October 2023 ASMSA Quarterly Report

Office of the Director

September 2023 Quarterly Report

Corey Alderdice, ASMSA Director

By the Numbers

• Enrollment for Academic Year 2023-24 began with 255 students. Assuming all residential spaces on campus are utilized, residential enrollment would currently be capped at 260 students.

• 100% of students who were admitted in May 2023 arrived on campus in August for Move-In Day. Because some “summer melt” is generally accounted for admissions offers, this return has created nominal challenges related to additional COVID quarantine spaces on campus.

• The ASMSA Foundation Fund of the University of Arkansas Foundation, Inc., received $314,502 in gifts and other revenue for FY23 that concluded on June 30th

30th Anniversary Celebration Begins

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts kicked off its 30-year anniversary celebration by recognizing the contributions of both current and former faculty during a luncheon on August 23rd. The date is celebrated annually as ASMSA’s Founders Day. On Aug. 23, 1993, the school’s first students began classes at what was then known as the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences. Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, marked the three decades since that inaugural day of instruction. Faculty members from across the school’s past and present gathered for a luncheon, recognition of their service, and a beam-signing for the new Campus Administration Building currently under construction.

Ernestine Ross, a founding faculty member who continues to teach in the Humanities Department, was recognized for her dedication to the school and its students. ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice presented Ross with a watch and a bouquet of flowers to celebrate her 30 years at the school. Several other retired faculty and staff members were officially recognized for their contributions to the institution as well.

The event included remarks from Director Alderdice, 30th Anniversary chair Nia Rieves, founding instructor Donna Hutchinson, founding student life staff member and current Board of Visitors appointee Mary Alice Chambers, as well as alumnus and State Rep. Matt Brown.

A committee of faculty and staff are planning other events that will highlight ASMSA’s impact while celebrating this milestone occasion across the coming year. The celebration will culminate with a special gala on Saturday, May 4, 2024.

Facilities and Campus Master Planning

Replacement of the roof on the current Academic and Administration Building (200 Whittington Ave.) was completed over the summer. The project is the culmination of a variety of a infrastructure upgrades completed on ASMSA’s primary academic building over the past three years. The slate also included a new HVAC system, fire monitoring systems, elevators, and ADA accessible entry. The interior cabs of the elevators will be refreshed later this year. Campus leadership has obtained a preliminary cost opinion from ASMSA’s on-call architect for

the costs associated with a “refresh” on the first floor of the building that will prepare the space as faculty offices beginning with the Fall 2024 semester.

The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees approved the transfer of property from the City of Hot Springs at their May 2023 meeting. This includes the 200 Whittington facility as well as the structures behind the Student Center, parking lot, and open land at the back end of campus. While ASMSA will not be able to access one of the warehouses before 2025, the facility is being targeted for use as the hub for campus maintenance and janitorial services.

ASMSA issued a formal offer to purchase the former Mountain Valley Warehouse at 179 Cedar Street. The property is interior to the ASMSA campus and adjacent to the Student Center. A bid was offered in alignment with an appraisal conducted by a third party on behalf of ASMSA; however, the owner has opted to pursue an alternative offer from another party.

Construction continues on the new Campus Administration Building. Site prep, dirt work, and rock removal constituted most of the work completed throughout the spring. Over the course of the summer, utilities were installed, retaining walls built, and the site pad poured. Steel work began in late August, and much of the building has taken shape as of this report. The pads for the upper floors have been poured and interior framing is underway. The project is scheduled for completion in spring 2024. A live feed of the construction site is available at https://cab.asmsa.org.

A committee of employees will begin work in earnest this semester on updates to the 2008 Campus Master Plan. The goal will be to set a 2033 Vision for the campus that builds on the more than $35 million invested since 2010. The document will explore what is built on the footprint of the former hospital complex, sites for expanded housing, as well as areas for wellness and athletic spaces on campus.

COVID-19 Update

ASMSA experienced a surge of positive COVID-19 cases in August as a result of the latest subvariant. Due to limited vacant residential space, students often had to isolate off campus for the full ten-day period rather than return to campus in soft-quarantine on day six. Students had access to hybrid-flexible classes via Zoom so that they could remain fully engaged in coursework while away from campus. ASMSA maintains an active approach to testing for COVID as well as contact tracing when positive cases are identified. Close contacts may remain on campus; however, they are expected to mask until cleared through testing. Our protocols are likely the most stringent of any school in the state. Other districts appear to have abandoned contact tracing altogether, and many local districts have defaulted to students returning to campus so long as they are fever-free for 24 hours after a positive test.

ASMSA Again #1 in Arkansas in Niche.com Ranking, Breaks National Top 50

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts is the top public high school in Arkansas and among the top 50 in the nation in the 2024 Niche.com rankings. Niche.com is a website that provides in-depth profiles on thousands of colleges, school districts and individual K-12 schools across the nation. Parents and students use Niche’s information to find the right school for them.

ASMSA is No. 1 on the website’s Best Public High Schools in Arkansas list. In addition to its top state ranking, the school is No. 46 out of more than 20,400 public high schools included in the website’s national rankings. The school is also rated as top in the state in Niche.com’s Best College Prep Public High Schools in Arkansas and Best High Schools for STEM in Arkansas lists.

ASMSA earned an A-plus Overall Niche Grade as well as A-plus grades in the individual categories of Academics, Teachers, College Prep as well as Resources and Facilities. To view ASMSA’s profile, visit https://asmsa.me/nicheprofile.

Grades, ratings and rankings for each school are determined by information provided to Niche by the U.S. Department of Education, self-reported information from each individual institution as well as reviews by students, parents and alumni of the school. To see a full list of the 2024 Best Public High Schools in Arkansas, visit https://www.niche.com/k12/search/best-public-highschools/s/arkansas/.

Strategic Plan Year Three Progress Report

As ASMSA passes the mid-point of the 2025 Strategic Plan, campus leadership took time this summer to review progress completed over the 2022-23 academic year and to align priorities for the upcoming year. Director Alderdice is incredibly grateful for the work that our faculty, staff, and students have committed to throughout the pandemic and being able to emerge this past year toward a state of normalcy that had been lost for some time. When our community of learning began work on this plan in early 2020, we didn’t fully appreciate how much it would anchor our actions and reinforce our values during a period of such significant disruption.

The full Year Three Progress Report and other details are available at https://www.asmsa.org/strategicplan.

Global Learning Program Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Twenty-two students from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts Class of 2014 along with three chaperones traveled to Japan in June 2013 as part of the Kakehashi Project a 10-day cultural exchange program sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan. A decade later, more than 500 members of the school’s community of learning have traveled the world as part of its Global Learning Program establishing studying abroad as a central component of the ASMSA experience. More than 430 students have traveled abroad through the Global Learning Program, various government language and cultural exchange programs, as well as the Hot Springs Sister City program. Beginning in 2014, the program expanded to other destinations including Italy, China, England, Costa Rica, Greece, and Spain. Trips to Japan, Ireland, Belize, and Quebec City, Canada, are set for this academic year.

A full story with highlights from Ron Luckow and Dr. Dan Kostopulous, who have both chaired the initiative, is available online at:

https://www.asmsa.org/news/asmsa-global-learning-program-marks-10-year-anniversary/

ASMSA Earns State’s First Computer Science Gold Medal

The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts received Gold Medal recognition in the Arkansas Computer Science Gold Medal School Program sponsored by the Arkansas Department of Education Office of Computer Science. ASMSA is the first school to achieve the Computer Science Gold Medal designation since the program was established in the fall of 2020 by the Arkansas Department of Education. The program recognizes Arkansas high schools for outstanding work in implementing computer science and computing programs.

Ranks are based on information submitted to and reviewed by the Office of Computer Science. As part of the ranking rubric, schools obtaining a minimum number of points may receive a bronze, silver or gold ranking, with gold being the highest level and requiring high performance in a majority of the criteria. In addition to ASMSA, seven other high schools across the state earned either a Silver or Bronze Medal for the 2022-23 cycle.

ASMSA offers a wide range of computer science courses and out-of-school enrichment programs that are not typically available at other Arkansas high schools. Since ASMSA’s opening in 1993, all students have been required to take a computer programming course while also having the opportunity to explore courses in game creation, modern manufacturing, artificial intelligence and robotics, web applications, and other college-level computer programming courses. ASMSA students have consistently ranked highly in various computer science competitions, including the Governor’s All-State Coding Competition, the Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot cybersecurity competition, the Congressional App Challenge, and various robotics competitions, including BEST Robotics state and regional competitions.

The Coding Arkansas’ Future initiative which is part of the STEM Pathways program has provided opportunities for school districts across the state to meet the need for increased access to computer science coursework since its creation in 2015. The initiative has provided educators professional development sessions that prepare them to teach computer science in their own districts as well as seek state licensure. ASMSA instructors also conduct interactive sessions with educators and students throughout the school year. That program has previously been recognized by Code.org, the National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools and Google for its excellence. There were more than 2,900 computer science students statewide enrolled in Coding Arkansas’ Future cohorts for the 2022-23 academic year. That figure represented about one out of every eight students statewide who took a computer science course. More than 70 educators statewide participated in last year’s cohort, which provided the educators with professional development opportunities as well as classroom assistance.

Director of Institutional Advancement

Ashley Bennett is the new director of institutional development at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts. Bennett started in the position on July 1 and oversees the operation of the Office of Institutional Advancement and the ASMSA Foundation. She most recently served as an associate director of development at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where she also previously served as a development associate.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology as well as a master’s degree in college student personnel Administration, both from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville.

Bennett is currently working on her Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) certification and is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals-Arkansas Chapter.

Bennett said she is excited about the opportunity to serve as ASMSA’s chief fundraiser. She has a personal connection to the school her oldest daughter is a senior this year. That has allowed her to become familiar with the benefits the school offers its students, and is why one of her early focus areas will be on parents.

Morris Selected for Leadership Arkansas

Dr. Rheo Morris, dean of students at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, has been selected as a member of Leadership Arkansas Class XVIII. Leadership Arkansas is sponsored by the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas. The nine-month program consists of nine multi-day sessions held in different locations throughout the state. The sessions feature Arkansas leaders who represent a wide geographic base and who have diverse backgrounds and vocations. This year’s class has 53 participants.

Morris is a graduate of the Leadership Hot Springs program and currently serves on its board. Participating in that program helped her become more familiar with the city. In addition to serving on Leadership Hot Springs’ board, Morris is a member of Rotary Club of Oaklawn, Junior Auxiliary of Hot Springs, and an assistant clerk and youth director at her church.

Alderdice Begins Service as NCSSS President

Corey Alderdice, director of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, became president of the National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools Board of Directors on July 1. Alderdice will serve as president of the organization’s board through the 2023-24 academic year, with his term set to expire in November 2024. He was installed as the board’s president-elect in November 2022 and was set to become president in November 2023, but stepped into the role early as the previous president retired from their school at the end of June. Alderdice has served on the NCSSS Board of Directors since November 2019. NCSSS was established in 1988 to provide a forum for specialized secondary schools focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics to exchange information and program ideas. It includes approximately 100 member high schools, many ranked among the best in the country, along with 55 affiliate and associate members (colleges, universities, summer programs, foundations and corporations) located in 32 states and four countries.

Class of 2024 Commencement Location

Commencement Exercises for ASMSA graduates will be held at a new location beginning with celebrations for the Class of 2024. The ceremony will be held at 2pm on Saturday, May 18, 2023, at the Oaklawn Event Center in Hot Springs. The space, which opened in 2021, presents a venue comparable to Horner Hall, which was frequently the ceremony’s location within the Hot Springs Convention Center. Due to policy changes by Visit Hot Springs, ASMSA’s ceremony was moved to Bank OZK Arena. Campus leadership felt the venue was too large and lacked the intimacy for such a ceremony based on the institution’s size. Additional details will be shared as nearer the ceremony next spring.