LRSD Spotlight

Central High School’s Quiz Bowl team went undefeated in the 7-A state quiz bowl competition in Fort Smith on April 10.

Quiz Bowl involves teams of students answering questions in a wide range of subjects, from math and science to social studies and current events.

Central's Team captain Alex Richardson was named to the Quiz Bowl All-Star team. Other team members who played in the tournament were Whitney Gao, David Ye, Bob Zhao and Elton Zhou. Arthur Olds is the Quiz Bowl coach.

Next the team will play for the state championship, which will be broadcast live on AETN on Saturday, April 24. They will play against Fort Smith-Southside for the state title.

All of the teams participating in the state championship are invited to the Clinton Presidential Center for a dinner on April 23 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Quiz Bowl/AETN partnership.

Students from Central High School won the vast majority of awards in categories ranging from Botany to Medicine & Health to Earth & Planetary Science at the Arkansas Science and Engineering Fair and Arkansas Junior Academy of Science.

Three of Central's entrants were selected as Best of Fair, and three more were chosen as Best of State out of the five Arkansas regions participating in the fair.

Muhammad Abu-Rmaileh was selected as 1st Place Best in State and received a $300 prize and a trip to the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in San Jose, California, to compete in May. Kamakshi Duvvuru was named 2nd Place Best in State and received $200 and a trip to compete at the ISEF. The team of Audrey Jacquiss, Tatiana Lupashina and Chrystal Lau was named 1st Place Best in State--Team and won $300, a trip to the ISEF to compete and and a traveling trophy to remain at the school for one year.

The 1st Place Best of Fair--Team award was awarded to Elton Zhou and Lillian Tong. They won $250 each and a trip to the ISEF as participants. Deepa Manjanatha was the 2nd Place Best of Fair winner and won $250 and the opportunity to participate in the ISEF. the 4th Place winner Best in Fair was Joseph Berleant. He will attend the ISEF as an observer.

Other Arkansas Science and Engineering Fair winners include:
 
Animal Science: 2nd place, Tearani Buffington; 3rd place, Aya  Kantorovich; HM, Chris Kelly
Behavioral Science: 1st place, Priyanka Murali; 3rd place, Aaron Yin
Biochemistry: 2nd place, Tamara Abulez
Cellular and Molecular: 1st place, Ritika Mazumder; 2nd place, Ramsha Khan; HM, Samia Nawaz
Chemistry: 2nd place, Boshan Zhao; 3rd place, Sana Khan
Computer Science: 1st place, Joseph Berleant; 3rd place, Sarah Lintag
Earth & Planetary Science: 1st place, Amber Ray; 2nd place, Orpa Ali; HM, John Paul Petersen
Engineering - Materials & Bioengineering: 1st place, Arhita Dasgupta
Environmental Science: 1st place, Deepa Manjanatha; 3rd place, Tatenda Mukunyadzi
Medicine and Health: 1st place, Tatsiana Savenka; 3rd place, Di Mo; HM, Shree Govindarajan
Microbiology: 1st place, Livingston Anderson
Physics & Astronomy: 2nd place, Sam Ivanovsky' HM, Alexandra McGough
Plant Sciences: HM, Lindsey Liles

Other awards presented at the Arkansas Science and Engineering Fair include:
 
Acxiom: 1st place, Kamahshi Duvvuru; 2nd place, Joseph Berleant

American Association of Clinical Chemistry: 1st place, Chrystal Lau, Tatiana Lupashina and Audrey Jacquiss; 2nd place, Samia Nawaz; 3rd place, Elton Zhou and Lillian Tong; HM, Amber Ray, Muhammed Abu-Rmaileh, John Paul Petersen and Livingston Anderson

American Psychological Association: Priyanki Murali

Arkansas Chapter of Wildlife Society: 1st place, Chris Kelly

Arkansas Environmental Federation: 1st place, Deepa Manjanatha, Annice Steadman (teacher)

Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission: Amber Ray, John Paul Petersen and Chris Kelly

ASM International Foundation: Sam Ivanovsky

Intel Excellence in Computer Science: 1st place, Joseph Berleant, Ritika Muzumder, Tatsiana Savenka and Livingston Anderson

National Society of Professional Engineers: Arhita Dasgupta

Sigma Xi Award: Muhammed Abu-Rmaileh

Society for Neuroscience-Arkansas Chapter: 1st place, Samia Nawaz; 2nd place, Elton Zhou and Lillian Tong

Soceity for Toxicology-South Central Chapter: 1st place, Tatsiana Savenka

Society for In-vitro Biology: Shree Govindarajan

U.S. Air Force Awards-Computer Science: Joseph Berleant

U.S. Geological Survey: Amber Ray

Three students and two educators from the Little Rock School District recently were named winners of the 2010 Stephens Award. The award program, which was established in 1985 by Jackson T. Stephens and W.R. “Witt” Stephens and is administered by the City Education Trust, provides $5,000 scholarships to outstanding high school seniors and $5,000 cash awards to teachers with proven records of excellence.

The educator winners include:
Monica D. Ball (top left), a science teacher ot Parkview Magnet High School.
Mary Katherine Parson (top right), a science teacher at Little Rock Central High School.

The student winners include:
Yi Wu (bottom left) of Little Rock Central High School, daughter of Xiasong Wu.
Helio Liu (bottom center) of Little Rock Central High School, son of Yuzhi Chen and Wenyun Lin.
Siteng Ma (bottom right) of Little Rock Central High School, son of Xiaodong and Caiwu Ma.

Anna Zerull, Central High School Class of 2010, donated a sculptural egg in the “Eggs in Schools” program that featured eggs decorated by local high school art students for the XIX annual Eggshibiton fundraiser for the Youth Home of Little Rock. This event was held on March 26 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Each donated egg was available for auction, and proceeds will go to the Youth Home.

Anna's egg was sponsored by Eggshibiton XIX Chairman James Bobo, a 1973 graduate of Central High.