.” She gave her career on the basketball team as an example: “There’s pressure to be ruthless on the floor and ruthless with your teammates. ... One of the things I believe is you have to love everyone just like Jesus did. Sometimes in athletics there’s a lot of jealousy that goes on and it’s really hard to keep a good, positive outlook. That’s something I’m kind of proud of myself because I haven’t really succumbed to that.”

on, on, on, to Victory...

MULTITALENTED

sther Park’s essay she submitted to be considered as an Arkansas Times Academic All-Star ESTHER PARK shows a real talent for writAGE: 18 ing, which she might put to HOMETOWN: Little Rock good use as a lawyer, one of HIGH SCHOOL: Little Rock the careers she’s considerCentral High ing: “I had my palm read once. PARENTS: Inyong Park and Miyoung Lee The lady gazed at my right COLLEGE PLANS: Brown hand, and then my left, and University or University of commented on the peculiar Pennsylvania palm lines I had. ‘Straight across the hand,’ she mused. She proceeded to tell me that I was clear-sighted and wise. I’m not sure how much of her personality reading was on divination, but after that event I began to think about my traits.” One of them: “I am essentially unable to procrastinate because it makes me feel terrible; any laziness I indulge in is usually preplanned.” You don’t become third in the senior class at Central by being lazy, that’s for sure. Besides earning a 4.46 grade point average and having 16 AP classes under her belt, Park also plays violin at Central and in the Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra, earning first runner-up at a National High School Honors Performance series at Carnegie Hall (and we all know how you get to Carnegie Hall). She said, by the way, that she hates K-pop music despite her Korean ancestry. Park also volunteers at Presbyterian Village, where she reads to residents and enjoys hearing the “interesting stories” they tell about their lives. Though Park is also considering pre-med in school, she said, “I’ve been thinking about law for a while. ... Maybe as a judge, but not a lifetime lawyer. I think that would not mess up my character, but it might tamper with it.” She could put her experience on Central’s Ethics Bowl to good use at the bar. She didn’t say so, but geology might be a good career choice: She loves rocks and fossils, picks them up whenever she travels to add to her collection of around 200. Writer, musician, volunteer, acing classes in microeconomics and calculus and Chinese and world history: Park can do it all. Can’t wait to catch up with her in 20 years, as we do with other All-Stars in this issue.

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COMPETITOR

aleigh Ramey is a serious competitor. “I like to beat people,” she said. “It’s one of the reasons I do so well. I like to be the best at everyKALEIGH RAMEY thing I do.” That takes hard AGE: 17 work, and she’s proud of the HOMETOWN: Searcy fact that she has worked her HIGH SCHOOL: Searcy High way to second in her class School of 258 students and has PARENTS: Kevin and Kelly Ramey earned a National Merit fiCOLLEGE PLANS: Harding nalist award. She didn’t alUniversity ways work hard — because schoolwork came so easily. But you’re not going to ace the eight AP classes you’ve taken without work. (She said she taught herself how to study in her junior year.) When she’s not hitting the books you might find Kaleigh playing golf, well enough to be on the school golf team and be named All-Conference. Kaleigh was born in Lubbock, Texas, but her family moved to Searcy so her father could take a job at Harding in the physical therapy program. She’s going to Harding too, and while she would have been able to attend at a much-reduced rate simply for being the daughter of a faculty member, she got a full ride for her National Merit standing. Her college plan is to pursue a double major in biology and criminal justice, and then head to graduate school to get a degree in forensic science. She wasn’t inspired by the spooky books of forensic pathologist and writer Patricia Cornwell, which is just as well since they can be fairly gruesome, but by the crime shows that she and mother enjoy watching on television. Asked how her friends would describe her, Kaleigh said “sarcastic ... but we all kind of are.” She’ll probably drop the sarcasm this summer when she goes on a mission trip to Houston to work with inner-city kinds. Then she’ll hit the links before diving in to academics again.

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TEAM PLAYER

THE COMFORT OF BOOKS

PERSONAL BESTS

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

race Thomasson credits her parents with her ideas about competition. Don’t compare your grades or swimming times with others, they said. Compare them with your own past efforts. “I strive for my personal best at everything I do, disregarding any other validation,” she wrote. She admits in an interview, almost sheepishly, that the results have never translated into Cs, though she insists GRACE THOMASSON she’d be fine with that if it was the best she could do. Not to AGE: 18 worry. Grace ranks first in her class of 111 with a 4.32 GPA. HOMETOWN: Maumelle HIGH SCHOOL: eStem Public She’s a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist. Her straight-A Charter School record covers such tough courses as AP statistics, Spanish 4, PARENTS: Bruce and Carol calculus, chemistry, history, English and environmental sciThomasson ence. Grace isn’t just a grind, piling up course credits. Louisa COLLEGE PLANS: Considering Rook, her counselor, said: “She’s not only first in her class, but Lyon and Hendrix colleges a true intellectual.” Others are equally admiring. She won an award for her off-campus internship, essentially a part-time job at the Department of Human Services compiling data for a program that moves people from nursing homes to community care. She works a couple of hours at it every day. She moved from data input to personal surveys of 370 people on how the program works. Grace thrives on such personal interaction. The personal touch explains her desire to get into biomedical engineering. She thought of learning to make “hospital gadget kinds of things,” but said, “I wanted to do something social with people.” That led her to prosthetics. She wants to learn to invent and fit prosthetic devices and talk to people about improving their lives. “That would be fun,” she says. She credits a project at UAMS, the Perry Initiative, for inspiring her. She was among a select group of girls who donned scrubs, heard talks, built things, worked on a cadaver and otherwise were shown a pathway to science careers. One lecturer, “a sweet woman who was a mom and a doctor,” persuaded her that you could be a successful doctor and have a family life, too. “If she could move into the medical world, I could, too. And I thought, well, that’s awesome.” Sort of like Grace.

Desperately seeking Olivia Tzeng: AT: We’d like to talk to you today or tomorrow. OT: I won’t be getting home until 10:30 tomorrow night because I have a soccer game to travel to right after school. Is that too late to call or is there a better time for you? I am free Saturday afternoon. AT: How about Monday? OLIVIA TZENG OT: I will be in Fayetteville all Monday morning and AGE: 18 early afternoon for their Fellowship Weekend. I should be HOMETOWN: Conway HIGH SCHOOL: Conway High free between 5 and 6:30 on Monday, though. Would that School work for you? PARENTS: Jason Tzeng and AT: How about Tuesday? Cathy Yang OT: I have a soccer game at 5:45 but my coach will want COLLEGE PLANS: Chicago, the team there at 4 to watch our JV team play. My game Vanderbilt, Duke or UA, among should be over by 7 p.m. Sorry for all the inconvenience! Sunothers day morning could work for me? Or Wednesday afternoon. What time should I expect a call? Or should I call. AT: How about 3 p.m.? OT: I will be in a Youth Leadership Session until 3:30. Would you be available at 4? Finally, we did talk with Olivia. We had been warned. Her counselor, Jeannie Moore, had told us Olivia’s high school record was a “feat,” between band, soccer and rigorous academics. And that’s not all. She has a healthy round of other activities, school and community, including a key role since her middle school years in Quiz Bowl. Olivia, whose brother Jevin, was also a Times All-Star, is ranked third in a class of 609 at Conway High, always stocked with top students. She views her busy schedule as more of a “juggling act” than a feat. But, she wrote, the activities are not merely balls, but “individual spheres of influence that represent aspects of more core self.” Some core. She’s active in the Faulkner county Youth Leadership Program, Key Club, Beta Club, Model United Nations and a raft of volunteer programs. Her 4.327 GPA came from a schedule packed with AP courses.

eam player seems a slightly unusual phrase to apply to someone so gifted in an individual sport, but Tiffany Tang uses the phrase and so does her coach about her role on the Rogers High tennis team. She’s only the third player on record to win four state championships in high school tennis — two in singles and two in doubles (with her TIFFANY TANG sister Katherine). She was undefeated in 101 matches. Though AGE: 17 singular in achievements, her influence was greater, her coach HOMETOWN: Rogers wrote. “She has a unique ability to lead the team through her HIGH SCHOOL: Rogers High gentle kindness and humble nature. Tiffany is a team-first School person. She is most proud of her two team championships PARENTS: Meng and Nga Tang COLLEGE PLANS: Rice ... a one-in-a-million kid.” Tiffany ranks second in a class of University 491 students at Rogers with a 4.38 GPA. Her ACT score of 35 is just one short of the best you can do. Her courses run the spectrum of AP work, from science to math, literature and government. “She is positive, genuine and always has a smile on her face,” said counselor Janna Gartman. Her high school life isn’t all about tennis. She’s also been a team leader (there’s that word again) in the Link Crew, which provides mentoring to freshmen students. She spent the year helping young students make the transition to their first year in high school. She’ll be off to Rice University in the fall to study mathematics. She doesn’t have clear career goals yet. “I just really like math.” Problem-solving is “fun,” she said. And she’ll be focused on it. College will end her team tennis career, though she expects she won’t stop playing a sport to which she devotes a couple of hours a day. Something has to give, though, as when she put aside competitive piano, a pastime she’d worked at since age 5. She still plays her favorite classical music, but competition? “I’m just too busy.” But, said counselor Gartman, she is never too busy not to help others. Gartman recalls a summer camp at which Tiffany quietly helped a physically challenged student participate in all the activities. “She’s always thinking of others,” she said. That’s teamwork.

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t’s a long way from China, where Christine Townsley spent her earliest years, to Rogers, Ark., where she’s managed to assimilate well enough to become a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist, top debater and a mentor to at-risk students at Heritage, where she ranks 12th in a class of 479. But she appreciates a retreat now CHRISTINE TOWNSLEY and then and does it by working in a nonprofit bookstore AGE: 17 that benefits the library. Her weeks “are loud,” she says. HOMETOWN: Rogers So weekends spent shelving books (in the sci-fi/fantasy/ HIGH SCHOOL: Heritage High horror section) are welcome. Pushing a book cart, she School finds “there is something calming in the smell of an old PARENTS: Lindel and Soonmee Townsley book, a comforting connection to the past.” Christine’s COLLEGE PLANS: Duke own past is full of movement, from China to Kansas, University back to China and then to Rogers. Her parents met at the University of Arkansas. Her mother was a native of Malaysia, with Chinese roots. Christine was born when her father worked in China and her years there equipped her with the ability to speak Chinese. She’s founded a Chinese Club at Rogers. Her counselor, Ericha Edgar, said the experience has forced Christine to redefine her cultural identity and also to stretch herself in less familiar subjects. There’s no doubt she’s got a gift for science and math. She finds applied engineering appealing, which explains a past summer program at UA and a plan to major in biomedical engineering at Duke. “It’s a way I could help,” she says, and a hands-on discipline to “really see the effects of what you are researching.” If it doesn’t work out, she says matter of factly, there’s always med school. She dropped debate after a successful season last year. Too many demands from a rigorous AP courseload and leadership of Chinese, math and engineering clubs.

MyFuture@Work

Trevor Collin s – Maumelle E-Commerce Sophomore Digital Strate gy Intern Likes Making Videos

I chose UALR to expand on the educational opportunities I started at eStem High School. I live on campus but am still close to home. I’ve been able to host a TV show, do public speaking, and have a close connection to students and faculty, my family away from home.

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Check us out • ualr.at/allstar • #UALR

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A C A DE MIC A L L-S TA R S

FUTURE LEADER, ENGINEER

li Westerman is a natural born leader. A four-year letterman in track and football, he served as team captain in both as a senior. He made All-Conference in football and was named Arkansas Scholar Athlete of the Year. But Eli said that more than awards, sports helped him develop his leadership skills — “to speak up and lead people, and to lead by example.” ELI WESTERMAN It’s no surprise, then, that Westerman became Student Council AGE: 18 president. He was inspired to run after Fountain Lake extended HOMETOWN: Hot Springs school times “in a way that I felt was not really democratic.” He HIGH SCHOOL: Fountain Lake ran on a platform opposing the change and pushing for more High School transparency in government. “I worked my tail off to try and get PARENTS: Bruce and Sharon it revoked,” Eli said, and though he wasn’t able to get the hours Westerman changed, he said, “I think the fact that I’ve taken that stand, that’s COLLEGE PLANS: Yale what’s important in the end.” Sound like anyone? Eli’s dad, Rep. University Bruce Westerman, was the Majority Leader in the Arkansas House of Representatives and is now running for Congress in the Fourth District. Eli said he wouldn’t completely rule out running for office himself someday, but “right now that’s not what I’m looking for.” Instead, he’s following in the footsteps of his father, an engineer; Eli plans to study biomedical engineering at Yale next year. “I realize that my favorite thing to do is solve problems, whether that’s student government or athletics or in the classroom, I just love solving problems. That’s basically what engineers do. Maybe that’s what God has given me as a task to do on this side of the dirt.” In addition to founding his school chapters of the National Honor Society and the Science Club, Eli successfully sought a grant to found a Robotics team at his former middle school. He wanted to foster enthusiasm for learning among younger students and give them an outlet beyond just making A’s. Eli served as a coach and mentor to the kids, who created robots that completed various challenges, and also developed a program to educate the community about preparedness for natural disasters. In addition to all of his activities and athletics, Eli — a National Merit finalist — took a whopping 11 AP courses and finished first in his class with a 4.23 GPA.

GREEN THUMB

hen Andrew Willoughby was 6 years old, the family’s cat clawed a hole in one of the leaves on a rubber fig plant his parents had. Andrew, naturally curious, was fascinated by the sticky white sap that oozed out. Thus began an interest in plants that has become the passion of his life. When his grandmother gave him a houseplant as a ANDREW WILLOUGHBY present, he found he had a natural green thumb — now if his AGE: 17 family asks what he wants for Christmas or a birthday, well, HOMETOWN: Little Rock they already know the answer. “I made an Amazon wishlist HIGH SCHOOL: eStem Public and filled it with plants,” Andrew said. “Here’s a link, order Charter School whatever you want and I’ll grow it. ... And ever since I’ve had PARENTS: Dorothy and Bill any kind of money of my own, I’ve spent it on plants.” Among Willoughby the plants he’s currently growing: several young citrus trees COLLEGE PLANS: University of (the lemon tree is his favorite), hot peppers, herbs, ornamental Oklahoma grasses, cacti. Andrew is heading to University of Oklahoma next year where he plans to study, of course, botany. He’s also interested in biotechnology and synthetic biology. He recently contributed to a Kickstarter project to genetically modify a plant to glow. “That’s the kind of thing I’d like to do,” Andrew said. “That is amazing to me and I like to think about all the possible applications of that and all the problems you could solve. Creating transgenic plants that could produce medicines, biofuels, perfumes.” Andrew said he loves science because it involves the practical application of math, and numbers have always come naturally to him (he fondly remembers his dad helping him with multiplication when he was just 3 or 4 years old). After finishing every math class on offer after his junior year, eStem had to add math classes this year to keep up with his needs. Andrew also pursued more advanced study in science and math on his own via open-source college courses online. In addition to his success in the classroom and turning his home into a veritable garden, Andrew — National Merit finalist — found time to captain the Quiz Bowl team, intern at the Democratic Party of Arkansas, and play clarinet and piano. 24

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WALKING ENCYCLOPEDIA

en Winter thought it would be cool, he said, to participate in a research fellowship at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences last summer. What he didn’t expect: It turned out to be a “life-altering experience that set me on the path to doing science as a career.” Working with cutting-edge equipment to research BENJAMIN WINTER stem cells and cancer, Ben was like a kid in a candy store. AGE: 18 “It was wonderful, just a really great environment for me,” HOMETOWN: Little Rock he said. “It was a place where I can imagine myself being HIGH SCHOOL: Episcopal happy in a career and fulfilled — a place where I can just Collegiate School kind of discover and experiment to my heart’s desire.” A PARENTS: Douglas and Angela Winter passion for scientific research runs in the family — Ben’s COLLEGE PLANS: University of grandfather was dean of research at UAMS, where he Virginia worked in biochemistry. “He passed away a few years ago but I’ve gotten to go back through some of his notes and look at what he was doing when it was happening, which was really interesting,” Ben said. Getting a peek at his grandfather’s work on the sodium-potassium pump from years ago was inspiring to Ben, whose hope now is to eventually do research in biology, too, perhaps with a focus on stem cells. Something else Ben might have gotten from his grandfather: He’s more than just a science whiz. “He was just an encyclopedia,” Ben said. “He had books all around his home — about architecture, poetry, Dickens novels. I kind of picked it up and I’ve always had an appreciation for a whole bunch of different things.” Ben writes poetry, was the captain of the Quiz Bowl team, runs track and makes chainmail shirts in his spare time. He serves as class vice-president, participates in Student Congress and was elected Speaker of the House at Boys State. A National Merit finalist who scored a perfect 36 on his ACT, Ben managed all these activities while maintaining a 4.5 GPA, first in his class.

WELL ROUNDED

lex Zhang is clearly a brilliant student — an ACT score just shy of perfect, second in his class with a 4.47 GPA — but don’t try to pigeonhole him. He is a photographer, a guitarist, a theater fanatic, a poet. He’s a star debater, will soon become an Eagle Scout, and has a passion for teaching and mentoring younger students. Alex, who ALEXANDER ZHANG plans to study political science, philosophy and economics at AGE: 17 Yale next year, said that though he likes science and math, he HOMETOWN: Little Rock rebels against the stereotype of Asian-American students. He HIGH SCHOOL: Little Rock sacrificed a potential valedictorian slot to pursue his passions, Central High School giving up the additional AP class he would need to secure PARENTS: Xuming Zhang and the top ranking so that he could captain the debate team and Monica Cai take a creative writing class, because those were the things COLLEGE PLANS: Yale he “really loved,” he said. Though he’s had a dominant record University in Arkansas as well as national success, he said his favorite part about debate is mentoring younger debaters. “It’s that feeling of community in our debate squad,” he said. “You can’t match it anywhere else.” As for writing — for which Alex has won several national awards — he said, “Writing lets me explore things that I never get to do in real life.” He’s written everything from science fiction to poetry about his experiences as an Asian American living in the South (some of his amazing slam poetry is online; check it out). There aren’t enough pages in this paper to cover all of Zhang’s wide range of impressive achievements. He’s been an editor of the Central High Memory Project, an oral history project. Along with three other students, he presented a film on Asian-American slam poetry at the CAAMFest in San Francisco, one of the largest Asian-American film festivals in the country. He’s won awards for his conceptual photography projects and is now doing senior portrait photography around Little Rock. (“The camera is like my third eye,” he said. “It’s about self-exploration. I feel like myself when I take photographs.”) He does drama tournaments, solo mime-improv performances and has acted as the lead in plays at the Arkansas Arts Center. “There are never enough hours in the day,” Alex said, “but I just do what I love to do.”

CONGRATULATIONS

TO THE 2014 ARKANSAS TIMES

ACADEMIC ALL-STARS Jay Boushelle Fayetteville High School

Eli Westerman Fountain Lake High School

Madeleine Corbell Fayetteville High School

Tiffany Tang Rogers High School

Seth Daniell Arkadelphia High School

Andrew Willoughby eStem High School

Alexandra Glenn Mount St. Mary Academy

Grace Thomasson eStem High School

Andrew Fleming Watson Chapel High School

Benjamin Winter Episcopal Collegiate School

Katie McGraw Beebe High School

Christine Ruth Townsley Heritage High School

Arman Hemmati Southside High School

Alexander Zhang Central High School

Esther Park Central High School

Olivia Tzeng Conway High Schol

Yeongwoo Hwang Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

McKenzi Baker North Little Rock High School

Kaleigh Ramey Searcy High School

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A C A DE MIC A L L-S TA R S

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Academic All-Star alumni are scattered around the world, still succeeding.

o mark the 20th anniversary of our first Academic All-Star class, we put out a call for All-Star alumni to let us know what they were up to. Based at least on those who responded, being selected as an Academic All-Star appears to be a strong predictor for future success. Aside from who/what/when/where ques-

tions, we asked all those below to give advice to their highschool self (though not everyone played along); All-Stars of 2014, take heed. A note to those All-Star alumni who missed our call for info (or their friends or parents): We still want to hear from you! Drop us a line at arktimes@arktimes.com.

1995 RANI CROAGER

Central High School Social entrepreneur, Oakland

Say you are interested in social justice, thanks to a multicultural background that has made you sensitive to all manner of issues, and want to teach or maybe go to law school. But you’ve just graduated from Duke University and you’ve got a load of student loans to pay back. Do you take a satisfying but low-paying job and stretch those loans out forever or take on more debt to go to law school? Rani Croager did neither. After she earned a degree in math and economics at Duke, Croager — one of the Arkansas Times’ first All-Stars in 1995, Indian by birth and adopted by parents of English and Indian-Chinese ancestry — made a different plan: Work a couple of years at a higher-paying job, then pursue her dream. She got a job at Stephens 26

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Inc., where the two years stretched to a decade of learning the ins and outs of investment banking. Croager, 36, now calls herself a “reformed investment banker turned social entrepreneur.” The experience she gained at Stephens and later at Credit Suisse, she said, “was a great platform to learn about business, capitalism, how deals get done.” But she shook off the “golden handcuffs,” she said, in 2008 and started Oakland Cooperative Education Ventures, to help students get a business education with a lower burden of debt. The

combined nonprofit/for-profit venture is, she believes, the first of its kind in the United States, one that uses a cooperative model of student and worker ownership — sort of like the employeeowned REI sports gear company for education. As part of Oakland Cooperative, Croager and business partner Seyed Amiry have launched Uptima Business Bootcamp, where student members of the co-op will be buying into the school with their tuition fees. As investors, they’ll eventually recoup their fees from profits earned by the cooperative and have

a say in the running of Uptima. The nine-month program will offer training in business start-ups, including funding, scaling and marketing. “We are creating a real community, where business owners are investing in each other,” Croager said. Croager is also working on a cooperative technical institute that would provide cooperating employers with skilled workers they need; both workers and employers would be owners. The first institute will be located in Oakland and its first classes will start at the techsupport level, preparing students for a Microsoft certification. She likened the school to the Mondragon Corp. in Spain, a worker cooperative founded in the 1950s by graduates of a technical college that is now a global enterprise. Croager said she’d love to “bring this model over to Arkansas. ... Our goal over time is to start setting up cooperatives in other parts of the U.S. and we specifically look at areas where there could be a high need.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

I knew I’d be throwing fastballs on the field, but I didn’t know I’d be on the fast track to Physical Therapy school.

Mason Reynolds, Senior, Biology Major at Tech Field

At Arkansas Tech, you’ll be able to excel in more ways than you thought. We offer all five of the most sought after degrees and we’ve added more than 50 new programs of study in the past two decades. Tech has one of the highest graduation rates in the state because we’re committed to providing the highest quality education, and the best overall experience for our students. With Greek Life, campus recreation and various student activities available both on campus and in the surrounding area, you’re sure to find your place at Tech. Take a tour of campus and discover what you don’t know about Tech. Get started at discover.atu.edu.

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AMY DRAKE WILSON

Rogers High School Doctor, Zionsville, Ind.

Wilson is a pediatric nephrologist and teacher at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis. She got her medical degree at Johns Hopkins and a master’s in science at the University of Cincinnati, where she also did her pediatric and pediatric nephrology fellowship training. She has two kids, ages 8 and 4. Advice she would give her 18-year-old self: “You’re not going to get me to go there!” she told the Times.

KIISHA MORROW

Pine Bluff High School Lawyer, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Morrow got a B.A. at Harvard and J.D. at Harvard Law, and was a corporate lawyer for in Manhattan two years before becoming a mentor for student interns of color at a nonprofit. She is now head of diversity and inclusion initiatives at Cravath, Swaine and Moore LLP, the firm where she began her legal career. Education is a passion, and she serves on the board of a Brooklyn charter school. She says she can often be found at Brooklyn Nets games (“I remember my days cheering for the Zebras!”).

CRYSTAL MORRISON

Arkansas School for Mathematics and Science, Hot Springs Scientist, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Morrison, who hailed from Bismarck, got her B.S. in chemistry at the University of Missouri-Rolla and her

master’s in science and Ph.D. in macromolecular science and engineering at the University of Michigan. She is now the principal investigator and senior materials scientist at R.J. Lee Group; her specialty is polymers, foams, elastomers, adhesives and composites. She is also an expert in “life extension programs” in nuclear weapons systems. She had advice for students at what is now the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Science and the Arts: “ASMS is an environment where you truly have the opportunity to learn from everything and everyone around you. Take advantage of that fully. ... You learn that no matter where you came from, you’re all at the same starting line at ASMS. ... And best of all, you learn that you are at the footstep of a giant world full of wonder and opportunities.”

JOSEPH LEASE

Lake Hamilton High School, Hot Springs College professor, Macon, Ga.

Lease got his bachelor’s degree in English at Fayetteville and an MAT at Duke University in Durham, N.C., where he taught high school English for a couple of years. He completed his doctorate degree from the University of Georgia in 2012 and now is assistant professor of English at Wesleyan College. Lease said he “got a kick out of reading the profiles from the original [Arkansas Times] article,” in which he was quoted as saying, “I love a good book” and that he enjoyed conversations with his friends. He made that love of literature and discussion a career.

b h s l r. e d u

a commitment beyond academics nursing histotechnology occupational therapy assistant

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medical technology nuclear medicine technology radiography sleep technology surgical technology

ARKANSAS TIMES

BRENT RAGAR

Cabot High School Doctor, Chelsea, Mass.

After graduating from the University of Arkansas and Washington University School of Medicine, Ragar completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital. Today, he’s unit chief of Mass General’s largest community health center and serves on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. During an earlier twoyear stint working on the Zuni Indian Reservation in New Mexico, he helped start the Zuni Youth Enrichment Proj-

ect, a nonprofit aimed at improving child health on the reservation. “Be more appreciative of everyone along the way and recognize how much individuals and systems are responsible for success,” Ragar said he’d tell his high school self. “Hard work is only part of the equation and would not have been enough without all of the wonderful mentors and teachers that I had.”

1996

MIKAEL WOOD

North Little Rock High School Pop music writer, Los Angeles

From 2000 until 2012, Mikael Wood wrote for the biggest music and entertainment magazines in the country — Rolling Stone, SPIN, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard. For the last year and a half, he’s been a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times covering music. “I’ve ended up working at the intersection of two collapsing industries,” he said recently. “If you’re wearing your journalism hat and not you’re careersecurity hat, this is a tremendously exciting time. There are so many stories.” It helps that Wood is omnivorous when it comes to music. An L.A. Times staff memo announcing his hire praised him for being “as comfortable dissecting and assessing the world of hip-hop and R&B as he is country, gospel and bubblegum pop.” His byline has appeared recently on stories about Lady Gaga, the “Frozen” soundtrack and the awardshow showdown between the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. Wood partially credits the influence of his father, Tom Wood, a longtime DJ and radio programmer in Little Rock, who toted Mikael and his brother to the studio and to concerts. Also, where a lot of music-besotted teenagers grow up playing in garage rock bands, Wood spent his high school years playing in Soophie Nun Squad, perhaps the strangest band

in recent memory to achieve wide popularity in Central Arkansas. They counted David Bowie, Salt N Peppa and Rites of Spring as influences; generally incorporated costumes and puppet shows into their performances, and once excited a house party in Little Rock so much that a floor caved in. The band got big enough to tour Europe. Another band of Wood’s, who was born Michael, led him to alter the spelling of his name. The band was called K, and Wood thought it would be cool to promote it by swapping the “ch” in his name for “k”. Gradually, it stuck. Because it was a unique spelling and there are other Michael Wood freelance writers, it later became useful. “It started out as a dumb high school thing and ended up being a vaguely savvy professional thing,” Wood said. Wood worked on the daily paper at Northwestern University, where he attended college, and started freelancing for other papers and alt-weeklies while still in college to a level that, by the time he graduated, he had enough writing gigs to survive. “To the extent that I have any advice to anyone,” Wood said, “I always say that you’re going to have to work [for a time] for free or appalling low.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

Apply online at bhslr.edu For additional information please call 501-202-6200 or 1-800-345-3046. Baptist Health Schools Little Rock does not discriminate on the basis of age, color, creed, physical challenges, gender, marital status, race, national origin, or religion. Gainful employment and consumer information can be found at bhslr.edu/outcomes

11900 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock, AR 72210

Congratulations to the Catholic High School Class of 2014 (Our 84th Graduating Class)

“Remember the Lord in all that you do, and He will show you the right way.” P rov e r b s 3 : 6

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CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL FOR BOYS

6300 Father Tribou St., Little Rock, Arkansas 72205 (501) 664-3939 www.lrchs.org

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JOHN CLAY KIRTLEY

Camden Fairview High School Pharmacist, Little Rock

After attending Ouachita Baptist, Kirtley received his doctor of pharmacy degree from UAMS. Since 2011, he’s served as the executive director of the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy.

RASHOD OLLISON

Sylvan Hills High School Pop culture critic, Norfolk, Va.

Ollison, a University of Arkansas graduate, is entertainment writer and pop culture critic at The Virginian-Pilot, the state’s largest daily metro paper. In the last three years, he’s won five national writing awards from The Society for Features Journalism. He’s working on a memoir, tentatively titled “Soul Serenade,” about searching for his father and himself through the family record collection. Previously, he was pop music critic for The Baltimore Sun and music columnist for Jet.

1997

MARTHA BRANTLEY

Little Rock Central High School Nonprofit business development director, New York

Brantley, the daughter of Times senior editor Max Brantley, is director of business development for the Clinton Foundation’s agriculture work. She calls New York home, but spends 40 to 50 percent of her time overseeing projects in Malawi, Myanmar, Rwanda and Tanzania. She graduated Yale with honors and spent her early post-collegiate years working as a business consultant, an equity investor for a global bank and, later, at a large hedge fund. She said that a few years ago, she decided that she wasn’t passionate about that work. She started at the Clinton Foundation as a volunteer.

Arkansas School for Mathematics and Science, Hot Springs Librarian, Geneva, N.Y.

Isaac Chung, from the tiny Northwest Arkansas town of Lincoln, is an awardwinning filmmaker who has screened his films at festivals around the world, including Cannes. “Munyurangabo,” the debut film of the second-generation Korean American (the only minority in the class of 1997 at Lincoln High School), made on location in Rwanda with Rwandan actors, won grand prize at the American Film Institute Festival after its Cannes screening and has received wide critical acclaim. Roger Ebert said it was “in every frame a beautiful and powerful film — a masterpiece.” Chung wasn’t supposed to be a filmmaker. As a high school senior — then going by his first name, Lee — he told the Times he wanted to be president, an aspiration he said recently he didn’t remember. “Apparently, at age 18, I had the hubris of a 5-year-old,” he said. Once he got to Yale, he chose ecology as a major with an eye toward going to medical school. His senior year, to fulfill a graduation requirement he long put off, he took a film production course, where he was exposed to foreign and art house films for the first time. “I just really fell in love,” he said. “I found that I was spending all my time working on films.” His parents weren’t pleased. Chung told them he wanted to go to film school and be a filmmaker, not a doctor, just before a family trip to Disney World. “I remember standing in line waiting to get on a ride with my dad and mom just berating me on my decision. We’d go on this two-minute ride, and then it’s back to them telling me I’m wasting my life.” They’ve simmered down today, Chung said, though they still worry about the stability of the film industry. So does Chung; he and his wife recently had a child. “I’m definitely starting to think I gotta make some money.” He’s also had a “personality change” and wants to make films that his parents can enjoy. “The films I’ve made so far can be a kind of opaque for a lot people,” Chung said. “I’m ready to branch out.”

McDonald, the systems librarian at Hobart & William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y., graduated cum laude from Yale and received his masters in information science from the University of Michigan. But he wishes he would’ve been more adventurous as a student, though he left home in Leslie to attend ASMS. “I would tell my high school self to take more academic risks, the earlier the better. One of the most important skills you can pick up in life is how to go about learning something that is completely new and unfamiliar. And there’s just something wonderful about being able to say, ‘I don’t know a single word of Chinese. It might turn out that I hate it or am terrible at it, or it could be my undiscovered passion, but I’m going to spend the next term finding out.’ You don’t get too many opportunities to do that in life.”

Lincoln High School Filmmaker, New York

BUSINESS e e r F CHECKING 30

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BRIAN MCDONALD

ISAAC CHUNG

His second feature, “Lucky Life,” was inspired by the poetry of Gerald Stern. His latest, 2012’s “Abigail Harm,” reinterpreted the Korean folktale “The Woodcutter and the Nymph” and starred Amanda Plummer. All were made on micro-budgets. “Munyurangabo” came about after Chung’s wife, a longtime volunteer in Rwanda, asked him to travel to the country with her. There, he decided to teach locals filmmaking by drawing them into a real film project. He and frequent creative partner Samuel Anderson sketched out a story about two young men on a trip from the capital, Kigali, to the home of one the boys. The weight of the 1994 genocide — where at least 800,000 Tutsis and dissident Hutus were killed — is “underscored by the absence of graphic physical evidence,” according a New York Times review of the film. The experience sparked a film industry in Rwanda. Chung created a production company, Almond Tree Rwanda, in Kigali to channel equipment and money donated in the U.S. to Rwandan filmmakers. It’s been a success. Rwandan filmmakers now run a self-sustaining business fueled by for-hire film work such as documentaries, commercials and wedding videos. “A lot of men and women have jobs,” Chung said. “They’re making their films. They’re starting to get recognition for their work in international film festivals.” Chung, who lives in New York but will move soon to Los Angeles with his family, plans to return to Rwanda next year to finish a fiction-documentary on a Rwandan friend. Another future destination? Arkansas, to film a script set in his home state that he said he’s “finally started working on.”

1998

RICHARD BRUNO

Parkview Magnet High School Doctor, Baltimore

Bruno knew he was going to be a doctor at age 18 as he was headed off to Princeton University, his AllStar profile indicates. He got his medical degree at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Ore., and is now a family medicine resident. He also directed the VACUUM Project (Voices and Concerns of the Uninsured and Underinsure Millions), filming patient stories. His advice to his high-school self: “Keep it up! Your ideas and passions will inspire others and connect you with like-minded individuals who can work with you to build your shared visions of improving our planet.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

Where small businesses get rewarded.

Honoring the Class of 2014

CLASS OF 2014 HIGHLIGHTS · 2 Presidential Scholar Nominees · 7 National Merit Finalists and 1 National Achievement Finalist · Average ACT score of 28; 40% of class scored a 30 or above on the ACT · Morehead-Cain, Jefferson Scholar, and Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship Honorees

Ben Winter

· Performed over 9,200 hours of community service in high school

Academic All-Star TEAM Episcopal Collegiate School, Class of 2014

University of Virginia, Class of 2018 Jefferson Scholar The Episcopal Collegiate School Class of 2014 Congratulates Classmate Ben Winter on his designation as an Academic All-Star

· Multiple state, regional, and conference athletic championships · Multiple state, regional, and conference fine arts recognitions

Jackson T. Stephens Campus 1701 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, Arkansas

Serving Grades Pre-K3 thru 12.

www.episcopalcollegiate.org | 501.372.1194 Episcopal Collegiate School welcomes students of any race, color, religion, and national or ethnic origin.

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SARA MANNING DREW

North Little Rock High School Nonprofit director, Little Rock

Drew is the development director of Literacy Action of Central Arkansas and is on the board of directors of KUAR, St. Joseph’s Center, the Museum of Discovery and Children’s House Montessori. She also volunteers with the Humane Society and historic preservation organizations (she expressed an interest in anthropology and archeology as a high school senior) and is interested in environmental issues. Her husband and son are her top priorities. Advice she would give her 18-year-old self: “You are fine the way you are. Stop trying to act different to please others and enjoy being yourself! You rock!”

MARIAH HARDER REESCANO

Alread High School Teacher, Little Rock

A theater arts major at Hendrix who earned a master’s in education theory from Arkansas State University, Reescano was named Teacher of the Year this year at Booker Arts Magnet, where she has taught drama to K-5 pupils for 11 years. She works with the Arkansas A+ program of the THEA Foundation as a fellow, working with teachers on

integrating the arts and creativity into academic subjects. Reescano said this was the advice she should have given herself: “Stop worrying about being from such a small town and wondering how you’ll do in the bigger world. You’ll adjust just fine.”

MARIBETH MOCK

1999

Little Rock Central High School Biotechnologist, Sunnyvale, Calif.

ROSS GLOTZBACH

Little Rock Central High School Investment banker, Memphis

Glotzbach, a Princeton graduate, is deputy director of research and a principal at Southeastern Asset Management in Memphis. In his spare time, he has taught financial seminars at the University of Memphis and served as treasurer for Ballet Memphis.

KASEY MILLER NEAL

Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School School teacher, Little Rock

After teaching regular math classes at Horace Mann Middle School for nine years, Miller now works as math coach for

Horace Mann. She was named the 2013 Little Rock School District Middle School Teacher of the Year in 2013. She received her bachelor’s and master’s in education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

A Presidential Scholar in high school, Mock graduated from Stanford with a degree in biology and a minor in Japanese and then spent a year teaching English at Ehime Medical School in Shikoku, Japan. She now works for biotechnology firm Labcyte Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif. She has a blue belt in Aikido.

2000

ANDREW BRILL

Fayetteville High School Nonprofit staffer, Fayettevile

Brill, who received his undergraduate degree from Austin College and his master’s in literature from Boston College, works as a staffer for Fayetteville’s Lightbearers Ministries, a nonprofit that

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uses rental profits from residential ministry properties to fund mission projects overseas.

TOBY CHU

Little Rock Central High School Environmental analyst, Houston

After graduating from Duke with a major in biology, an internship with Audubon Arkansas inspired Chu to attend the University of California Santa Barbara to get a master’s degree in environmental sciences and management. She now works near Houston for Entergy as an environmental analyst. “I get to protect birds from power lines, train linemen, and generally help keep the company stay in environmental compliance,” she said.

ALLEN FROST

Conway High School Ph.D. student, Stanford, Palo Alto, Calif.

After graduating from Swarthmore College with high honors, Frost taught high school English for four years — including, for three years, at an international school in Hong Kong. He’s currently pursuing his Ph.D. in English at CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

Fountain Lake Schools salute

ELI DANIEL WESTERMAN 2014 ARKANSAS TIMES ACADEMIC ALL-STAR NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLAR ARKANSAS AIR GUARD SCHOLAR ATHLETE OF THE YEAR FOUNTAIN LAKE HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2014 YALE UNIVERSITY CLASS OF 2018

ANOTHER

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Stanford University. In 2011, he won the university’s Centennial Teaching Assistant Award.

Watson Chapel High School Watson Chapel School District

Watson Chapel High School

Congratulates

Andrew Fleming And All The 2014 Arkansas Times

Academic All-Stars

Alex Glenn

Must Be A Mount Girl! “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” - Romans 8:28 Mount St. Mary Academy would like to congratulate Alex for her outstanding accomplishments. She exemplifies the Mercy values in all that she does and exhibits the well-rounded qualities of what it means to be a “Mount girl.”

JOSHUA HILL

Brinkley High School Network engineer, Little Rock

Hill works as a data network engineer for Verizon Wireless in Little Rock. He received his degree in electrical engineering from the University of Arkansas and his MBA from University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

2001

DAVID DEITZ

Wilbur D. Mills University Studies High School Health care analyst, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Deitz graduated summa cum laude from the University of Arkansas, where he was student body president, with majors in biophysical chemistry, philosophy, political science and European Studies and a minor in mathematics. He then received a full ride to Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, where he received a master’s degree in history, philosophy and sociology of science, technology and medicine. After graduation, he helped grow Richard Branson’s health care start-up, Virgin Care, by 800 percent and was named employee of the year of the company in 2012. He now lives in Abu Dhabi and works on quality improvement and cost reduction for Abu Dhabi Health Services Co., the primary care provider in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

ANN GLOTZBACH

Little Rock Central High School Entrepreneur, Buenos Aires

501.664.8006 | www.mtstmary.edu 34

APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

Ann Glotzbach, a Princeton graduate like her brother and fellow AllStar Ross Glotzbach, is the CEO and founder of Puentes, a business focused on providing

“customized and meaningful internships” in Buenos Aires. Previously, she worked for the Thomas J. Watson Foundation in New York and started the Buenos Aires office for TerraCycle, a U.S.-based recycling company.

2002

COLLEEN BARNHILL

Little Rock Central High School Lawyer, Little Rock

Barnhill is a lawyer in the Pulaski County Public Defender’s Office. Before law school and after graduating from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., she worked as an AmeriCorps VISTA member in Colorado Springs, Colo. where she helped implement service-learning programs and projects in low achieving public schools.

2003

JAMIE KERN GIANI

Fort Smith Southside High School Lawyer, Fort Smith

Giani serves as career law clerk for federal district Judge P.K. Holmes III in Fort Smith. She came to the job with a sterling educational resume: She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Arkansas with majors in political science, Spanish, international relations and a co-major in Latin American Studies. At Vanderbilt University, which she attended on a Chancellor’s Scholarship, she interned with the nonprofit team of prosecutors who represented the families of those killed allegedly on order from former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. Later she interned for a semester at the United States Embassy in Buenos Aires, where she met her husband.

HEATHER MAHURIN

El Dorado High School Lawyer, Austin, Texas

Mahurin made the president’s honor roll all eight semesters at University of Florida. She attended University of Texas law school and now serves as legal counsel for the Texas Municipal League. In her spare

There’s never been a better time to go to college or an easier way to apply for financial aid

The Arkansas Department of Higher Education reviews and approves academic programs for the state’s 11 public universities and 22 public two-year colleges. In addition, the agency is responsible for distributing approximately $150 million annually from state revenues and lottery funds in the form of financial aid. For complete information about our programs, visit www.adhe.edu to review program rules and regulations. The eligibility requirements and rules governing the programs administered by ADHE are subject to legislative and regulatory amendments. Please e-mail the Financial Aid Division at finaid@adhe.edu for additional information.

• Application period is from January 1 to June 1 for upcoming academic year • Must complete FAFSA as well as YOUniversal scholarship application • Download free YOUniversal app for any smart phone

ARKANSAS ACADEMIC CHALLENGE SCHOLARSHIP T he Arkansas Academic Challenge Program provides educational assistance to Arkansas residents in pursuit of a higher education. Additional funding made possible by the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery has allowed the expansion of the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship to provide higher education opportunities to previously underserved Arkansans (traditional, currently enrolled & nontraditional college students). Eligibility requirements for the Academic Challenge Scholarship are based on two student categories: Traditional (Current year high school graduates) and Nontraditional Students.

HOW TO APPLY Take advantage of the online universal application. It’s your one-stop shop for state and lottery funded financial aid. With the new online application you can: • Search and apply for scholarships and grants • Create your account • Check your status • Receive alerts and notices through email • Manage your account 24/7

AWARD AMOUNTS: The Arkansas General Assembly sets award amounts annually. Once determined, the amounts will be posted on the ADHE website - www.adhe.edu.

Advertising Supplement to Arkansas Times

BASIC ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: An applicant must: • Be an Arkansas resident and U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident • Be accepted for admission at an approved Arkansas institution of higher education in a program of study that leads to a baccalaureate degree, associate degree, qualified certificate or a nursing school diploma • Not have earned a baccalaureate degree • Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) (although there will be no income cap)

ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR THE TRADITIONAL STUDENT: • Enroll in fall semester immediately after high school • Enroll full-time each semester • Graduate from high school in current school year • Meet one of the following criteria:

DEADLINE DATES Must apply no later than June 1 immediately following graduation as a traditional student. All other students must also apply by June 1. For complete program details please visit

RESOURCES Arkansas Department of Higher Education: www.adhe.edu Free Application for Federal Student Aid: www.fafsa.ed.gov Arkansas Student Loan Authority: www.fundmyfuture.info Come Back: www.ComeBack2GoForward.com

www.adhe.edu

or contact the Arkansas Department of Higher Education’s Financial Aid department at the following: Email: finaid@adhe.edu (800) 54-STUDY (501) 371-2050 – Greater Little Rock

1. Graduate from an Arkansas public high school and complete the Smart Core curriculum; and either i. Achieve at least a 2.5 high school GPA; or ii. Achieve a 19 on the ACT or the equivalent score on an ACT equivalent test. 2. Graduate from a private, out-of-state or home school high school and achieve a minimum composite score of nineteen (19) on the ACT or the equivalent score on an ACT equivalent test.

Financial Aid Division 423 Main St., STE 400, Little Rock, AR 72201 (Entrance on Capitol Avenue) Email: finaid@adhe.edu (800) 54-STUDY (501) 371-2050 – Greater Little Rock facebook.com/ArkDeptHigherEd twitter.com/ArkDeptHigherEd

ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR THE NONTRADITIONAL STUDENT: • Enroll full-time or part-time each semester • Meet one of the following criteria: 1. Graduated from an Arkansas public high school and achieved a 2.5 high school GPA or had a 19 on the ACT or the equivalent score on an ACT equivalent test ; or 2. Has earned at least 12 hours towards a degree with a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5.

RENEWAL REQUIREMENTS: Traditional students must enroll in at least 12 hours the first fall semester following high school graduation and at least 15 hours each semester thereafter to receive funding. Traditional students must complete at least 27 hours first year and at least 30 hours each year thereafter with a 2.5 cumulative GPA. Nontraditional students may enroll in as few as 6 hours and receive a pro-rated scholarship amount. Nontraditional students must maintain a 2.5 cumulative GPA with continuing eligibility based on enrollment.

Advertising Supplement to Arkansas Times

Arkansas Academic Challenge

SCHOLARSHIP

LIVING YOUR DREAM THROUGH EDUCATION! With funding made possible by the

ARKANSAS SCHOLARSHIP LOTTERY, the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship provides opportunities for higher education to Arkansans.

If you’re planning to attend college in the fall, complete the YOUniversal financial aid application by June 1 at www.adhe.edu or download the free YOUniversal app for your smart phone.

time, she works on Battleground Texas, the push to put Texas in play for Democrats; volunteers for the Wendy Davis campaign, and serves as a competitive gymnastics judge for USA Gymnastics.

MARGARET WHIPPLE DOOSE

Arkadelphia High School Doctor, Minneapolis

Just as planned, Margaret Whipple went to Davidson College in North Carolina and later went to medical school, at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. (Her only deviation from the plan was to major in political science, not biology and pre-med, at Davidson.) Today, she is in her third year of residency in a combined internal medicine and pediatrics program at the University of Minnesota. When she completes her residency, she plans to become a hospitalist in her specialties.

2004

VIVEK BUCH

Wilbur D. Mills University Studies High School Resident in neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Vivek Buch wants to know how the brain learns. “We don’t know how the brain learns right now in normal people,” he said, but “if we can figure out how that process works, my goal is to use that information to learn why kids with mental retardation can’t learn.” Buch, now in his first year of a sevenyear residency at the University of Pennsylvania, earned his medical degree at Brown in the direct bachelor/MD program and was a Howard Hughes fellow at the National Institutes of Health for a year studying “connectomics,” the study of how different parts of the brain work to, for example, make decisions. “I hope to pioneer the field of pediatric functional neurosurgery,” he said, to treat childhood retardation, autism and neuropsychiatric diseases.

CLARK SMITH

Conway High School West Doctor, St. Louis

Clark Smith played bass guitar and dreamed of being a doctor when he headed off to the University of Arkansas on a Sturgis Fellowship in 2004. Today, he plays standard guitar and is in his second year of residency training in emergency medicine “with a scholarly focus on EMS/prehospital medicine” at Washington University’s Barnes-Jewish Hospital. A decade ago, Smith told the Times that medicine “would be the field in which I could use my talents to help the most people”; today he is a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve Medical Corps, and will train as a critical care air transport team member and tactical critical care evacuation technician when he completes his residency.

2005

SOUTHSIDE HIGH SCHOOL CONGRATULATES

ARmAN HEmmATI We Are Proud Of You!

Sunday, April 27, 2014 10am-4pm Jewish Breakfast at 8:30am Bagels with Lox • Sweet Noodle Kugel • Blintzes

NEW LOCATION

War Memorial Stadium

presented by:

JOHANN KOMANDER

Arkansas School for Mathematics and Science, Hot Springs Credit trader, New York

Komander’s advice: Learn computer programming, start early in taking charge of your personal finances and learn basic finances, and “don’t study academics in a vacuum. Be mindful of the real world applications of what you’re learning.” Komander, who has a B.Sc. in materials science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, got interested in finance as a junior and went to work at Morgan Stanley after graduation. He is now on the investment house’s emerging markets credit trading team, working as a Latin American corporate bond trader. “I enjoy the fast-paced nature of trading,” Komander says; he also enjoys playing in a soccer league and dining out in the East Village.

2006

EMILY WHIPPLE

Arkadelphia High School Lawyer, Nashville

Emily Whipple was the second in her CONTINUED ON PAGE 40

Great Food Entertainment Unique Shopping Jewish Culture

scan this code with your smart phone to learn more about the festival. to scan this code, you will need a Qr code reader. Go to www.i-nigma.mobi and choose your phone. follow the instructions for downloading the free Qr code reader.

free admission! free parKinG at stadium

Single Parent Scholarship Fund (SPSF)

4th Annual Perfect Gift Campaign

MAke thiS Mother’S DAy AnD FAther’S DAy

eXtrA SPeCiAL!

• Donate $50 and your name and the name of your honoree will appear in the June issue of Soirée (for Mom) or the June 16 issue of Arkansas Business (for Dad). • Donate $75 and your name and the name of your honoree will appear in the June issue of Soirée (for Mom) and the June 16 issue of Arkansas Business (for Dad). Yo u r g i f t p ro v i d e s s c h o l a r s h i p s a n d s u p p o r t s e r v i c e s t o h i g h a c h i e v i n g , single-parent students in Pulaski County. Deadline for names to appear in Soirée is May 8, 2014 and June 11, 2014 to appear in Arkansas Business.

Order at SPSFPulaski.org or 501-301-7773 www.arktimes.com

APRIL 24, 2014

family to become an All-Star, following her sister Margaret (2003). She did a double major in business and European history at Washington and Lee and got her law degree at Vanderbilt last year. She practices corporate law at Bass, Berry & Sims in Nashville, working primarily on mergers, acquisitions and governance for both privately held and publicly traded companies.

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She still has a story to tell.

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And, while she may be suffering from Alzheimer’s, it in no way diminishes the place she holds in people’s hearts. The gifts and contributions she has shared. The story she has to tell. At Clarity Pointe Little Rock, our goal is to help her continue her story with a decidedly different approach to caring for those with memory loss. Clarity Pointe Little Rock is one of only two free-standing assisted living communities in Little Rock dedicated solely to enriching the lives of those with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

Learn about the difference Clarity Pointe Little Rock can make. Call 501.868.6270 or visit www.ClarityPointeLittleRock.com.

LITTLE ROCK

 www.ClarityPointeLittleRock.com A CRSA Community A CRSA Community

NP/ARTimes/4-14 APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

A CRSA/LCS Community

What seemed like the wrong choice of college — Harvard — over Washington University turned out to be the right choice for Anselm Beach. “It took me two years of being at Harvard before I found out what I believe to be the reason God wanted me there: to truly find him. That was two years of really struggling to find my own, going from a setting where I stood out as one of the best to a setting where I was one among a sea of people who were all the best and even better than me.” At Harvard, Beach sang with the Kuumba Singers, who “specialize in music that rises from the African diaspora,” and worked with elementary and high school students in the Summer Urban Program — “some of the greatest experiences of my life.” Beach is now campus ministry leader for the Northern Mission Center of the Boston Church of Christ, serving students from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Salem State, Merrimack and other colleges north of Boston.

SARAH COGGINS

8401 Ranch Blvd., Little Rock, AR 72223

ANSELM BEACH

Wilbur D. Mills University Studies High School Campus ministry leader, Peabody, Mass.

She is one-of-a-kind. Uniquely special. In every way.

A CRSA/LCS Community

2007

Cabot High School Medical student, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville

Coggins, who is in her third year of medical school at Vanderbilt, says that “hard work and dedication to one’s chosen profession is crucial to success and

rarely goes unnoticed.” She was noticed: She won full-tuition scholarships to attend both undergraduate and graduate school at Vanderbilt and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior. When she graduated summa cum laude in molecular and cellular biology, she won the Founder’s Medal of the College of Arts and Sciences. Her research is focused in the field of neonatology and she plans to be a pediatric intensive care doctor.

ALEX HEALD

Pulaski Academy College administrator, Abu Dhabi

Heald serves as student life coordinator for New York University’s Abu Dhabi branch. Working abroad for the last two and a half years, Heald said he’s gotten to travel to more than 20 new countries and has “loved living as an expat.” He graduated from NYU summa cum laude with majors in language and mind and minors in creative writing and media, communications and culture. During his senior year, he served as president of the school’s Inter-Residential Council, overseeing a constituency of more than 11,000 students.

NICOLE TOPICH

Pulaski Academy Archivist, Boston

Topich, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Swarthmore College and a master’s in library and information science from the University of Pittsburgh, is now an archivist at Harvard University. There, she coordinates the digital archive of Massachusetts Anti-Slavery and Anti-Segregation Petitions. As a student, she worked at the Clinton CONTINUED ON PAGE 42

Trevor Collin s – Maumelle E-Commerce Sophomore Digital Strate gy Intern Likes Making Videos

THANK YOU The Arkansas Times would like to thank the following sponsors for their support of the Academic All-star Team and its scholarship fund.

expand on the educational tarted at eStem High School. but am still close to home. I’ve st a TV show, do public speaking, e connection to students and y away from home.

“

t • ualr.at/allstar • #UALR

University of ArkAnsAs At LittLe rock

Arkansas education association Arkansas Federal Credit Union Baptist Health Schools Boswell Mourot Fine Art Cindy Conger Wealth Management Fountain Lake Public Schools

Iberia Bank Mount St. Mary’s Academy North Little Rock School District Southside High School Watson Chapel High School

A R K A N S A S T IME S

✭

A C A DE MIC A L L-S TA R S

Presidential Library, the Butler Institute for Arkansas Studies, the Library of Congress and other archives. Her most recent award: to present her paper “Black Historians and the Writing of History in the 19th and early 20th centuries: What Legacy?” last June at the University Paris Diderot.

ANDREW WALCHUK

Conway High School Law school, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.

Andrew Walchuk, who was a Bodenhamer Fellow at the University of Arkansas, where he majored in political science, international relations, European studies and Spanish (“AP credits and summer studies made for a lot of room in my schedule”), is in his first year of law school at Yale University. Between college and law school, Walchuk taught in Madrid for a year on a Fulbright Scholarship and worked for the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts. He is interested in a career in inter-

national law and human rights; this summer he will study in Argentina and work in New York on LGBT rights at Lamda Legal. His advice to his high-school self and this year’s class of All-Stars: “1. Success in school does not necessarily equal success in life. 2. Your plans are always going to change, so stop stressing out about them. 3. Arkansas has its problems, but there really is no place like home.”

2008

CARESS REEVES

Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School Master’s candidate in digital arts, University of Southern California, Los Angeles

The winner of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Fellowship for graduate students, Reeves is in the John C. Hench Division of Animation and Digital Arts program. An animator herself, she has studied black animators and black images in animation, and last summer gave a talk, “Animation as Political Radicalism: Black Animators in the Field,” at the Soci-

ety for Animation Studies Conference. Advice for her high-school self: Do not be fooled by the amount of free time you will have as an undergrad.

JACKSON SPRADLEY

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APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

2009

JOHN LEPINE

Little Rock Christian Academy English teacher, Tulsa, Okla.

John Lepine, who graduated from the University of Tulsa with a degree in Spradley, who economics, teaches holds a bachelor’s 8th grade English degree in anthrothrough the Teach pology from the for American proUniversity of gram at McLain Arkansas, is getJunior High School, ting a Ph.D. in evowhere “I’ve learned lutionary anthroa lot, and my kids pology, with a tell me that they have, too, which I think research focus on is the idea.” At TU, Lepine was involved in paleontology, at the Presbyterian Church’s campus ministry, Duke. He’s gone Reformed University Fellowship; covered on fossil hunts in football for the student paper; spearheaded the Patagonia region of Argentina and the a project to renovate the racquetball courts, Big Bend region of West Texas. He teaches and brought the rock band Imagine Draganatomy to Duke undergraduates and medi- ons to campus. Lepine says he returns to cal school students (“just announced to be Arkansas “whenever possible” to see family in the top 5 percent of the best-rated classes “and eat a good rack of ribs.” Cabot High School Doctoral student, Duke University, Durham, N.C.

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at Duke!”) He quotes Albert Einstein: “The only sure way to avoid making mistakes is to have no new ideas.”

MAY 12-18, 2014

A R K A N S A S T IME S

✭

A C A DE MIC A L L-S TA R S

ACADEMIC ALL-STAR FINALISTS

ALL-STAR NOMINEES Here are the students nominated to be academic allstars. They are listed by their hometowns, as indicated by mailing addresses.

These 10 students made the final round of judging for the 2014 Arkansas Times Academic All-Star Team.

EMILY AUSTIN Russellville High School

LILLIAN JONES Jonesboro High School

CHRISTOPHER BALDWIN Bryant High Schoool

LAURA LANIER Episcopal Collegiate School

ANDREW BRODSKY Hot Springs Lakeside High School

DEV NAIR Pulaski Academy

WILLIAM BRYDEN JR. Conway High School REBECCA HUGHES Arkansas Baptist High School

Our newest addition, The Cottages

CENTER RIDGE MORGAN PRICE Nemo Vista High School

ARKADELPHIA MADELINE COOK Arkadelphia High School

BENTON AMY BUCKS Bryant High School

SETH DANIELL Arkadelphia High School

NATALIE HAMPEL Benton High School

ATKINS COURTNEY DOTSON Pottsville High School

T.J. WILLIAMS Benton High School BRADFORD MARILYN WILSON Southside High School

BATESVILLE ELIJAH CHILDRESS Batesville High School

MATTHEW SCOGGINS White Hall High School CLAIRE TURKAL Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

EMILY PHAM Batesville High School

BRYANT CHRISTOPHER BALDWIN Bryant High School

BEARDEN JESSICA LESTER Bearden High School

CABOT ZACH LAUNIUS Cabot High School

MALLORY MCWHORTER Bearden High School

JAMIE MIDDLETON Cabot High School

BEEBE KATIE MCGRAW Beebe High School

CAMDEN BEN WORLEY Harmony Grove High School

• Affordable housing with no sacrifice to service • Five living facilities – the Moore, the Rhinehart, Shepherd’s Cove, and our latest addition, the Cottages, which all cater to independent living and then the Roberts Building, a Residential Care Facility • 24-hour Security and/or Staff on duty • On-site exercise facilities • On-site beauty salons • Personal emergency alert pendant systems

OLIVIA TZENG Conway High School DARDANELLE TAYLOR EUBANKS Dardanelle High School AUSTIN THAXTON Dardanelle High School DE QUEEN JORDAN BINGHAM De Queen High School BETHANY TATUM De Queen High School DONALDSON CHASE IVHY Ouachita High School DRASCO ANDREA PICHZARDO Concord High School CONTINUED ON PAGE 46

• Three full-service dining rooms offering home-cooked meals • Transportation with fully equipped wheelchair lift vans • An award-winning wellness program • A family atmosphere in a faith-based community • Now featuring The Cottages

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APRIL 24, 2014

CONWAY WILLIAM BRYDEN JR. Conway High School

Excellence Within Reach!

ur mission is to provide a quality, affordable living experience to the elderly in a faith-based community committed to the dignity of our residents. Good Shepherd sits on a 145-acre campus located off Aldersgate Road in the heart of West Little Rock and provides convenient access to West Little Rock’s medical, financial and retail business districts. Over four hundred and fifty elderly residents live in five apartment facilities surrounded by tree-covered landscape that includes an 8-acre lake.

CHIDESTER PEYTON HARRIS Harmony Grove High School

ARKANSAS TIMES

16 whole hogs! 16 chefs!

! w 25 o n at $ 1 s e t k e t s ay s t k tic uy tic y M groa r u to b ida geho o r a y y days : F erit u B i t e d d ay o m / h L im a s t e s . c L k t im

live music! sAtuRDAy, mAy 3RD Argenta Farmers Market Plaza

6th & Main St., Downtown North Little Rock (across from Mug’s Café)

S CHEDULE

— 5 p.m. —

— 6:30 —

Doors Open

Public Serving Time

BEER & WINE GARDEN

Gated festival area selling beer & wine ($5 each) he a dliner

Ghost toWN BluEs BAND TickeT supply limiTed!

Dine on 16 pit roasted, whole,

rain or shine

heritage breed hogs from Scott Heritage Farms Saturday, May 3rd. Doors open at 5p.m. with

+ RuNAWAy plANEt & thE sAlty DoGs

craft beers and wine available.

The fold RisToRAnTe cAPeo Whole hog

ARThuR’s PRime sTeAkhouse & oceAns The RooT

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All-inclusiVe TickeTs - $25 ($30 day-of) Includes roast hog, sides and live music music-only TickeTs - $10 (Admission after 8p.m.)

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APRIL 24, 2014

A R K A N S A S T IME S

✭

A C A DE MIC A L L-S TA R S

DUMAS JOHNNY GIBSON JR. Dumas High School EL DORADO CRYSTAL MEEKS El Dorado High School ZACHARY NEAL El Dorado High School JOHN TYSON Parkers Chapel High School CALEH WALL Parkers Chapel High School ELKINS TREVOR DELONY Elkins High School MEGAN KETCHER Elkins High School EMMET SHELBY WEATHERLY Nevada High School FAIRFIELD BAY NIKKI OWEN Shirley High School FARMINGTON JOHN LARABEE Farmington High School FAYETTEVILLE ALEX ALLRED Huntsville High School

JAY BOUSHELLE Fayetteville High School

MARY-CATHERINE QUALLS Union Christian Academy

LAUREN CHEEVERS Greenland High School

HARRISBURG MICHAEL ANDREW HUNTER Harrisburg High School

MADELEINE CORBELL Fayetteville High School ALI EZELL Har-Ber High School High TANNER WILSON Greenland High School FOREMAN SHAE ROGERS Foreman High School FORT SMITH ARMAN HEMMATI Southside High School DEREK PASCHAL Union Christian Academy

JONESBORO HYTHAM AL-HINDI Jonesboro High School NANCI FLORES Nettleton High School SETH GRAY Valley View High School

HOT SPRINGS BETHANY BUTLER Hot Springs High School

REBEKAH HARMON Ridgefield Christian School

CATHERINE CHANDLER Fountain Lake High School SHELBY HAMILTON Cutter Morning Star High School TYREN TIDWELL Hot Springs High School

LILLIAN JONES Jonesboro High School KATHRYN KING Valley View High School JAKE MCMASTERS Nettleton High School

ELI WESTERMAN Fountain Lake High School

HANNAH POWELL Crowley’s Ridge Academy

CHLOE WILLIAMS Southside High School

HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE CLAIRE TURKAL Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

YEONGWOO HWANG Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts

GREENBRIER EUGENE PEGUES Quitman High School

HOUSTON BRYCE JOHNSON Perryville High School

KENSETT THANAYDI SANDOVAL Riverview High School

GREENWOOD KYLIE CLEAVENGER Greenwood High School

JACKSONVILLE ERICA BREWER Lonoke High School

LITTLE ROCK JAMIE ALLEN Little Rock Christian Academy

BENJAMEN KEISLING Greenwood High School

ROBERT MORRIS Abundant Life School

ANDREW CASH Parkview Arts/Science Magnet

ALEXANDRA GLENN Mount St. Mary Academy CHRISTYAL HOLLOWAY Parkview Arts/Science Magnet REBECCA HUGHES Arkansas Baptist High School LAURA LANIER Episcopal Collegiate School ZACK MCELRATH Arkansas Baptist High School DEV NAIR Pulaski Academy

LONOKE MICHAEL SHINN Lonoke High School LOWELL KAYVAN AFRASIABI Benton County School of the Arts MANILA TY MINTON Manila High School MARIANNA GARRETT MOORE Providence Classical Christian Academy

ESTHER PARK Central High School

MARION EASTON DAVIS Marion High School

LUKE SNYDER Little Rock Christian Academy

HANNAH PHIPPS Marion High School

CAROLINE SPAINHOUR Pulaski Academy

MAUMELLE GRACE THOMASSON eStem High School

ANDREW WILLOUGHBY eStem High School BENJAMIN WINTER Episcopal Collegiate School

MAYFLOWER KAYLEE WILCOX Mayflower High School

ALEXANDER ZHANG Central High School

MCGEHEE OLIVIA LEEK Dumas New Tech High School

LOCUST GROVE JACOB ROARK Concord High School

MCRAE BRANDON LERCHER Beebe High School

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APRIL 24, 2014

ARKANSAS TIMES

NORTH LITTLE ROCK MCKENZI BAKER North Little Rock High School

GARTH EVANS Searcy High School KALEIGH RAMEY Searcy High School

Don’t miss an evening of delicious food from some of Little Rock’s most talented chefs, rub elbows with local celebrities, and be an integral part of funding the Thea Foundation’s life-changing scholarship program.

JOSH MOODY Catholic High School for Boys

CARRIE STEWART Harding Academy

$100 Per Ticket • Purchase Tickets At governorsculinarychallenge.com

SHERIDAN LUCAS BRUNER Sheridan High School

8 Chefs • 2 Mixologists 10 Local Celebrities

JOHN VIA North Little Rock High School OSCEOLA CRISTIN ADCOCK Manila High School PARAGOULD ZACHARY DICUS Crowley’s Ridge Academy PINE BLUFF ANDREW FLEMING Watson Chapel High School ASHLEY GRAGG Pine Bluff ZACHARY FLUKER Pine Bluff PLAINVIEW MORGAN WEBB Perryville High School QUITMAN ROSEANNA EZELL Quitman High School RECTOR AMY DEMENT Rector High School ALEC SCOTT Rector High School ROGERS ANNE CRAFTON Providence Classical Christian Academy TY GALYEAN Rogers High School ADAM HERBERT Heritage High School TIFFANY TANG Rogers High School CHRISTINE TOWNSLEY Heritage High School ROLAND KARA QUAID Mills University Studies High School RUSSELLVILLE EMILY AUSTIN Russellville High School JONATHAN WILLIAMS Russellville High School SEARCY TREY DAVIS Harding Academy

April 28, 2014 • 6:30pm - 9:00pm • The Capital Hotel

SHELBY RHODES Sheridan High School

theafoundation.org ARKANSAS’S SOURCE FOR NEWS, POLITICS AND ENTERTAINMENT

SHERWOOD TRUNG DANG Mills High School REID FAWCETT Sylvan Hills High School ABIGAIL PERSSON Sylvan Hills High School SILOAM SPRINGS RACHEL FORD Siloam Springs High School GRAYSON MOORE Siloams Springs High School

!"#$ BLUE &GREEN Your

Photo Contest

JETTY SCHROEDER Shiloh Christian School SPRINGFIELD DAVID WAHRMUND Nemo Vista High School SPRINGDALE MARIA ESCOBAR Springdale High School JESUS ESPINOSA Springdale High School ABBY HUTTON Shiloh Christian School BENJAMIN O’BRIEN Har-Ber High School STEPHENS RYAN EPPINETTE Columbia Christian School SUMMERS JOHNNY YANG Lincoln High School WALDRON VANESSA OZUNA Waldron High School JASON PHETRAKOUN Waldron High School WEINER KACI MACK Harrisburg High School

April is National Donate Life Mo nth and ARORA would like you

enter our online contest for a ch ance to

WIN A $100 VISA GIFT CARD and other prizes.

Official entr y rules can be found at our Facebook and Instagram pages.

WHITE HALL MATTHEW SCOGGINS White Hall High School www.arktimes.com

APRIL 24, 2014