LRSD Spotlight

Marley Halter (pictured above), a sophomore at Central High School, recently took first place in the 8th annual Little Rock School District Poetry Slam at J.A. Fair Magnet High School. Marley emerged as the winner of the $300 grand prize after competing against seven other finalists. Jordan Gaines, a sophomore at Central, won 2nd place honors and a prize of $150. Stevonda Thornton, also a sophmore at Central, was the 3rd place winner and received $75. Other finalists included Rakya Deloch, Brittany Tate, Adama Weatherspoon and Ayana Weatherspoon, all from McCllelan.

Dora Wallace, the Poetry Slam creator, commended all the contestants on outstanding performances and encouraged the audience to champion youth who use writing to find their expressive voices. The speech garnered pledges of more than $1,200 from attendees to go toward prizes for next year's event. Each year the Poetry Slam includes new judges to rank the contestants' original work and performances. This year's judges -- Caroline Lewis, Pulaski Tech English Chair; Mary Martin, Missouri Education Association; and Patty Kohler, Associate Professor at UCA -- ranked the contestants on originality, delivery and audience feedback. School information is not included, eliminating bias and/or favoritism from the judging process.

The J.A. Fair "Poets with Passion" Poetry Club hosted the slam again this year, and Anthony Bland of B&B Performing Arts served as the Master of Ceremonies. The program highlighted the remarkable progress made in the eight years of the program and the exceptional talent of the participating students. Kelvin Parker and Shawnie McCoy, the 2006 and 2008 winners, spoke about the confidence and hope this event has given them.

The J.A. Fair Poets with Passion Club was created to give students a forum for expression through poetry in an effort to boost both student motivation and improve student literacy. Through the success of the Poetry Slam, students are able increase literacy and social skills which help them perform better on high-stakes testing (such as Benchmark exams) as well as improve communication skills that will benefit them later in the workplace.

LaPara Washington is the sponsor of the Poets with Passion Club at J.A. Fair. Lanniece Lewis of McClellan and Stacey McAdoo of Central served as co-sponsors of the Poetry Slam.

Siteng Ma, a senior at Central High School, has been named a Semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search! This is a prestigious competition which selects 300 semifinalists out of more than 1700 entries from throughout the nation whose work signifies innovative scientific research. Siteng will receive $1,000 and Central will receive $1,000 as well for use in science and technology research. Finalists in the competition will be announced on January 27; they will go to Washington, D.C., for the national competition.

Siteng is no stranger to honors. He scored a perfect 2400 on his SAT exam earlier this year, he is a National Merit Semifinalist and he also is an AP Scholar with Distinction. He also participates in Student Congress, Model United Nations, Mathletes and is First Violinist for the Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra.

All three winning posters in this year’s statewide Statistics Poster Competition are students at Central High School.

The competition, which is sponsored by the UAMS Department of Biostatistics, invites students around the state to perform an experiment or conduct a survey and then create posters illustrating their findings.

The 1st-place prize in the individual category went to senior Chrystal Lau for “Challenging the Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony.”

Second place was awarded to sophomore Muhammad Abu-Rmaileh for “The Effects of MSG on a Mouse’s Ability to Solve a Maze.”

The winning team prize went to junior Drew Jones, senior Ashlee DuPriest and sophomore Muhammad Abu-Rmaileh for “The Absorption Rate of Towels.”

Coordinators of the competition were Dr. Page Moore and Dr. Songthip Ounpraseuth from the UAMS Department of Biostatistics. Mrs. Lenora Murray, teacher of AP Statistics and Academic Competition at Central, is the math teacher of all four winners. Students who presented their papers now are eligible to enter them in the National Statistics Poster Competition.