LRSD Spotlight

Brittni Cochran had a very exciting summer! The recent Hall High School graduate was invited to attend the 29th Annual National Beta Club Convention in Orlando, Florida, to compete in the colored pencil art competition. She won 1st place in this same competition at the Arkansas State Beta Convention this past January in Hot Springs. Brittni was thrilled to leave the national convention with another 1st-place win! Shelia Hudson, the Hall High Beta Club sponsor, accompanied Brittni to the national convention.

We wish Brittni all the best as she continues her education at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

Josilyn Mitchell, a Parkview 10th grader, was recognized this summer as a finalist in the National Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids 2009 Youth Advocates of the Year Awards.

Josilyn was the only recipient named from the State of Arkansas and Southern Region to receive this prestigious award.

As a finalist, Josilyn traveled on an expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. for a Youth Advocacy Symposium. The trip included a visit with Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor and other members of congress. The student delegates thanked the congress members for supporting the historic U. S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) passage of the The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Award honors top youth across the country that have fought hard to promote tobacco prevention legislation in their home states, to reduce tobacco marketing to kids in their communities and to stop their peers from using tobacco.

Josilyn is an active member of the Arkansas YES Team (Youth Extinguishing Smoking), Tobacco Control Youth Board and the speaker’s bureau Team YES Speaks (www.yesteam.org). 

Chris Johnson, Class of 2009 from McClellan High School, recently signed his scholarship to play golf at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff.

Chris finished in 1st Place Individual in the 5A SE Conference and 13th Place in State Finals earlier this year.

Chris, who is yet undecided in his major at UAPB, can only smile and say, “I know that whatever I choose, there will be a lot of math.”

Students and staff in Little Rock’s public schools can feel safe knowing that Safety and Security officers are on the job.

Three security officers recently were honored at their department’s annual in-service gathering for going above and beyond their job descriptions last year, according to Safety and Security Director Bobby Jones.

William Boykins, formerly a security officer at Forest Heights Middle School and now assigned to the Safety and Security main office; Miguel Lopez, a security officer at Cloverdale Magnet Middle School; and M.T. Starks, Security Supervisor at McClellan Magnet High School, all were nominated by their principals for their exceptional job performance during the previous year.

All Safety & Security personnel gather together before the beginning of each school year to review policies and learn new methods of keeping schools - and students - safe.