24 Education
THE POLK COUNTY
Pulse Justice Neufeld receives multiple Cossatot River School Board votes to close OVC awards Umpire campus in 2024
LITTLE ROCK, AR (10/13/2023) — Justice Neufeld of Mena, Arkansas, had a trio of achieve-ments at the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). First of all, Neufeld is a member of the UA Little Rock Men’s Cross Country Team that received the Ohio Valley Conference Team Academic Achievement Award. “I am excited to add the Academic Team Award to the long list of accomplishments from this group of men,” said Director of Track & Field and Cross Country J.P. Behnke. “This is a great group of guys who are just as committed to their academic success as they are their track and cross-country success.” The OVC Team Academic Achievement Award is presented annually in each OVC-sponsored sport to the member institutions’ team with the greatest percentage of its eligible student-athletes who achieved a 3.25 grade point average or higher. The Trojans boasted a 3.63 cumulative team grade point average. Neufeld is also one of nearly 125 student-athletes who have been named to the 2022-23 OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll. To be listed, recipients must have achieved at least a 3.25 grade point average, have been eligible and on the team throughout the competitive season in their chosen sport, and used a season of competition. Women’s Track and Field led the Lit-
October 18, 2023
tle Rock teams with 27 honorees, while the baseball team had 23 recipients. The Trojans had 19 student-athletes with multiple sport honors. Finally, Neufeld is one of more than 20 UA Little Rock student-athletes who have been awarded the 2022-23 Academic Medal of Honor from the OVC for achieving a 4.0 GPA for the academic year. “I am again very proud of our student-athletes and the importance they place on their work in the classroom,” said Director of Athletics George Lee. “They continue to be outstanding examples of what it truly means to be a student-athlete and represent Little Rock Athletics in a positive light. I am also thankful to our academic support team and coaching staffs for their hard work and emphasis in setting our student-athletes up for success.” The OVC Academic Medal of Honor is given annually to the student-athletes who achieve the highest grade point average in a Ohio Valley Conference-sponsored sport. UA Little Rock was represented in 10 sports with four athletes receiving the honor in multiple sports. Soccer had the most student-athlete honorees with seven. With about 9,000 students and 100 programs, UA Little Rock offers learning, research, service, social and career opportunities that can only be found at a metropolitan university located in Arkansas’s capital city.
By Patrick Massey
WICKES – The Cossatot River School Board voted last week in favor of a recommendation to close its Umpire K-12 campus by the end of the 2023-2024 school year. In a 4 to 2 vote on Oct. 12, the board approved a recommendation by Superintendent Tyler Broyles to close the Umpire campus due to low enrollment and what he called an increasing financial burden on the Cossatot River School District as a whole. “It’s very much a tough decision to have to make,” Broyles said. “We’re just seeing enrollment not increase and now we’re at a point where the district as a whole is having to subsidize the Umpire campus a great deal, close to half-a-million dollars last year. Sadly, it’s reached a point where we have to do what’s in the best interest of the district
and recommend closure. After the last two years we’ve done everything we could.” The school board meeting included a group of residents from the Umpire community who expressed their hope to keep the campus open. Following the vote last week, the measure to close the Umpire campus will now go before the state board of education for a final vote. Broyles said that meeting is expected to take place this fall. If approved by state officials, the Umpire campus would cease to operate by the end of the cur-rent school year. Broyles said the district is making plans to incorporate the teachers employed at Umpire throughout the rest of the district. Staff overage would be addressed through attrition, (i.e. not hiring new teachers once current educators leave or retire.)
17 CRJH choir students earn All-Region chairs By Patrick Massey
WICKES – A number of Cossatot River Jr. High choir students recently competed at All-Region Auditions, earning a number of spots for the group. The Cossatot River Jr. High Choirs are under the direction of Susan Brewer and Jake Talamantez. A total of 25 CRJH students attended the audition with 17 earning chairs plus one alternate. In addition, Jaylie Brantley earned first chair out of 130 altos. Students earning chairs include: Second Soprano Jaynee Castro—20th chair Jayna Sanchez—22nd chair
Alto Jaylie Brantley—1st chair Keeli Partee—9th chair Kynzli Dyer—18th chair Lydia Phillips—44th chair Adisen Meredith—59th chair Elina Oliver—63rd chair Brylee Frachiseur—70th chair Second Tenor Samuel Cordova—5th chair Lance Thomas—8th chair Paxton Boyd—9th chair Jakob Davis—11th chair Isaac Gray—12th chair Tyler Dixon—20th chair Josue Flores—2nd alternate Bass Beaudy Lile—25th chair Joseph Dosch—40th chair
