LRSD Spotlight

Students at McDermott Elementary did their part to help with relief in Haiti by sponsoring "Caps for a Cause Day." Each student and staff member was asked to make at least a $1 donation to Haiti and they would be able to wear their favorite cap to school. A grand total of $422 was raised and donated to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund through McDermott's Partner in Education, the Rodney Parham branch of Centennial Bank. The students at McDermott achieved a real sense of satisfaction from helping those in need in Haiti, and they look forward to taking part in other humanitarian projects in the future.

The Forest Heights Middle School Eagle EAST Lab team attended the 2010 EAST conference in Hot Springs on March 2 to 4. The team received a Superior rating with its first-ever perfect score! The Eagles also were voted the "Talk-A-Holics" as they gave out the most information about their EAST projects and great program! Two students, Eshala Velez and Emma Allen, also received Difference Maker awards that were presented to students who made a difference in their communities.

The students who attended are Lauren Richards, Destenee Moore, Alyssa Harrison, Courtney Longfellow, Kevyanna Rawls, Emma Allen, Paige Lee, Nancy Reta, and Eshala Velez. The EAST facilitator at Forest Heights is Debra Sloan.

The Forest Heights EAST team is shown above with EAST founder Tim Stephenson.

McClellan High School's DECA President, Makara McDaniel (2nd from right), joined Governor Mike Beebe and William L. "Bill" Walker, Jr. (far right), Director of the Arkansas Department of Career Education, as she represented Arkansas DECA at CTSO Day at the State Capitol on February 24. CTSO (Career Technical Student Organization) Day recognizes the importance of career and technical student organizations that are active within the state. Citizens are asked to lend a helping hand and to encourage the student members of these organizations to achieve their goals and to make them better community leaders.

McClellan's strong DECA program is an integral part of the school's Marketing Education program. McClellan's students regularly participate in the statewide DECA conference and hold state DECA offices.

Debate students from Parkview Magnet High School sucessfully defended their state title at the Arkansas Mock Trial Championships at the Pulaski County Courthouse on Saturday, March 6. They won decisions over Jonesboro in the quarter-finals and Rogers Heritage in the semi-finals. The final round featured Parkview on the plaintiff side meeting Little Rock Central on the defense, and the decision went to Parkview. In addition to prizes and trophies, the team won an all-expenses-paid trip to the national Mock Trial championships in Philadelphia in May.

Debate team members include Seemaab Ali, Cassidy Boyle, Stephen Jones, Bukola Odeniyi, Dolapo Odeniyi, Kailum Scharf, Olivia White, Carman Wilson and Laura Yoder. They are coached by Parkview's oral communications and debate teacher Pat Treadway and attorney/coach Judge Dennis James.

Could a future world-famous scientist or doctor be in our midst? Only time will tell! Kamakshi Duvvuru, Muhammed Abu-Rmaileh and the team of Audrey Jacquiss, Chrystal Lau and Tatianna Lupashina will represent Central High School and the Little Rock School District at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), which will take place in San Diego, California, this May.

These students and hundreds more participated in the Central Arkansas Regional Science Fair (CARSF), which took place on March 5 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Students from several Little Rock School District schools won awards in the many categories ranging from animal science and biochemistry to physics and astronomy.

Kamakshi won the 1st-place award in the Computer Science category and also won 1st place overall.

Muhammed won 1st place in Biochemistry and 2nd place overall.

They, along with Audrey, Chrystal and Tatiana, will receive an expenses-paid trip to the ISEF to compete against students from around the country and around the world.

Aadil Khan and Samia Nawaz, also students from Central, were 4th- and 5th-place winners, respectively, in the CARSF.

View a complete list of CARSF winners

LRSD students also recently submitted papers for the Central Arkansas Junior Academy of Science (JAS). Those students who placed first, second or third in their categories in the senior division will present their work in front of a panel of judges on April 4.

View a complete list of JAS winners