Page 4 - Spirit of Russellville

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SPIRIT OF RUSSELLVILLE • RIVER VALLEY & OZARK EDITION OF THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
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She said winning this award reflects highly on the type of school district the Russellville community has.The city and the school board have set high expectations for all its employees and expect the district to have a School of Ex- cellence.Through the Russellville School District, Bynum said, she’s received opportunities for professional development, training and time to work with regional, state and national groups to improve her skills.
“I must say, even though I received the ArkASPA administrator of the year award, the Russellville School District deserves much of the credit for my success,” she said.
One big change at Russellville High School this year is its new gym.This state-of-the-art facility brings a number of benefits to the school, its students and the community.
The new gym, known as Cyclone Arena, cost $12.5 million to construct, and the proj- ect took a little over a year to complete.With seating for 2,350, the new facility will allow the district the opportunity to host regional and state tournaments. Inside the gym, there is a weight room for teams to train, a modern physical therapy room and a small theater for teams to watch game film.To save energy costs, rooms are wired with motion sensors to turn off lights when the rooms are not in use.
When entering the main lobby, visitors are greeted by a unique cyclone display that fea- tures color-changing lights.The main area of the arena has windows on one side that allow nat- ural sunlight to fill the court.A hospitality room on the upper level has windows that overlook the Cyclone football stadium.
The Russellville School District also recently went through the process of national accred- itation with the organization AdvancED and earned the distinction of being accredited for a five-year term. AdvancED is a nonprofit, non- partisan organization that conducts rigorous, on-site external reviews of Pre-K-12 schools and school systems.
ArkansasTech University was recently recog- nized as the best online college for 2015-16.The rankings, which were produced by Affordable College Online, were determined by measuring the number of online bachelor degrees available, the student-to-faculty ratio, the six-year gradua- tion rate, the percentage of students receiving financial aid, and the availability of academic and career counseling services.ArkansasTech earned a score of 99.33 to lead all institutions in Arkansas.
The school also established a new record for the largest overall enrollment in institution history for a 17th consecutive year.ArkansasTech also had the largest freshman enrollment in school history.
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Workers put the final touches on a new building on the Arkansas Tech University Campus.The building will be named to honor Charles Robert Brown, who served asArkansasTech’s president from 1993-2014.
ArkansasTech reported a preliminary 11th- day enrollment of 12,007 students for the fall 2015 semester.
These preliminary numbers indicate that Ar- kansas Tech University will be the third-largest institution of higher learning in Arkansas for the second consecutive year.
In addition, Arkansas Tech welcomed its first doctoral students in the school’s history.These 14 students will pursue the Doctor of Education degree in school leadership at the school.
Arkansas Tech will also open a new 66,900-square-foot academic, student support and administrative facility on the campus this year.The building will be named in honor of Dr. Robert Charles Brown and his wife, Jill Le- stage Brown. Robert Brown served as the 11th president of Arkansas Tech from 1993-2014. The $16 million facility will provide classroom and conference-room space for the university, as well as office space for operating areas such as admissions, the registrar, student accounts and more.
“The continuous growth that Arkansas Tech has enjoyed for almost two decades is a mark of distinction and a point of pride at our institu- tion,” said Robin E. Bowen, president.“We live by the ethic that each student is a valued member of our community, and we are honored to have the oppor tunity to ser ve each and ever y one of our 12,007 students.”