AWM artists cop state-wide honors

By Billy Woods

WM School District

The Academies of West Memphis art program has some of the finest talent in Arkansas as evidenced by a most recent state competition.

Senior Chris Blakely won first place in mixed media in the AR Congressional Art competition that was hosted by Congressman Rick Crawford. Also, sophomore Michael Latham was a finalist in painting in the same competition.

AWM art teacher Roxane Lee praised the two winning students.

"Chris and Michael are two of our standout art students," said Lee. "I've taught Chris three years. It's quite an honor to win first place in the state of Arkansas. His artwork is so realistic and it seems like he just stands out in most anything he does. He's an all-around great kid.

"Michael is a wonderful painter. Being a finalist and only a sophomore, says a lot for Michael. He has a natural ability to paint. He loves water color, but he's great with acrylic, too. I can see him just getting better and better."

Blakely's works were entitled Inward Inhabitants and Puzzled Curiosity. Latham's work was entitled Serenity.

Both students want to pursue artwork as a profession.

Blakey said he hasn't yet made up his mind where he will attend college, but it mostly likely will be in Memphis. He has interest in the University of Memphis or Memphis College of Art, majoring in either illustration or graphic design.

Blakely's interest in art dates back to six years of age.

His specialty is realism.

"I try to see my subject as real as possible," he said. "I try to use abstract components and other hidden components to try to show through the realism with a little bit of abstract."

Latham said he one day hopes to own a store and sell his own paintings.

"I love to paint," Latham said. "I really don't remember when my interest in painting started. It just seems like I've always been doing it. Practicing is something I also really enjoy. "

Both students say Lee and the art department at the Academies of West Memphis have been instrumental in developing their skills.

"(Lee) always challenges us and she has this way of communicating with each of us," said Blakely.

Rotary/Delta Arts honor West Memphis students

By Billy Woods

WM School District

The West Memphis Rotary Club recently had its first-annual Student 4-Way Test Awards event at the the DeltaARTS Glen P. Schoettle Arts Education Center.

One student from each West Memphis school was honored for emodying and reflecting the ethical elements of the Rotary 4-Way Test.

Students selected included:

--- James Perkins, sixth-grader at Richland Elementary. Perkins was selected because he possesses a heartfelt desire to give to others and has demonstrated maturity beyond his years.

--- Emma Fraley, ninth-grader at West Junior High. Fraley is committed to the enhancement of her school, participating in many school projects.

--- Abigail Pahls, sixth-grader at St. Michael's Catholic School. Pahls was selected because of her thoughtfulness, generosity and kind-hearted spirit.

--- Dylan Michelle Dodd, sixth-grader at Bragg Elementary. Dodd was selected because she shows empathy toward others and is especially attentive to new students who come to Bragg.

--- Bryce Waller, 11th-grader at West Memphis Christian School. Waller is great at problem solving and his motto is to stay calm in every situation.

--- Atesia Gordon, ninth-grader at East Junior High. As a student office worker at East, Alesia understands the importance of first impressions and greets everyone with a smile and positive attitude.

--- Laniya Brown, fourth-grader at Wonder Elementary. Brown received the STAR student award at her school and was the unanimous choice from the committee.

--- Raven Hinton, senior at the Academies of West Memphis. Hinton is an excellent student, but more than that she goes above and beyond in seeking ways to serve others.

--- Azariah Jones, fifth-grader at Maddux Elementary. Jones was selected because she has distinguished herself as bright, inquisitive and energetic along with being a phenomenal team player and group worker.

--- Nyan Ganus, sixth-grader at Faulk Elementary. Positive and enthusiastic, Ganus is an ambassador for his school in so many ways and welcomes guests to the school as well as building friendships with new students.

--- Da'Liya Anderson, sixth-grader at L.R. Jackson Elementary. Anderson has outstanding leadership characteristics, including integrity, authenticity and excellent communication skills.

--- Gavin Knowlton, pre-schooler at Steudlein Learning Academy. Knowlton walks through the doors each day with a smile on his face and a story to share.

--- Steve Spencer, ninth-grader at Wonder Junior High. Spencer shows outstanding character and is well-mannered and polite.

--- Jamar Hollins, third-grader at Weaver Elementary. Hollins is called the "turnaround kid" as he began the year with a less than happy attitude, but the staff at Weaver say his outlook is like night and day from the beginning of school to the present.

Bragg Elementary: Class in Session August 2017!

    

WMSD construction getting closer to completion

By Billy Woods

WM School District

New construction is happening at many schools in the West Memphis School District and the completion dates are very near.

Eight of the 11 schools in West Memphis are undergoing major construction projects and all appear to be on schedule for completion soon.

The crown jewel of the major project is Bragg Elementary, which will get an entire brand new building on time for the start of classes in August of this year. The whole project is expected to be completed by July 1.

"Our contractor is expected to turn over the building to us by the end of June," said Clint Byard, director of facilities for the WMSD. "By June 1 we have to have Bragg's cafeteria building completely emptied and have the current building ready for demolition."

The July date of completion will give administration and faculty time to get moved in by the start of the 2017 fall semester.

The wealth of construction in the school district keeps Byard on the move.

"I run every day," he said with a smile. "Before 9 o'clock in the morning I've usually been at every site. On Mondays I speak with the job superintendents to see how the weekend went. It's constant communication between the general contractors and myself."

The construction projects include a completed cafeteria addition at Faulk, which opened just before Christmas 2016 and electrical renovations at Faulk, Richland Elementary, the Academies of West Memphis, Weaver Elementary and Maddux Elementary.

Other projects include an interior renovation of 39,000 square feet at Maddux with a new fire sprinkler system, new fire alarm system, new intercom system, new suspended ceiling system, new LED lighting, new LVT flooring in the hallways, a new cafeteria, a new gymnasium, new room for the choral program and new room for the art program.

At Weaver, there is a new construction of a 6,000 square foot gymnasium with the same synthetic floor as Maddux and a new construction of 10,000 square feet art and music rooms along with a new administration area and kitchen expansion.

At Richland, there is a new gymnasium, art and music buildings as well as 10,000 square feet of space for special education class rooms along with a new administration area and kitchen addition.

Also at Faulk, there is an 8,000 square foot gymnasium and music building as well as renovation of the existing library into new administration offices and renovation of the existing offices to instruction support spaces.

At Jackson and Wonder elementaries, a new campus site is waiting on approval for state funds in May.

"All of our projects are right on schedule," Byard added. "We're looking at all  of these to be 14-16-month projects. Maddux ran ahead of schedule and is already completed."

Weaver's project is set for completion for July 30. Richland's completion date is set for Sept. 1 of this year and the rest of the Faulk project has a completion date of Jun1, 2018.

Back to Bragg Elementary: Byard said the demolition of the current Bragg building will take approximately two weeks. The space will then be used as a parking lot, which is expected to be completed by the first part of September.

In the interim, teachers and parents will have to use street parking for a couple weeks.

"We didn't give ourselves a lot of grace time because maintenance-wise we've invested a lot into the building, we've put in LBT flooring...basically no wax, so there's no stripping, no wax from this point on. It's going to save us on that continuing maintenance operation cost every summer. And it's going to allow us to move into the building immediately."

Without LBT flooring, ti would take "us a month in a building of that size to strip and wax."

The ordering of furniture for the new Bragg has already taken place. All of the classrooms for students and offices for administrators, faculty and nurses will be brand new.

Groundbreaking for the new school was in mid-April of 2016 and the ceremony included West Memphis mayor Bill Johnson, superintendent Jon Collins, state senator Keith Ingram and state reps Deborah Ferguson and Milton Nicks.

Both Collins and Ladd Garey of the architectural firm of ETFC/Garey, are Bragg alums, and as you might expect the new school takes on new meaning.

Tooth fairies pay visits

Workers for Children's Dental Health Group recently visited all seven West Memphis elementary schools promoting dental health education for students in kindergarten through the third grade.

AWM senior poised to make it aviation engineering

By Billy Woods WM School District As Jeremy Paige sat with his ninth-grade classmates at West Junior High three years ago as the Academies of West Memphis charter concept was being rolled out, he had a decision to make. The charter would allow local students to choose between various vocations and get a head start in agriculture, nursing, culinary arts, natural resources, arts, audio/visual, hospitality, tourism...and for Paige, aviation engineering. “We were all sitting in an assembly and the rest of us were picking to go into stuff like the medical field and diesel,” said Paige. “And then I saw aviation and I thought, well, that’s something different.” Now a senior at AWM, Paige is well on his way to landing a prestigious job somewhere in the U.S. as an aviation engineer. The industry-driven concept has been a wild success three years into it. But Paige is unique in that he started in aviation engineering with six other fellow AWM students. The field is very demanding and difficult. Paige is the only one left. Each day during third period, Paige heads out to the ASU-Mid-South’s FedEx Aviation Technology Center near the West Memphis Municipal Airport and works with his instructors, Rodger Williams and Millard Smith, lead instructor of the Aviation Maintenance Technology of ASU-Mid-South. A FedEx jet and seven other planes inside the technology center are there waiting on Paige. If he chose to, Paige could be fully certified to work on jets by the time he is 21. However, he says he wants to get his Associates degree from Mid-South and then finish up at a four-year university. “I’ll major in engineering,” he said. “That would look good for aviation.” The choice to head into aviation engineering has met all his expectations, Paige said. “It’s actually been better than I thought it would be,” he added. “When they explained what the classes were going to be like they told me I’d learn how to repair planes, learn the history of airplanes and how they fly...I was like ‘OK that’s kind of exciting,’ but now that I’ve been in the classes it was way more than they promised.” And because Paige is the only West Memphis student still in the aviation class, he gets all the attention he can stand. “I get full hands-on training,” Paige stated. “And that makes it all easier. If it’s something I’m struggling with I get to go back and do it over and over again until it’s right. It would be nice to be in a class with other people, but I’m able to learn more this way.” Paige stops just short of saying he’s already got offers on the table once he gets out of school. But, let’s just say there are several airlines very interested in him. “I’ve already talked to several folks and by the time I finish the program there will be openings for me,” Paige said. “They all tell me they’re going to need employees. It’s pretty exciting. I’m ready for it.”

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Weaver celebrates Black History Month

By Billy Woods

WM School District

Weaver Elementary recently celebrated Black History Month with its annual program recognizing icons in American history.

The show started with an overall celebration led by Jalexia Banks, Quenton Jefferson, Treston Spencer and Aiyden Stallings.

The Phenomenal Woman portion of the program included Baily Ballard, Brianna Tate, Kyra Brown, Areouna Gaines, Maliya Perry, Julissa Shumpert, Jakayla Chandler, Reagan Stallings, Jamerica Horn, Nakhya Jackson, Dionsay Watkins, Kiona Bond, Tyra Clay and Kadisha Patterson.

I Am a Black Child included Kobe Williams, Andre Marby and De'ykota Mills.

A Day on the Bus included Austin Allison, Kasey Tucker, Aden Wilson and Trey Franks.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous I Have A Dream speech was read by Demetrius Trayor.

The Weaver kindergartners sang a song about King.

A Change Is Gonna Come, an original hit by Sam Cooke, was danced to by Kadaisha Taylor, De'ykota Mills, Ky'Brianna Nolen, Destinee Weatherspoon, Kaiya Newsom, Christianna Dunigan, Lanya Daniels and Harmony Buckingham.

The I Have A Dream chorus was led by Detario Allen, Trinity Smith, Aden Wilson, Gary Mitchell, Emmanuel Hamblin, Madison Porter, Otanerriah Smith, Dakiyah Barrett and Jamaica Wilson.

Faulk's Leaders as Readers event shines

By Billy Woods

WM School District

Thirty-eight local professionals got a chance to visit the campus of Faulk Elementary for its annual Leaders as Readers event.

The professionals shared to students about their jobs and how to approach their own adult professional careers.

"This event is one of our biggest of the year," said Faulk principal Janice Donald. "We always have tremendous response from the community to come in and speak to our students."

The list includes Ervie Jackson, Kevin Jordan, Eric Johnson, Lawrence Perkins, William Milliner, Safondra Thomas, Braxton Stokes, Goeffery Williams, Cameron King, Sierra Harris, Constance Brown, Natasha Williams, Natasha Jackson, Von Gretchen Robinson, Donnaire Granger, Lavona Hargrove, Anita Wilson, Darrell Anthony and D'James Rogers II.

Also, Dr. Chasity Dean-Anthony, Jonathan Lanes, Unika Mack, Jermaine Jackson, Tekela Coleman, Richard L. Crawford, Alfreda Page, Angie Weems, Bruce Peden, Richard McDonald, Stacy Allen, Katina Griffin, Angela Barber, Courtney Chatt, Tynesha Bohanon, Mollie Johnson, Viola Collins and Clemith Prackett.

GT program thrives under McClure

By Billy Woods

WM School District

The West Memphis School District's Gifted and Talented program recently held its annual luncheon for administrators and parents.

Annette McClure, the GT coordinator, presented all the projects being worked on inside the program. The GT program is an all-inclusive program for identified gifted students in grades 3-12. The program provides enrichment beyond the classroom.

Also, K-2 classes receive whole-class enrichment that is designed to assist in the identification of potential GT students.

At the end of the second-grade year all students are given the NNAT, a non-verbal test of reasoning, and the Williams Test, also a non-verbal test of reasoning. In addition, scores from the ITBS (for second-graders) and ACT Aspire (for grades 3-12) along with core subject grades are used to determine if a student qualifies for the GT program.

GT programs are mandated by the Arkansas State Board of Education in Little Rock.

These programs are designed to enhance and enrich the learning experience for students who possess above average abilities, task commitment and creativity.

The WMSD staff also includes facilitators Marianne Cupples in K-2, Shelley Crosthwait in third grade, Kristen Bernard in fourth grade, Amy Holt in fifth grade and Sara Hays in sixth grade.

Richland cited for OEP Awards

By Billy Woods

WM School District

Richland Elementary has once again been singled out for its excellence in education on a state-wide level.

Richland won three awards at the annual Office for Education Policy ceremony at the University of Arkansas. The ceremony highlights the highest-performing schools in the state.

Richland won Northeast Region Overall High Achieving, Northeast Region ELA High Achieving and Northeast Region Science High Achieving. The awards were based on test scores such as ACT Aspire.

"My comment is always you surround yourself with great people, great things happen," said principal Gwen Looney. "Our instructional leaders are the heartbeat of our school as well as our assistant principal. If you have great teachers and great parents, you have a great school."

The awards are also based on the OEP-created "school GPA," calculated on the basis of the percentage of students that perform at each level on the 2016 ACT Aspire math, ELA and science.

At Richland, Margie McCollum is the K-2 literacy coach, Jennifer Smith is the K-6 math coach and Debbie Hoggard is the 3-6 literacy coach.

Looney said her staff has learned to adapt on the fly this year because of major construction at the school.

"Every day there is a new element," Looney said, referring to the construction challenges. "But we've handled it well, I think, and when the construction is done it is going to look so beautiful."

Hoggard said Richland has benefited greatly from Dr. Ken Stamatis, professor at Harding University. Stamatis is a consultant to the West Memphis School District in literacy. Also the school's PTO has committed to buying books for the classrooms and also the book rooms.

Blue Devils ousted by Pine Bluff in OT

By Billy Woods

WM School District

PEARCY --- As Chris Moore's last-second three-point attempt bounded off the rim at the buzzer, the West Memphis Blue Devil basketball season came to a disappointing end.

The Blue Devils suffered four overtime turnovers and it led to a 47-44 loss to Pine Bluff here Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Class 6A state tournament.

Head coach Larry Bray didn't skirt the issues that plagued his team all night. The Blue Devils had 17 turnovers, including 10 in the second half. Pine Bluff had 7 miscues all night.

"This is very disappointing," said a dejected Bray. "We made some turnovers at crucial times. We can't blame anyone but ourselves."

West Memphis struggled out of the gate as Bray changed up his starting five for the state tournament. It put the Blue Devils in an early 6-0 hole four minutes into the game when the Blue Devil boss inserted regular starters Sidney Stinson, Zachary Byrd and Kelsey Hubbard.

"This was the group that we started with earlier in the year and we were successful with it, so it wasn't like it was a new group," Bray explained. "What we'd been trying to do during the year is get more players ready to play. We thought we'd have more fresher guys to finish the game."

West Memphis, which ends the season with a still dazzling 24-6 record, struggled all game to gain an offensive rhythm. Finally, with 2:0-8 left in regulation, ninth-grader Chris Moore, who led the Blue Devils with 15 points and 11 rebounds, hit a layup to give his team a two-possession lead (40-36).

But the key play of the game followed in which Pine Bluff junior Kendrick Thorn, who paced his team with 15 points, drove the lane for a basket while being fouled.

Thorn converted the three-point play and just like that the Blue Devil lead was in jeopardy.

Thorn followed that up with a steal near mid-court and hit a layup with 1:38 to play to give the Zebras a 41-40 lead.

"We were calling plays to run and it wasn't there, so we ended up forcing it," said Bray. "I've always told them if the play isn't there just to back out and reset. But we just wanted to force the issue."

Byrd split a pair of free throws with one minute left in regulation to tie the game at 43-43, which was the score at the end of regulation.

In overtime, Stinson, who pumped in 12 points, split a pair of free throws and gave the Blue Devils their last lead at 44-43.

That would be all the West Memphians would get the rest of the game.

West Memphis' fortunes took a big hit when Thorn again victimized the Blue Devils. His basket off a spin move with 27 seconds to play gave the Zebras a 45-44 lead. Then the Blue Devils misfired on the inbounds play and the Zebras stole the ball.

The Blue Devils then suffered their final turnover on the night with 7.1 seconds left.

Moore's final desperation heave from 30 feet bounded off the rim.
Hubbard added 5 points for the Blue Devils while sophomore Cavin Paige and Byrd each scored 4.