2465 Rodeo Drive Mountain Home, Arkansas 72653 (870) 425-1201
Committed to Excellence in Education … Every Student — Every Time!
The Mission of the Mountain Home Education Foundation (MHEF) is to raise funds to enhance student education for all students attending Mountain Home Public Schools.
MHEF will achieve its mission by directing resources toward the following goals:
» Providing scholarships for students to pursue post secondary education.
» Encourage all students to work to their highest potential.
» Recognize staff, alumni and friends of the school district for exemplary contributions.
Daniel Smakal, President Lisa House, Vice President Jason Schmeski, Secretary Bob Chester Barbara Horton Neal Pendergrass Bill Wehmeyer
Dr. Julia Gist, Co-Vice President Dr. Ray Stahl, Co-Vice President Julie Haney, Secretary Jackie Morrison, Treasurer
» Staff support for innovative efforts.
» Build community awareness for the MHEF.
» Inspire parents and the community to participate with the school district in enriching education.
Tami Barrow Steve Blumreich
Janet Evans Buck Gilbert Lisa House Joyce Lechtenberger
Heather Loftis
Dr. Jake Long Kelly Lucas Michele McWilliams Dr. Robin Myers
Tobias Pugsley Ted Sanders
Publisher Sarah Knight
Contributing Writer Dwain Hebda
Contributing Designer Saige Roberts
Contributing Photographer Jason Masters
is produced annually for the alumni, families and friends of Mountain Home Public Schools. Please report any address changes or corrections to the Foundation Office at (870) 425-1201. All other comments should be directed to the MHEF Executive Director at mhef@mhbombers.com.
After the fantastic reception Wings received from our community last year, we began planning for new items to highlight in this year’s issue. There is no way to encompass all of the daily successes our students experience, but I believe the stories you’ll read here give you a broad view of the components that make up our district’s product: graduates who are ready to change the world.
One of the highlights of this issue is the new programming we’re offering for students. Our goal is to teach our students essential skills in order to meet the ever-changing needs of our local
and global workforce. As we continue to increase programming, the need for updated facilities will also continue to increase. I encourage anyone who has feedback or questions about our facilities and their impacts on student learning to please contact me to visit at jlong@ mhbombers.com or (870) 425-1201.
Thank you for your support and com mitment to our students! Go Bombers!
Dr. Jake Long SuperintendentAt the Mountain Home Educa tion Foundation, our Board of Directors is committed to stu dent achievement. We focus on ways to help Mountain Home Public Schools students grow to ensure their future successes.
The four individuals honored by the MHEF in this magazine are fantastic representatives of this cause. Mr. Lonnie Bentley attended Mountain Home Public Schools and used the foundational skills provided to him in our great district to foster an impactful career in the education and technology fields. Mrs. Carol Wegerer taught mathematics for more than 40 years, and any of her thousands of former students will tell you that her lessons in math and in life are present within them today. Ms. Julie Wright has served the community of Mountain Home — the community where she was reared and educated — in so many capacities that it is impossible to think of
the progress made here without thinking of her. She is the true embodiment of Bomber Spirit. And finally, Mrs. Libby Baker, who is the oldest living graduate of Mountain Home Public Schools, has reminded area residents for more than a century about the importance of living an honest life focused on family and community.
We hope you enjoy this issue of Wings, and as we like to say at the Foundation: “We Connect.” I would love to make a connection with you and help you connect to the incredible students at Mountain Home Public Schools. Let’s visit!
Thank you, Jennifer Crawford Executive Director Mountain Home Education Foundation
PORTRAIT OF A
Cody Marquis, Damion Schilling and Trey Wilkerson are on the verge of big things.
The former Mountain Home High School classmates are in the final stages of opening a metal fabrication shop, after having completed some impressive construction and renovation projects around town, including a two-story structure made from stacked shipping containers. They’ve even designed or helped perfect two implement tools which have now been patented and will soon hit the market.
Not bad for a trio who just three years ago were seniors
Left to right: Trey Wilkerson, Damion Schilling and Cody Marquis
“A lot of the skills we learned from high school, framing and welding and all that,” Marquis said. “You get the basics in high school. Then really, it’s just diving in and putting those basics into practice. Anything that we didn’t learn from high school or learn from people in the community, believe it or not, came from YouTube.”
Marquis makes it sound easy, but there’s a lot that went into getting the threesome where they are today. They give credit to the school environment that helped them discover their path and teachers that developed that spark of interest into a marketable skill.
“I grew up in California actually and moved here in my third year of high school,” said Schilling. “I didn’t know the difference between a hammer and a crescent wrench. Mr. (Owen) Carpenter, the shop teacher, taught me pretty much everything I knew in those two years. And in the summer, he talked to me about some jobs that were available. Then it turned into what it is today.”
“Mr. Carpenter was a huge inspiration for us and taught us a lot of things that we needed to know,” Wilkerson said. “Mr. (Josh) Baker, the Ag teacher, was another one for me. He’s the one who originally showed me the basics of welding in high school. That showed me that metalworking in general was something that I was really interested in, and from there, the path led me to the Mountain Home Technical Center where I got my Certificate of Proficiency in welding.”
In addition to the academics and mentoring that prepared the three for their professional lives, the trio all credit a third ingredient for completing the picture, that being connections from the Mountain Home business community. In this case, the three have been given multiple opportunities to put their skills to use by local veterinarian Dr. Rob Conner.
“I met them at the high school years ago just as kind of a mentor, going in there
and volunteering in the industrial arts program,” Conner said. “We were doing some projects on powder coating and welding and things like that at our practice, and Cody and Damion became my little maintenance guys at the vet clinics and a couple of other businesses we have.”
The simple projects yielded to larger and larger work until finally Conner began pondering an expansion to his animal care clinic.
“We were talking about what kind of skill and knowledge it would take to do something like that out of shipping containers. (Marquis and Schilling) brought Trey in as a welder and basically said, ‘We can do that,’” Conner said. “It was almost like daring someone to paint the Mona Lisa. ‘Well, here’s your paint. Here’s your canvas. Impress me.’
“Son of a gun, they’ve not only impressed me, but the school administration has come by to tour the facility. It’s basically a showcase, the sum total of all the things they’ve learned in those industrial arts programs. It’s a fine example of all the things a portrait of a graduate should be.”
Not every Mountain Home graduate’s story is as dramatic, of course, but leadership points to the trio as poster children for what the school’s unique blend of academic excellence, skills development and community partnerships is designed to do.
“Portrait of a Graduate is the work that supports what the school district currently does with the curriculum,” said Dr. Dana Brown, assistant superintendent of administrative services. “It’s the end goal we have for students and what students have envisioned for themselves in postsecondary education and beyond.”
To help ensure existing programs are meeting the mark — and to identify opportunities for improvement — a Portrait of a Graduate subcommittee was formed last fall. That group met to codify specific components to be addressed in students during their formative education.
“Thinking about our graduates, we
“ You get the basics in high school. Then really, it’s just diving in and putting those basics into practice. ”
— CODY MARQUIS, MHHS ALUMNUS
“ I didn’t know the difference between a hammer and a crescent wrench. Mr. [Owen] Carpenter, the shop teacher, taught me pretty much everything I knew … ”
— DAMION SCHILLING, MHHS ALUMNUS
“ … Metalworking in general was something that I was really interested in and from there, the path led me to the Mountain Home Technical Center where I got my Certificate of Proficiency in welding.”
— TREY WILKERSON, MHH ALUMNUS
began with the end in mind, a pathway into a job, a pathway into college or trade school,” Brown said. “We came up with six specific components: academic skills, post-secondary knowledge, financial literacy, personal mindset, civic engagement and employability skills. That was our first overarching view of what a graduate should be equipped with at graduation.”
The process will continue to be refined to meet the changing needs in the workplace and new careers that come online. Michele McWilliams, coaching consultant for the school district, said that’s where the multiple points of contact within the wider community come in, helping ensure curriculum and workplace needs are aligned to produce graduates equipped with the tools for success in the career of their choice.
“It’s definitely a community partnership,” she said. “It’s a partnership with the businesses that we have. It’s a partnership with the economic development within the county. It’s a partnership with Arkansas State University-Mountain Home because our students will be getting concurrent credit before graduation. We’re working in tandem with the community and families in order to create a future for our graduates.”
Dr. Conner said the effort of producing skilled grads who want to stay in the community is not just the responsibility of the school system. He said local companies must also step up to invest time and provide opportunities for students during their education years, and the process for doing so is easier than most might think.
“The message I give to local businesspeople is number one, take them in,” he said. “Number two, don’t quit; be like gravity and never go away. I haven’t done anything other than be supportive and be available. That’s it.
“I hear people frequently say, ‘I just don’t have the time.’ Yes, you do. ‘I don’t have the money.’ You certainly do. ‘I don’t have the patience.’ Well, find the patience. If an average Joe like me can show a little grace to help a young person get off to a good start, anybody can do this, I promise you. You don’t have to be extraordinary; all you need is a desire to help some young people be the best version of themselves.”
PORTRAIT OF A GRADUATE
“ The message I give to local businesspeople is number one, take them in. Number two, don’t quit; be like gravity and never go away. I haven’t done anything other than be supportive and be available. That’s it.”
— VETERINARIAN DR. ROB CONNER
“ It’s definitely a community partnership … We’re working in tandem with the community and families in order to create a future for our graduates.”
— MICHELE MCWILLIAMS, MOUNTAIN HOME PUBLIC SCHOOLS CONSULTANT
Portrait of a graduate is a unique blend of academic excellence, skills development and community partnerships.
PORTRAIT OFA GRADUATE
E M YTILIBAYOLP SLLIKS
CIMEDACAS SLLIK
CIVICENGAGEMEN TP O STSECONDARY K NOWLEDGE
FINANCIAL LITERACY MPERSONAL INDSET
As any parent or educator will tell you, the school years are a time of great change for children and youth. On any level you can name — intellectual, emotional, social or physical — students are daily works in progress, maturing and developing at different rates and under different circumstances. As they do so, behavior, attitude and coping skills all go through various phases; thus, the small irritant
of yesterday becomes a major drama today only to be laughed about next week.
Meeting young people where they are on this developmental journey is tricky — more art than science. Nowhere is this more apparent than in addressing students’ mental health, helping them deal with the ordinary and extraordinary pressures and challenges of school, family and peers.
Recognizing this, Mountain Home Public
Schools has long been at the forefront of providing support for students in need of services and help. So when administrators began to notice availability issues with its existing relationships with outsourced mental health services, leadership took bold steps to correct the situation.
“Ultimately, the need started with us seeing within our kids an ongoing revolving door between third-party agencies and the school system,” said Dr. Jake Long, superintendent. “We found ourselves in a position where there was ongoing change within the agencies and the people who were coming in and out of our schools to provide therapy.”
Long approached Matt Sutton, who’d contracted to provide counseling services at the school district for 13 years, about ways to overhaul the school district’s mental health services. Sutton came aboard as the district mental health coordinator six years ago and was last year joined by Heather Hatman, mental health and wellness support specialist who made the switch after more than 20 years as a Mountain Home guidance counselor.
“Dr. Long was ahead of the curve in realizing the mental health need in our school and in our community,” Sutton said. “I had already partnered here for a while, and he brought me on to help build a mental health program from the ground up.
“The essence of what we are trying to do here at Mountain Home is provide caring adult voices that will enter into dark or difficult situations and stand with our young people through adversity. I have witnessed firsthand how powerful it is to simply take the time to say to a young person who’s struggling, ‘I’m proud of you,’ or ‘I believe in you.’”
Officials began outlining the plan in 2018 just as awareness of mental health issues among students began to grab more attention nationwide. According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 1 in 3 high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2019, a 40 percent increase over the previous decade. Also in 2019, approximately 1 in 6 youth reported making a suicide plan in the past 12 months, the CDC said, a 44 percent increase since 2009.
As if that weren’t enough, the onset of COVID in 2020 exacerbated this alltoo-familiar situation, bringing on a wellpublicized spike in mental illness across all population groups. CDC statistics from 2021 reveal the number of children ages 5 to 11 who visited an emergency room due to a mental health crisis between April and October 2020 climbed 24 percent, compared to 2019 numbers. Among 12- to 17-year-olds, the number seeking help via the ER increased by 31 percent.
Sutton said about 350 students and/ or families are receiving mental health services coordinated through the school,
and the new program makes that help even easier to access. While unable to share specific success stories out of respect for privacy, he did say he’s seen the new program have a profound impact on students in general.
“When I reflect, I think of some of our graduates who headed off to college after being supported in high school by a mental health professional, a special teacher or a special coach, who’s support enabled them to gain recovery from things like debilitating anxiety and panic attacks,” he said.
“Some students experienced moments during the school year when it seemed they may not even be able to face what the next day would bring. Watching those same young people stand tall and ready to move on to the next chapter in life after going through some of the most difficult things life can throw at them is a very special feeling. For a therapist, there is really nothing else like it.”
The program’s primary goals include improving faculty and staff skills in recognizing the signs of a student who’s struggling; introducing new protocols for addressing student behavior; and providing ready access to routine counseling while solidifying service relationships with outside providers.
More than 1 in 3 high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2019, a 40 percent increase over the previous decade.
“As far as coordinating mental health care, students are seen through our contracted partner agency’s mental health professionals through Hometown Health, along with myself,” Sutton said. “I am a licensed professional counselor and licensed psychological examiner, so I work directly with families, students and staff. Our program is approved through Medicaid, and this funding helps sustain the program.”
For the educational component, faculty and staff underwent professional development in a number of areas including mental health first-aid training and certification, trauma-sensitive schools training and suicide awareness and prevention training. Mountain Home educators have also been versed in age-appropriate communication techniques to better address various classroom behavioral situations through the Behavior Intervention Support Team model (BIST).
“BIST started as a behavior model to help
with issues teachers were having in the classroom. It evolved more around the relationship, about holding the kid accountable for their behavior but also showing grace,” Hatman said. “We know a lot of our kids have traumas or other things going on. When we get back to some of the common expectations for students, that makes them feel safe and helps them feel like they belong in the school.
“The other goal with this is showing students they can make good choices, even if they’re mad or upset. I can be OK even if others are not OK around me. To be honest, after COVID, I think we have all been in survival mode, and so BIST is something that’s good even for adults. This is going to serve our parents and our community as well as our students.”
A complementary mechanism, called the trauma-informed model, takes a similarly nonjudgmental approach to getting another person to open up and communicate.
“ The trauma informed model has been around for a long while and shifts the approach from ‘What’s wrong with you?’ to ‘What happened to you?’ ”
— HEATHER HATMAN, MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS SUPPORT SPECIALISTMental Health Coordinator, Matt Sutton has helped build the new mental health program from the ground up.
“Providing regulation strategies to staff is an important piece, not only for them to use with students, but also for their own personal use,” Hatman said. “The trauma-informed model has been around for a long while and shifts the approach from ‘What’s wrong with you?’ to ‘What happened to you?’ We’ve worked with our staff and continue to work with our staff on how to use a trauma-informed lens in approaching students, parents and even each other.”
Sutton said work continues to refresh and fortify what’s already been done as the critical next steps in maintaining a supportive environment for the students and families who need it.
“I think what we’re trying to do is really try to reach the whole child,” he said. “From a standpoint of
individualizing education and wellness to each individual child, it only makes sense that we would be focused on social skills, emotion and emotion regulation, and on being able to manage and regulate emotions in healthy ways. We also want to teach students how to handle adversity. The pandemic has taught us more than anything that adversity comes to each and every one of us.
“As much as we want to give them a curriculum that says, ‘I know how to handle Algebra II,’ and ‘I know how to handle writing a research paper,’ we also want them to be able to handle the emotions of life and the adversities of life. We want to empower our kids to have the skills they need to be able to handle whatever life brings their way.”
“ We want to empower our kids to have the skills they need to be able to handle whatever life brings their way. ”
— MATT SUTTON, DISTRICT MENTAL HEALTH COORDINATOR
Art teacher, Dora Norcross, with Mountain Home student Yui Kobayashi. “ For the three years that I’ve been with fifthgraders, it was really therapeutic for students, whether we were doing clay or watercolors . ”
— FIFTH-GRADE ART TEACHER DORA NORCROSS
Yui Kobayashi has had an eventful career in the Mountain Home school system. The 11-year-old transferred to the school last year when her family moved to Mountain Home from Ohio, which meant getting used to a new school, new teachers and making new friends.
One thing Yui brought with her, however, was a love of art, and through the school’s arts program, she quickly assimilated to her new surroundings.
“I like painting, especially sunsets,” she said. “I have been painting since I was really small, like 5 years old. Last year, we worked with clay, and I really liked that. On Halloween, we made pumpkins and everyone said that mine were really good. I made one for everyone in my family.”
Yui’s experience is sweet music to fifth grade art teacher Dora Norcross. She said art classes are about more than just making pretty pictures.
“For the three years that I’ve been with fifth graders, it was really therapeutic for students, whether we were doing clay or watercolors,” she said. “Throughout the pandemic, it really was a release for the kids.”
Visual art programs start in kindergarten and are a regular part of the school week through eighth grade. Art is also offered at the high school level allowing students to fulfill their fine arts requirement or immerse themselves all four years. Outside of visual arts, music is also offered in the primary grades, while coral music and theater are additional offerings in junior high and high school.
Norcross said in an era when so many programs are axed over budgetary concerns, Mountain Home stands out for its commitment to supporting arts during the school day.
“It’s really easy in some of our units to link the math that the fifth graders are doing with my class,” she said. “When we’re doing any kind of one-point perspective drawing, it’s really easy to connect our classes with angles, shapes and geometry. It’s just as easy to connect with our literacy classes; I collaborate a lot with those teachers on art projects that reflect what they’re reading.”
— BETH IVENS, MHHS ART TEACHER
By the time students get to high school, many have developed a serious interest in art, with some even considering it for a career in one of a number of fields. Beth Ivens, high school art teacher, said classic techniques are stressed as a foundation for the workplace, even as new technologies present themselves.
“A lot of students get introduced to (art) on the technology side and then find a way to use the animation programs to create and draw,” she said. “But the kids I have learn to use pencils, charcoal and paint in the traditional way, and seem to transition to those things much more easily.
“I asked a graphic design company once, ‘When you hire a graphic artist, do you prefer they have a background in the traditional, hands-on arts?’ He said, ‘We can teach anybody the software, but it helps if they come to us with that prior artistic knowledge.’”
Ty Lawrence, a senior, said his skills were not only improved through instruction and encouragement, but also through challenges, making mistakes and problem-solving.
“I think a big thing for me is, I’ve always felt like I had someone to go to who I knew would be able to help,” he said. “At the same time, especially when you’re in those upper art classes, Ms. Ivens isn’t over your shoulder the whole time being like, ‘You should do this. You should change this.’ She’s not changing it for you.”
Lawrence, who plans to attend Savannah College of Art Design in Georgia after graduation, said he also appreciated the many opportunities he had to apply his art in practical ways during high school.
“I always really enjoyed my English classes and projects where you got to make a poster for a book or something like that,” he said. “I’m more into English because it’s more abstract and forward-thinking, and I can correlate that to art. It’s carried me through my classes as far as being able to have a broader understanding of certain subjects.
“And sometimes,” he added with a grin, “you can mask a not-so-good homework project if it looks pretty.”
“ A lot of students get introduced to [art] on the technology side and then find a way to use the animation programs to create and draw. But the kids I have learn to use pencils, charcoal, and paint in the traditional way, and seem to transition to those things much more easily.”
“ I think a big thing for me is, I’ve always felt like I had someone to go to who I knew would be able to help. ”
— TY LAWRENCE, MHHS SENIOR
Mountain Home Public Schools’ mission is to prepare students for cuttingedge careers. It achieves this through updated curriculum and content delivery as well as outside partnerships to help ensure students receive an education that’s both accessible and relevant to the working world.
Lexi Rauls, Trina Baldwin, and Justin Kubistek prepare for their future careers through the new programs at MHPS.
As an industry, nursing is one of the most important and impactful jobs there is. It’s also been suffering from a severe numbers shortage over the past decade, as Baby Boomer nurses move into retirement.
If enrollment numbers are any indication, Mountain Home High School’s nursing students are committed to filling that need.
“My classes are absolutely growing,” said Tenille Rauls, MHHS medical professions teacher. “This will be my fourth year teaching, and my classes have steadily grown each year.”
About a third of each year’s graduating class goes into the health care field, and that’s not by accident. The White Coat Program is a selective cohort giving students a range of academic and realworld experiences rarely found in schools the size of Mountain Home. These include on-site internships to the local hospital, Baxter Regional Medical Center, and remote learning through Harvard Medical School.
“I’m so incredibly honored and excited to bring a collaboration with Harvard Medical School to my students this year,” Rauls said. “We will be Zooming in with them every other Friday to do case studies, to do activities such as learning how to suture
“ I moved here from Raleigh, North Carolina, and I call this area my utopia. I’ve never been in a community like this, so giving and nurturing and supportive. ”
— TENILLE RAULSand learning how to do different medical activities. It will really open their eyes to different roles in the health care field.”
A second program, new this year, is a partnership between the high school, Baxter Regional and ASU Mountain Home, providing scholarships and accelerated professional training. The program provides a clear, streamlined path from high school to college to the workplace. Such cooperative efforts are something that sets the community apart, Rauls said.
“I moved here from Raleigh, North Carolina, and I call this area my utopia. I’ve never been in a community like this, so giving and nurturing and supportive,” she said. “In that spirit, these students are learning a profession that will allow them to go out and do good in the community. They are motivated and smart, and they blow me out of the water with their brilliance and their drive and determination, every day.”
When it comes to experts in their field, they don’t come much more qualified than Jason Williams. The Hot Springs native served nearly 22 years in the U.S. Navy during which time he was trained as a drone pilot.
Fast forward to 2022, his second year at Mountain Home High School, and Williams is both chief of the Navy Junior ROTC program and skipper of a brandnew class on drone aviation.
“I don’t know that many high schools are teaching this type of class,” he said. “None of the other schools that have an NJROTC are teaching it yet. I know they’re looking at it, but nothing’s official.”
Also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, drones have steadily grown in their commercial applications, from surveying hard-to-reach land to assessing storm damage and executing battle maneuvers too dangerous for humans.
“In Northwest Arkansas and North Central Arkansas, drones are starting to become really big,” he said. “The military is also looking for drone pilots. I saw this as a way I can help some of these kids step out of high school and go straight into a career.”
The yearlong class will provide students plenty of instruction and, weather permitting, plenty of flight time, too. Williams said at the conclusion of
Here’s a sampling of the new and innovative courses preparing Mountain Home students for their next steps after graduation.DRONE AVIATION PROGAMNURSING
“ In good weather, we’re going to have the chance to fly drones and build up students’ flight hours because in aviation it’s all about flight hours. ”
— JASON WILLIAMSthe course, students 14 and up will be eligible to test for their FAA 107 license, a credential that allows holders to hire themselves out.
“In good weather, we’re going to have the chance to fly drones and build up students’ flight hours because in aviation it’s all about flight hours,” he said. “That’s how you log your experience.”
Drones aren’t cheap, particularly the commercial models, so the class represents a major investment in the students.
“I’m working on purchasing eight drones, and then I’ve got a grant in for two commercial drones,” he said. “I’ve also got members of the community who have offered to come in and talk about how drones are used in their industry, what kind of products they’re looking for and what kind of help they need.”
On the surface, Guy Berry College & Career Academy’s new boat manufacturing program is a nobrainer. Mountain Home sits in the heart of the state’s boat building industry, an industry that has suffered a severe shortage of labor in recent years.
But look a little further under the surface, and you’ll learn the course is not just about building canoes and fishing boats but building students’ self-confidence and self-esteem in ways many of them haven’t experienced before.
“We serve an at-risk population,” said Jeff Kincade, director. “These kids have, for whatever reason, struggled. For some, life has punched them in the face through no fault of their own, and for others, they’ve made some bad decisions.
“It’s our job to help those kids get all the tools they need to have in their toolbox to be successful in life.”
The boat manufacturing program is also the first bold step of Guy Berry as its own entity. formerly an alternative learning environment for students enrolled in the middle school, junior high or high school, Guy Berry has reorganized as a public charter school. Kincade said while the academy is still accountable to district oversight, having its own charter allows
more freedom for decision-making, such as offering the boat curriculum.
“We’re still teaching the same essential standards that everybody else has to get in the state of Arkansas,” said David Martin, lead teacher. “We’re still graduating kids with the same seal that everybody else is, we just gear our curriculum toward emphasizing employability, trade skill acquisition, soft skills and ways to not only get a job but keep a job.
“Our district has a very strong functioning career and trades education business advisory board which is made up of community members and teachers,” said Kincade. “We’re a part of that, and the chamber of commerce is extremely involved there as well. We’re using them to help us drive the decisions we make in order to provide our kids with the best opportunities to be employable and get them the certifications that they need.”
— DAVID MARTIN“ It’s our job to help those kids get all the tools they need to have in their toolbox to be successful in life. ”
— JEFF KINCADE
“ We just gear our curriculum toward emphasizing employability, trade skill acquisition, soft skills and ways to not only get a job but keep a job. ”
Leadership and education are two pillars in Gracyn Goodwin’s life.
The Mountain Home High School junior is the daughter of educators and has a full slate of extracurricular activities to round out her studies, including serving on student council and participating on the school dance team.
As a sophomore, she also got involved with MHHS’s Future Business Leaders of America club, through which she’s quickly risen to prominence at the state and national levels.
“FBLA is a pretty big organization of kids around the country who are focused on business life and the business lifestyle,”
she said. “We hold a district conference, state conference and national conference.
“Leadership development is definitely a big thing (in FBLA). I’m secretary of my high school club, and I’m treasurer at the state level.”
Goodwin has also distinguished herself in FBLA competitions, in which participants are tested on their knowledge of a given subject which sometimes includes an in-person presentation. Last year, she placed high enough at the district level to advance to state in the event-planning category, placing sixth. She was also part of a group that competed in the hospitality
and event management division, which advanced to nationals.
She said her participation has held many benefits that can be applied in other areas of school and her life in general.
“I definitely think that I am more confident and outgoing than I was when I first joined FBLA,” she said. “This is because my FBLA advisors have encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone, go talk to people and not be afraid to meet new people. FBLA definitely brings a lot of different people together, so you see a lot of different kids from a lot of different crowds come together in one organization.”
Goodwin said she hasn’t decided what she wants to do after high school, and she credits FBLA as one primary way she’s starting to figure out the direction of her next step in life.
“I want to continue to compete in some events because they help me get a better look at what career I might like to focus on,” she said. “Having the opportunity to talk to different business leaders around the state through FBLA definitely gives me some guidance on what I could be successful in, too.”
Not surprisingly, Goodwin is a big promoter of FBLA to others, soliciting her peers to join and get involved in the group, regardless of background or future plans.
“I encourage any student to join FBLA, no matter what they think they want to do in life,” she said. “They’ll definitely learn skills like leadership and organization. They will pick up a lot of interview skills and how to act professionally. It’s important to know the basics of that, like shaking people’s hands and looking people in the eye, no matter what you do in life.”
In most areas of his life, Tanner Coy is about as typical as teenagers come. As a sophomore at Mountain Home High School, he enjoys time spent with his friends and playing baseball on his travel team where the right-hander holds down the hot corner and also puts in some work as a pitcher.
But in one important respect, Tanner Coy is not like his peers and never has been, and that is what makes his story notable. His is a tale of hard work, family support and the unyielding resolve of his teachers.
“The first couple years of school, my whole class was passing me in being able to read and write and all of that,” Tanner said. “We didn’t know what was going on. Everyone could all read and write, and I could hardly write.”
As a second grader, Tanner was diagnosed with dyslexia, a learning disorder where a person has difficulty identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words. Contrary to popular belief, dyslexia has nothing to do with a person’s intelligence, hearing or vision; instead, it stems from some people processing language from a different part of the brain.
“Dyslexic students are very capable, very smart,” Tanner’s mother, Stacie, said. “They just have to learn a different way to read and process language.”
Following his diagnosis, the Coys transferred to Mountain Home thanks to the district’s program expertise with dyslexic students. Tanner worked with specially trained tutors, and while at first
progress was slow, educators just worked harder, refusing to let him fail.
“These teachers were really key,” Stacie said. “They worked with him and have taken him almost as their own kid. They’re wonderful.”
Last year, Tanner completed the tutoring curriculum, the Barton Reading and Spelling Program, having achieved some amazing milestones along the way. Not only did he finish ninth grade at the top of his class, but he’s the first student in the Mountain Home Public Schools — and one of only about 2,000 nationally — to complete all 10 books in the program.
“I’m incredibly proud of him,” Stacie said. “As a parent, you want to see your kid be successful, and when you see them
struggling and you don’t know why and you don’t know how to help them, you worry. If they can’t read, they’re not going to be successful in life.”
Tanner has his eye on a career in diesel mechanics after high school, and given his progress, those aspirations feel more attainable than ever. But first, he must negotiate the last three years of high school and continue his sophomore year knowing he will have to apply what he’s learned on his own. Asked about his emotions for the upcoming school year, he just shrugs.
“I’m rather confident,” he said. “I’m a little worried I don’t have my tutors to run to and ask something if I’m concerned. But I’ve always got their numbers in my phone.”
Like a lot of third graders, getting a dog is a landmark event in 9-yearold Mahalin Hughes’ life. He’s been waiting patiently for the new furry family member, and despite there still being months to go in the hound’s training, Mahalin grows more excited with each passing day.
“Basically, everywhere I go, Luka will go. He’s a labradoodle,” he said.
But unlike other kids with other pets, Mahalin and Luka will be more than mere companions. One of the reasons for Luka’s extended training is because the pup is learning how to respond to Mahalin in the event the lad experiences difficulty with his diabetes, a potentially life-threatening situation.
“Luka is being trained as a diabetes alert dog,” Mahalin said matter-of-factly. “He’s trained to smell my saliva and smell me. He can tell if I’m low or high (glucose) by the smell of my breath and the smell of me. Then he’ll signal me; I think it’s he’ll paw at me if I’m low and he’ll nudge me with his nose if I’m high. It’s very hard to train but I’m getting told that it’s very worth it.”
Mahalin was diagnosed with the disease in kindergarten and living with it for so long allows the youngster to discuss it with ease.
“I have to take four to six shots a day, and the liquid is insulin,” he said. “I don’t know if you’re familiar with the body part pancreas, but a pancreas is the body part behind the stomach. It creates insulin and helps digest the insulin and it helps store
the insulin in the islet cells. It unlocks the energy.”
In addition to the shots, Mahalin is outfitted with a sensor under his skin that reports his metabolic information to an app. If his insulin level is too high or too low, his parents and the school nurse are notified. Mahalin’s mother had nothing but praise for the school staff and their approach to helping her son manage his condition.
“As soon as we got back (from diagnosis), they’d already coordinated a meeting to plan accommodations for his condition,” said Elaine Hughes. “He goes to classes and to get things from the office with a buddy. If it is a special snack day, like they do at Halloween, they let us know so we can dose him for the snack, and he won’t be left out. They were like guardian angels to him and to us.”
Mahalin doesn’t let diabetes affect him any more than necessary, playing soccer and even going on long runs with his family for exercise. He hasn’t got his future completely figured out yet, choosing instead to focus on the third grade where he’s in the Gifted and Talented Education program.
He offers the following advice for any kid going through a challenge.
“Just put one foot in front of the other,” he said. “Face your fears, go through the dark and eventually you will find the light.”
School
Siloam Springs Benton 435,833,116 44.90 4,290
Sheridan Grant 377,841,279 36.00 4,139
Lake Hamilton Garland 492,291,812 40.60 4,128
El Dorado Union 677,639,528 33.50 4,079
Searcy White 605,962,520 35.70 4,006
Texarkana Miller 499,834,491 38.90 3,880
Mountain Home Baxter 699,500,273 32.16 3,879
Greenwood Sebastian 443,565,470 40.60 3,848
Jacksonville North Pulaski Pulaski 446,603,772 48.30 3,846
Marion Crittenden 452,302,631 45.70 3,714
Hot Springs Garland 679,031,607 42.10 3,631
Greenbrier Faulkner 303,473,161 40.90 3,623
Nettleton Craighead 690,265,655 38.95 3,554
School District County
Valuations
Fort Smith Sebastian 1,643,551,362 42.058 13,846
Conway Faulkner 1,399,289,478 38.10 9,818
Russellville Pope 1,119,938,920 40.80 5,310
Bryant Saline 1,003,795,988 40.80 9,399
North Little Rock Pulaski 852,328,680 48.30 7,685
Cabot Lonoke 847,770,970 39.50 10,272
Mountain Home Baxter 699,500,273 32.16 3,879
Nettleton Craighead 690,265,655 38.95 3,554
Hot Springs Garland 679,031,607 42.10 3,631
El Dorado Union 677,639,528 33.50 4,079
Jonesboro Craighead 665,678,660 33.10 6,340
Searcy White 605,962,520 35.70 4,006
Lakeside Garland 533,709,771 41.70 3,347
School District County
Total Valuations
Pocahontas Randolph 191,917,791 32.81 1,970
Heber Springs Cleburne 320,964,234 32.80 1,513
Lafayette County Lafayette 75,667,417 32.80 520
Cotter Baxter 64,717,654 32.67 737
Forrest City St Francis 221,395,965 32.60 1,990
Dequeen Sevier 159,832,342 32.20 2,323
Mountain Home Baxter 699,500,273 32.16 3,879
Bergman Boone 64,264,973 32.00 1,061
Nashville Howard 166,799,793 31.70 1,909
Corning Clay 130,248,807 31.50 828
Salem Fulton 57,489,380 31.50 850
Ouachita River Polk 59,670,896 31.30 757
Blevins Hempstead 39,208,897 31.30 436
MHEF TOTAL AWARDED FOR 2022–2023 SCHOOL YEAR
Traditional scholarships: $60,500
Promise scholarships: $68,650
Teaching Grants: $22,623
Traditional: 55,144.21
Promise: 138,235.01
Teaching Grants: 22,440.00
Other Donations: 26,879.95
Fannie Pinkston Bob Hackler Evelyn Hackler Mary Hogle Larry Choate Nell Powell Wright Linda Pitts Terry Poynter Dr. Fran Coulter Earnest Perry
Thelma G. Carter Mary Alice Elam Willie Mae Magness Bentley Stracener Dr. William R. Snow Larry Nelson Wade Doshier Darren Irby Dr. Jennifer Wiseman Imogene Roane
Sheridan Kirksey Sarah Kelly Barbie Kent Graham Thomas Fowler Bob Knight Richard Padget Sergeant Tom Knebel
Calvin Czeschin Nancy Knight Crawford Patty Marion Debbie Shearer Walker
Robert Nelson Renata Jenkins Byler Dean Curlee Dr. Robert Ahrens Elaine Hughes First National Bank Pfc. Wilford Knight
Norma Wood Patsy Mooney Chambers Betty Jo Atlinson Dr. Stanley Trauth Dr. Thomas Bruce Admiral Robert Baker, M.D. Thurston Perry
Susan Bergman Dr. Ed Coulter Warren Haley Gwen Khayat Anna Jean Dahlke Bonnie Brown Army Infantry Private Homer F. Strain
Anita King Jeffery Koenig Dr. James McGuire Jane Ritter Ted Sanders Donel Jo Dobbs
Nancy Reed Mica Strother Dr. Max Cheney Southern Tag & Label
Dean Hudson Vicki Brantley Nell Ponder Frances Hackler Jones Dr. Darren McGuire Dr. Simon Abraham Nannie Lee Trammel
Don Dempsey Leo Pitchford Mauzee Pitchford Dr. Carson Davis Kevin L. Perkins Dr. Janet Cathey Sherry Perkins Norma Bryant
Terre Ware Jackie Edmonds Neil Putz James Biggers Baxter Healthcare Lance Corporal Sidney Lee Fletcher
John Erwin Pat Hickman Nora Regan Steve Singleton Pfc. Elvin French Wells Fargo Advisors
John W. “Bill” Maxwell Brandi Sanders Joplin First Security Bank Hal E. “Bud” Bodenhamer
Margaret Mason Norman Mason Glenda Small Robert Newton John Partipilo Marvin Kunz LTG. Paul Ostrowski ASU-Mountain Home
Ralph Ingram Mike & Joy Walker Dean Sanders Baxter Regional
Billie Larson Kathy Farris
Dr. Rob Conner Janet Wood Jim Bodenhamer Judy St.Clair
Lonnie Bentley Julie Wright Carol Wegerer Elizabeth Ann “Libby” Baker
“ I started off wanting to be an accountant and then later … I changed my major to computing because it was a hot new field. ”
“Systems Analysis and Design Methods,” published by McGraw-Hill, is in its seventh edition and is required reading for students in more than 750 colleges and universities across all 50 states.
The textbook is just one element of a decorated 40-year career as a college professor, one that spanned the early days of the computer and information technology fields when said technology began to trickle into the corporate world with the consumer market not far behind. Thousands of students studied directly under him during that time, not to mention those indirectly educated by the aforementioned textbook.
And but for $300, it almost never happened at all.
“I was born and raised in Mountain Home, one of six kids in my family,” he said. “I’d say that we weren’t well off at all. You could even say we were poor. I went to school in Mountain Home, grades 1 through 12. I was a pretty good student, but I really didn’t try.
“When I graduated from high school in 1975, I was engaged to my current wife. We had plans to get married that summer. I really hadn’t ever thought about going to college because we didn’t have any money. But when my wife said, ‘I’m going to college,’ I had to get busy trying to find a way to make that happen.”
Bentley’s middling grades landed him a $300 scholarship, which doesn’t sound like much, but it proved the catalyst for everything that would come after.
“I don’t belittle that because, at the time, that was enough to pay for my first
semester in tuition,” he said. “I went to ASU in Jonesboro; I started off wanting to be an accountant and then later, after having taken a computing course, I changed my major to computing because it was a hot new field.
“In fact, I remember I went to a conference in Nashville when I was a student, and while I was staying in the room there, I got more than 50 letters from companies asking me to come by their table regarding employment. That’s how young computing was then and how hungry they were for people who understood it.”
Bentley’s professional options with a bachelor’s degree only multiplied after he earned his master’s from ASU. One of the suitors was Purdue University in Indiana which offered him a teaching job. But, since the usual path to full tenured professorship generally required a doctorate, he turned them down thinking he’d be forever stuck on the bottom rung of the departmental ladder.
“They contacted me back and said, ‘Lonnie, we want you to reconsider your answer. Think of it this way: If you came here for three years it would really help us, and we think Purdue’s name would be good on your resume,’” he said. “I’m like, ‘I can give three years of my life.’ It ended up being 40 years.”
Bentley’s enthusiasm for the subject matter and his natural flair for teaching
helped him advance well beyond most non-Ph.D. holders, advancing to full professorship, serving as head of the department and at last being named professor emeritus. And it all happened during an exciting and revolutionary period in the history of computers.
“When computers first came out, they were used for space and military applications, very number-crunching stuff,” he said. “When I got into computing, I was just intrigued. There were software developers looking for ways to use computers to help businesses and so forth, and that was the area I studied in grad school — how to automate companies and learn the tools, techniques and strategies for carrying that out.”
In 2008, he lent the title “entrepreneur” to his resume, co-founding Broadband Antenna Tracking Systems, Inc., which automated signal tracking by cellular companies. In 14 years, the company has grown to include customers in more than 60 countries.
“We’re on just about every cruise line,” he said. “We’re on top of the Empire State Building and a couple of other skyscrapers in New York. We’re on a lot of oil ships and in the military. We’re on the Staten Island Ferry and the B.C. ferries. I’m very proud of that.”
Now retired, Bentley’s pleased to have shaped the nascent chapters of the computer industry as he has. And he’s a shining example of what a little investment can bring out of a person.
“I remember receiving that $300 scholarship and what it meant,” he said. “That was a lot of money to me, and I wasn’t the best student back then. But I like to think they got their money’s worth.”
Lonnie Bentley literally wrote the book on computers and information technology education. His textbook
Following her graduation from Mountain Home High School in 1964, Julie Wright set off on a range of adventures that would fill the next 35 years.
“I went to Fayetteville to the university and did speech pathology and audiology,” she said. “Then I decided to leave and go traveling to write a great American novel. You know how those things are.”
For the next three-and-a-half decades, Wright’s life and career unfolded in numerous and varied directions. She worked in a children’s hospital in St. Louis; managed a restaurant for world-renowned chef Paul Prudhomme in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado; managed musical acts in Chicago; and worked in California’s entertainment industry.
But through it all, she never fully got Mountain Home out of her system, returning in 1993 to care for her father.
“My family had a place where I wanted to build a home, up on the bluff overlooking the White River, which I did,” she said. “I was coming back here to retire in my home place and look down on the river and stay on the lake and just have a nice life.”
Wright not only built her dream home, she also set about helping to build the community in ways that benefited everybody, such as helping to raise money to build the public library.
“Education was always my thing,” she said. “I’m a foundation trustee at the library; our library is fantastic, and I like to think I played a small part in getting it built. We applied for a $9.8 million grant which was huge money for here, and they
awarded that to us with the stipulation that we would raise $2 million in the community to show them that the community was supporting what we were doing.
“Mountain Home is a wonderful place, but it’s a little place, and raising that $2 million was a struggle. But we got it and when we did, they gave us the $9.8 million to build it, another $2 million for programming and another $2 million for upkeep and maintenance of the building. That was a wonderful thing.”
Wright brought a similar passion to the Mountain Home Education Foundation, of which she was one of the first members. She was also part of the group that spearheaded funding of the foundation’s Promise Scholarship, led by local radio station owner, the late Bob Knight.
“Bob Knight was one of the founders of the Mountain Home Education Foundation and a dear friend of mine,” she said. “We put together a scholarship program that has been extremely successful for the last 20 years. Basically, it was five or six of us alums trying to pull money together to help kids go to college.
“Our main drive was to provide for the ‘middle’ kids; if your parents have a lot of money or if you’re top of your class, you can get scholarships and if a student is really needy and they score high enough on their tests, they can get a scholarship. But if they’re in the middle, then they’re
caught. That’s basically what we were trying to address, helping the kids who really needed the help.”
Wright said the scholarship program is just one element of preparing students for adult life and careers. She had high praise for the school system itself, saying the quality of education students receive is exceptional, dating back to her era.
“I was an English kid; I was going to be a writer,” she said. “I was basically a literature, English, music kid. The teachers that I had were just amazingly important to my development.
“The superintendent we have now is monumentally wonderful. He’s a young man, and he’s gung-ho and he has all the right things in mind. I think he’s really doing a magnificent job pulling faculty and staff together and having them work together.”
Wright grows emotional when talking about receiving the Bob Knight Bomber Spirit Award, named for her longtime friend. She said it was a high honor to be recognized by the community she loves so much.
“Mountain Home is just an outstanding community in that people always take care of other people,” she said. “When I was growing up, it was one of those places where everybody worked for everybody, everybody helped everybody. It was Mayberry.
“The inherent substance of the community that I’ve felt from childhood has held up. That makes me feel wonderfully proud and good inside. I have always felt like I’m the luckiest person in the world.”
“ Mountain Home is just an outstanding community in that people always take care of other people. ”
“ I went in to teach kids math, yes, but I really wanted to instill a love for learning. I was always just like, ‘Don’t ever stop learning things, guys. I don’t.’ ”
Prior to retiring in 2019, one has to go back almost five decades to reach a time Carol Wegerer wasn’t in the classroom, the vast majority of it spent in Mountain Home.
“We came to Mountain Home in 1979,” she said. “I taught in Mountain Home exactly 40 years; I taught from seventh grade at the middle school and every grade level all the way through seniors in high school. I even did some part-time Arkansas State University teaching. And then I taught the college algebra at our school for concurrent credit.”
Teaching for that long and over that many levels gave Wegerer a ringside seat at how the teaching profession has changed, especially as it relates to the field of mathematics.
“When I started, kids were in rows, they didn’t talk. You didn’t go home at night and, if you had trouble with your homework, you didn’t call a buddy and say, ‘Hey, how’d you do number seven?’” she said. “Back in those days, it was considered cheating. Now it’s like collaboration and connectedness. You work in groups.”
Wegerer prided herself on making lessons relatable and by stressing that there were several ways to arrive at a correct answer. She said doing so helped instill a natural curiosity that carried over into other subjects and followed kids through life.
“I’m not going to tell you that they were all convinced that math was valuable for later on, but I think they did buy into the idea of problem-solving,” she
said. “Therefore, if they accomplished this in math class, they would be better at whatever. That foundational skill is important.
“I went in to teach kids math, yes, but I really wanted to instill a love for learning. I was always just like, ‘Don’t ever stop learning things, guys. I don’t.’”
Another benefit of her approach was to reduce math’s intimidation factor by showing vulnerability in the face of a difficult problem.
“There was usually a certain way the book wanted you to solve things, but kids would often come in from a different direction,” she said. “I had to learn to say, ‘Wow! That is fascinating.’ And then we would talk about it.
“One of the things I also learned was it’s good for kids to see teachers don’t always know the direct way to get the answer. We’d spend 10 minutes on a problem sometimes, and it would be like, ‘Oh, that didn’t work. What did we do wrong?’ They saw it was OK to not know, and we went from skill and drill to more discovery. That helped kids learn to problem-solve and that’s what life is.”
Wegerer said her teaching philosophy was regularly informed by her students, none more than one particular kid who, even after nearly 50 years in the classroom, still stands out to her.
“He was the only blind student I ever had, and I had to teach differently to make sure he understood my words,” she said. “That class as a whole did outstanding, because of the development of how I presented the stuff, knowing he couldn’t see it.
“It taught me that, honestly, you can’t teach how you taught last year or years ago; we’re dealing with a whole new world. You had to really be able to adapt.”
One of Wegerer’s trademarks, besides her enthusiasm for students and subject matter alike, was the cinnamon bread for which she became famous.
“One of my students gave me a loaf of this cinnamon bread 22 years ago,” she said. “The kitchen is my therapy, so I made this bread adding a lot more cinnamon than the original version and I loved it.”
The Weg Bread, as it came to be called, was originally apportioned in class during test days and other occasions, but soon became her calling card. By the end of her teaching career, she was baking 2,000 loaves a year, stockpiling 6-inch loaves in the freezer. Even today, she carries a couple with her on trips to the store in case she runs into a former student.
“I tear up when I see my former students,” she said. “We hug, we smile, they remember my name. And many of them say, ‘I remember you made the best cinnamon bread.’ That’s when I reach into my purse and say, ‘Today’s your lucky day.’”
The bread also became an important part of a talk she’d give students on their last day of senior year.
“We were family the years I had them, we had a good time,” she said. “I wanted them to know how much they enriched my life, as much as I hoped I added to theirs. And at the very end, I’d say to them, ‘You go out and you find your cinnamon bread. Find the gift you can share with people and give it away freely. Make this world a better place.’”
never believe, and I sang a little,” she said, her voice sparkling. “We always had a play at the end of school, the juniors and seniors. It was the highlight of the year.”
Due to some students being held back, the class of 1937 numbered just four graduates, Miss Libby being the valedictorian. However, this promising start on realizing her dream of going into medicine was cut short when her mother fell ill, and she returned home to care for her.
“I’m old, and I’m happy,” she said to describe her life. “I am almost 102 years old. You wouldn’t believe some of the things I could tell you.”
Born just two years after the conclusion of World War I and the same year U.S. women won the right to vote, her lifetime has seen some of the greatest advancements in human history. Even the things most take for granted — such as automated climate control and running water — were all foreign luxuries during her growing up.
“In school, the first thing we did in wintertime was stand by the old wood stove that sat in the corner of the study hall,” said Baker, better known to all as Miss Libby. “It had a metal jacket around it that made the warmest room you can imagine. We would hover around that stove.
“Running water and plumbing in the school, that we didn’t have. Plumbing was a luxury back then. We would never hear of the school paying for that. We had a water bucket and a dipper. We also had two different accommodations, one for the boys and one for the girls, and if it was snowing and you had to go, we went in the snow. It didn’t hurt me.”
From an early age, Miss Libby’s aspirations were grand, especially for a girl of her era in small-town Arkansas. But with a former teacher for a mother and a stepfather who was a pharmacist,
education was something highly valued.
“I had my eye on medicine,” she said. “The drug store encouraged me and my mother did some nursing on her own. I suppose you could say it was unusual for a girl to graduate high school back then, however we had, in the group that I knew, some who were very anxious to do well in school and graduate.”
Recalling her school days, many of Miss Libby’s memories harken to bygone eras, such as public school children attending chapel and the superintendent reading scripture verses to start the day. Other recollections are as familiar to today’s students and they were back then.
“Of course, we had English and I took French,” she said. “I did a little better in math. I went to a high school competition at the University of Arkansas, and I represented in math. Don’t ask me how I did.
“We had a lot of clubs and they did fancy things, we thought then. Lots of music. We had a piano that was special in the study hall — we called it the auditorium — and we gathered around that piano a lot. On account of the college here, we imported several vocalists and instrumental music players who added a lot to the talent in our school. They even taught private lessons.”
One of Miss Libby’s favorite extracurricular activities was drama.
“Oh yes, I could dress up like you would
In 1942, Miss Libby married Gene Baker, and the couple would raise two daughters, to whom she passed down the emphasis on education from her parents.
“I didn’t have to use much pressure; they were both good students, made good grades,” she said. “I just reminded them when it was necessary that they must do their homework and checked with the teachers occasionally to see how they were doing firsthand. I was awfully proud of them, and I still am.”
From there, Miss Libby’s progeny grew to include multiple generations of graduates from Mountain Home High School. But ask her the number of her grandchildren and beyond, and she feigns exasperation.
“Don’t ask me that,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t have enough fingers and toes!”
For being inducted into her alma mater’s Hall of Honor, MHHS’s oldest living graduate said she was profoundly grateful. Asked about the secret to a long and happy life, she offers some welllived wisdom.
“We have a leader and a Father who will guide us in the right way. Staying close to Him is the solution, and there are various ways to do that, of course, in church and also at home,” she said. “And, always have a curiosity to learn.”
It’s hard to imagine all the things that have transpired in the world since Elizabeth Ann Baker entered it on New Year’s Eve 1920.
“ I’m old and I’m happy. I am almost 102 years old. You wouldn’t believe some of the things I could tell you. ”
At first glance, it’s hard to see why David and Lynn Lawhon have donated as generously to the Mountain Home Education Foundation as they have. The couple didn’t grow up here, didn’t attend school here and having never had children, their offspring didn’t either.
But ask them what it is about the local school system that inspired their $25,000 donation to fund future scholarships, and their answer is clear — to make a local impact on the lives of young people who need it most.
“We wanted to give something back to our community in addition to leaving money to a good cause,” said Lynn. “We were looking for a place to make a donation that would make a difference, and hopefully this will.”
“We didn’t have any children, and this kind of gives us a way to give back to the kids we didn’t have,” said David. “People helped us as we came along and needed help. Now we’re in a position to take care of others, so to speak.”
The Lawhons, who have been married 53 years, are both self-described Air Force brats. They met when both were attending college at what was then Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, now Louisiana Tech, in Ruston, Louisiana. David graduated from the school with a degree in business accounting, while Lynn transferred in her junior year to Florida State University where she graduated with a mathematics degree.
From there, both of them entered the corporate world where they each built impressive careers. David was involved with banking and helped build the largest swimming pool manufacturing company in the world, while Lynn worked for General Motors. The couple retired and relocated to Mountain Home 15 years ago.
“Trout fishing and Hurricane Katrina,” Lynn said when asked what brought them to Arkansas. “We lived in South Mississippi in a little town called Picayune which is about 20 miles from the Gulf. Katrina came right through Picayune, the eye of the hurricane. No power for three weeks. It was not a lot of fun.
“We used to come up here and fly-fish a couple of times a year, and we decided we’d had enough of hurricanes. I had
already retired, and David was about to, so we decided to come up here because it’s beautiful.”
Recently, the couple gave the trout a rest long enough to do some estate planning which is how they came to consider ways to support the public school system.
“Like most people, we have certain charities that we are partial to,” Lynn said. “One day David said, ‘It would be
nice, instead of giving to these companies that don’t know us from beans, if we could do something for somebody local.’”
In asking around, a friend suggested the Mountain Home Education Foundation, and the idea immediately struck a chord. Working with the foundation, the Lawhons established a scholarship for graduating seniors to continue their education, with one interesting twist: The award is reserved for “C” students.
“I had an uncle who graduated from LSU School of Journalism many, many years ago and I always was interested in this guy,” David said. “He was extremely smart, brilliant. He created a scholarship at LSU for journalism students that specified it could only be given to a ‘C’ student. He said there were enough people helping ‘A’ and ‘B’ students, and sometimes a ‘C’ student would come along who could fool everybody.
DONOR DAVID & LYNN LAWHON MHEF
“That scenario fit me, as a matter of fact. In high school, I had a counselor who sat there and said, ‘OK, you’re getting ready to graduate. What are you going to do?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m going to college,’ and she laughed at me. Threeand-a-half years later when I graduated, I sent her a graduation notice.”
David faced other challenges growing up, including his father dying when he was only 14. This event inspired the fathers of his friends to take turns teaching him the finer points in life; how to hunt and fish, how to compete, to how to tie a tie. He credits the time and care this slate of mentors invested in him as fundamental to the man he grew into, just like the couple sees their unique scholarship as hoped-for motivation to future generations of late bloomers.
“Sometimes ‘C’ students are supersharp,” Lynn said with a smile. “Maybe they are just bored or maybe they have other problems when they’re in high school. That doesn’t mean they can’t succeed.”
“ We didn’t have any children and this kind of gives us a way to give back to the kids we didn’t have. People helped us as we came along and needed help. Now we’re in a position to take care of others, so to speak. ”
Mountain Home Public Schools is a thriving, dynamic educational community that seeks to lead each student to their full potential. Our cutting-edge programs and the expertise of our staff are assets generally found in much larger school districts, made possible here by the generous support of people in the community.
The Mountain Home Education Foundation was formed to provide an easy way for individuals and organizations to invest in the future of our school and its students. Funds collected through the Foundation provide for educational programs and activities that have not been funded by the district’s normal operating budget. These programs and activities facilitate student skill achievement and development; recognize and encourage staff excellence; and expand community involvement from individuals, businesses and civic organizations.
Specifically, MHEF funds are directed to:
→ Provide scholarships for postsecondary education
→ Provided funds for teaching grants to enable innovative teaching projects
→ Recognize staff, alumni and friends of the school district for exemplary contributions
→ Build community awareness for MHEF
→ Inspire parents and the community to participate with the school district in enriching education
Donations to the MHEF are changing the futures of Mountain Home Public Schools students. Through teaching grants, thousands of students are impacted each school year as teachers try new and innovative techniques in their classrooms. Our traditional scholarships allow Mountain Home High School graduates to spread their wings at accredited colleges and universities across the country. And, the Mountain Home Promise funds the tuition gap for students who wish to earn a technical certificate or associate degree from ASU Mountain Home.
Since its inception in 2003, the Mountain Home Education Foundation has awarded more than $1 million in student scholarships and more than $400,000 in teaching grants.
Your tax-deductible contribution to the Mountain Home Education Foundation is an investment in the future of our children and our community. For more information about any of the available giving options, contact Jennifer Seaman, MHEF executive director, at (870) 425-1201.
→ CAPTAIN
$10,000 annually for 5 years
→ AVIATOR
$5,000 annually for 5 years
EAGLE $2,500 annually for 5 years
FLYER $1,000 annually for 5 years
→ FRIEND $500 annually for 5 years
SUPPORTER $250 annually for 5 years
WINGS A five-year specified pledge at different levels of giving that can be used toward scholarships, teaching grants and/or operating expenditures. At the end of the five years, a plaque featuring the donor’s name will be placed in Dunbar Auditorium.
PLANNED GIVING Patrons can remember the Foundation through a gift in their estate planning. The gift can take the form of money, property, stock or other valuable items to leave a lasting legacy to Mountain Home students and faculty.
INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS THAT HAVE MADE THE PLEDGE TO SUPPORT THE WORK OF MHEF:
Anstaff Bank
First Security Bank Mountain Home Rotary Club
Julie Wright Paul Marion North Arkansas Electric Cooperative Jim & Anne Allen Dr. Ray & Edie Stahl Neil Putz Buck & Rachel Gilbert Samuel & Julie Haney
Tim & Konnie Coleman
The Late Bob & Sue Knight Jim & Jackie Neff
The Jenkins Byler Family & Tim Byler
Ron & Joyce Lechtenberger Roger & Mollie Morgan Dr. Jacob & Brittney Long Jennifer Crawford Bill & Tami Barrow Jacklyn Morrison Mike and Julia Gist
GIFTS This vehicle is a meaningful way to honor or remember loved ones. The honored individual or families of those remembered will receive notifications of donations.
These funds are of vital importance to the MHEF and to the students it serves. Scholarship awards are granted according to the expressed direction of the donor as recorded in the scholarship agreement. The MHEF Scholarship Committee then selects the individual recipient(s). All endowed scholarships are named for the donor(s) or as the donor directs.
