LRSD Spotlight

More than 1,000 students competed for the opportunity to participate in the 2009 Arkansas All-Region Choir, Central Region. Twenty-six seats in the choir went to students from the Little Rock School District, and 16 of those spots (plus three alternates) went to students at Mann Magnet Middle School. The auditions were held on October 10 at Cabot Junior High School North.

Soprano I:
Tychelle Jackson, 17th chair (Treble)
Lauren Pendgrass, 5th chair (Mixed)
Ellen Kashala, 11th chair (Treble)
Soprano II:
Crystal Peoples, 17th chair (Treble)
Hailey Junior, 19th chair (Treble)
Summer Cash, 24th chair (Treble)
Alto I:
Mykala Wallace, 15th chair (Treble)
Shontietta Wilson, 17th chair (Treble)
Demi Mullins, 23rd chair (Treble)
Morgan Wilson, 10th chair (Mixed)
Cydney Thompson, 20th chair (Treble)
Sarah Odom, 22nd chair (Treble)
Alto II:
Kelia Smith, 6th chair (Mixed)
Kayla Knight, 7th chair (Mixed)
Tenor I:
Elijah Ash, 1st chair (Mixed)
Alternates:
Andrew Wynn, Tenor
Eric Fells, Tenor
Jamiel Creer, Alto

Students who competed demonstrated the importance of an education in the arts. Their achievement enabled them to showcase their award-winning performance skills, and the event brought students together as they celebrated their accomplishments, both as individuals and as a school team.

Tom Harden, a social studies teacher at Hall High School, recently took part in a ride with the Wounded Warriors. Harden, shown in the yellow shirt in the photo above, also is an instructor in the National Guard.

About 75 cyclists took part in the ride, which primarily was to raise awareness for wounded veterans. Any money collected went to help defray the veterans’ traveling expenses. The local VFW, for example, donated $6,000 to the group.

The ride began on Main Street in Jacksonville to Highway 161, up to Cabot, up Old Highway 167 to Maddox Road, then to Highway 107 to the Little Rock Air Force Base, then through the base and along the flight line and then through Jacksonville to the Military Museum.

The cyclists had a police escort along the entire route, and members of two local DAR chapters cheered and handed out flags to spectators along the route.

Carol Fleming, M.S., CCC-SLP, a speech language pathologist at Pulaski Heights Middle School, recently was elected President-elect of the Council of State Speech and Hearing Association Presidents (CSAP). CSAP’s mission is to provide leadership training for state Speech-Language-Hearing association presidents; be a forum for collaboration and networking among these leaders; and promote communication of professional matters between state Speech-Language-Hearing Associations, ASHA and other related national professional organizations.

Ms. Fleming has been involved with this organization since 2004 and has served on its board in some capacity for four years.
 
“I am fortunate to continue my service to CSAP as its incoming President-elect,” she says.

It's not Greek to them: Jefferson Elementary students definitely learned how many ways Greece has influenced the world through art, architecture, culture, government, language, math, music and science. Jefferson’s 5th grade Gifted & Talented students won the overall trophy for the continent of Europe and the country of Greece at the 2009 WorldFest on September 25. The students presented a contrast of Ancient Greece and modern-day Greece at the World Cultural Fair. Greek art vases, Greek temples and names written in the Greek alphabet were displayed at their booth. They also performed an authentic Greek dance. Greek goddesses Artemis, Aphrodite and Athena as well as philosophers Aristotle, Plato and Socrates greeted people who visited their booth at WorldFest. A delicious Greek dessert, Baklava, and black olives native to Athens were served atop Doric columns. Greek flags and informative Greek brochures were given to visitors to remember Greece.

World Fest inspires the students at Jefferson to become better researchers and well-informed students as they learn more about the cultures of the world. They have learned that people are more alike than different. Their vocabularies are stretched to learn new words, and social studies really comes alive and becomes very meaningful to the students as all subjects are studied when researching a country. Winning this Overall Award makes the students want to continue studying different countries and cultures of the world. The enthusiasm of the 5th grade students spreads over to the entire school.

Greece is the word!

Middle School Volleyball teams have completed the season of district play. The final standings are:

Dunbar        6-0

Cloverdale   5-1

Pulaski H.   4-2

Mann          3-3

Mabelvale    2-4

Forest H.     1-5

Henderson   0-6

If you are interested in still catching a game the finals of the tournament have been set. PulaskiHeights will play Dunbar at 5:30 p.m. at Hall High Gym on Monday Oct. 5th. As conference champs, DUnbar will be presented their trophy before the game.