Page 4 - TR Hometown Saline County June 2017

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Cade Davis, a first grader at Westbrook Elementary School in Haskell, uses a Google Chromebook computer.
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SUNDAY, JUNE 25, 2017
HOMETOWN SALINE COUNTY • TRI-LAKES EDITION OF THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
MEET
YOUR NEIGHBOR
LEARNING,
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any type of technology they come across. “I’ve helped teachers fix their com- puters before, and it’s actually something I’m thinking about doing as a career,” said
Hunter Bently, a 10th-grader.
Pinkerton said that of the 15 students
in the club, 10 are girls. She said she hopes the girls will see that a career in technology could be an option for them.
Bauxite High School also added boys and girls soccer teams to its athletics pro- grams, along with new turf for the football field. Donaghy said community reaction to the soccer teams has been very positive.
BENTON SCHOOL DISTRICT
With 5,200 students, the Benton School District has been growing. Benton Middle School was recently expanded to add 33,000 square feet to house 13 classrooms, two science labs, a band room, an art room, a choir/music room, flex space and admin- istrative spaces. The district also added a 12,600-square-foot health and physical edu- cation facility. Superintendent Mike Skelton said these improvements will allow pro- grams like ROTC and the band to expand their curriculum and include more students. The new facility has been completed and will open for the 2017-18 school year.
Beginning with the 2017-18 school year, Benton will add seventh-grade athletics, including football, basketball, volleyball, track and strength/conditioning.
“We are looking forward to seeing more students involved in athletics and to watch the improvements in each of these programs as they continue to grow,” he said.
Benton’s students and faculty also received a variety of awards and achievements this year. Julie Miller was named the KATV Teacher of the Year. Benton Junior High won the 6A conference volleyball championship. The dis- trict was listed as one of America’s Best High Schools by U.S. News & World Report and as among the most Challenging High Schools in 2017 by the Washington Post.
“Benton has rich history for the quality of education and for the many extracurricular opportunities afforded to students,” he said. “The Benton School District is a progres- sive district with strong leadership and high expectations of both staff and students in a family-oriented community.”
HARMONY GROVE SCHOOL DISTRICT
The Harmony Grove School District in Haskell further implemented its 1-to-1 laptop
Kirk Lane
CHIEF OF POLICE BENTON
HOW IMPORTANT IS THE BENTON POLICE DEPARTMENT TO THE COMMUNITY?
I would have to change that question to
say the community is important to the BNPD. Without their partnership and support, we would be ineffective. The BNPD is the long arm of the community to assist them in their secu- rity and problem-solving to make Benton a safe place to live.
WHO IS YOUR GREATEST INSPIRATION?
There are many who inspire me — most of all, those who stand up to do the right thing, even when no one is looking; those who have the ability to make change when it is needed, even when it is not popular; and those who are courageous in their duty to achieving their goal-oriented missions.
WHAT MAKES BENTON A GOOD PLACE TO RAISE A FAMILY?
The city’s schools, safety and improvements in quality of life, as well as leadership on all lev- els of city service to achieve the mayor’s vision for the city
HOW DID YOU FEEL RECEIVING THE MAYORAL DISTINGUISHED MEDAL OF MERIT?
Overwhelmed — it was a great honor. But truly, when you work with great people who care and are dedicated to achieving their mis- sion, it becomes easy to go to the next level.
program by issuing Google Chromebook lap- tops to its freshmen. School officials pointed out that students are learning on a variety of devices, ranging from Apple computers and iPad tablets to Windows and Google devices.
“We don’t want to limit them in any way to one particular device,” said Meghann Donaldson, Westbrook Elementary School principal. “We’ve been really fortunate to expose our kids to a variety of different types of technology.
The district also received a donation from Rineco, a local waste-management company that allowed the district to purchase comput- ers for the elementary school and the middle school. Those devices will be used by all stu- dents at the schools.
Harmony Grove also added a fishing team to its athletics program. Ninth-grader Kannon Harmon partnered with Bauxite’s Brody Jacks to take home the first-place trophy at the Arkansas High School Bassers event at Lake DeGray on May 20. The team caught five fish for a total of 13.52 pounds. Donaldson said the fishing team is a great addition to the school.
Harmony Grove also added a track team and a junior high volleyball team.
The elementary and middle school part- nered with the Arkansas Arts Council to have a professional dancer give lessons to the kin- dergartners through sixth-graders.
An new club called Spark Tops was formed to help build relationships between the school’s special education students and its general education students. The group had club meetings and field-trip activities, she said.
“We’ve had a lot of really fantastic things going on this year,” she said. “I think the Harmony Grove School District is, essen- tially, the heart of the community.”
BRYANT SCHOOL DISTRICT
On July 1, Karen Walters will take over as superintendent of the Bryant School District. She previously served as deputy superintendent.
“We have a lot of great things going on in the district,” she said. “There are a lot of op- portunities, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Bryant was recently recognized by Gov. Asa Hutchinson for the district’s enrollment of students in computer-science classes as part of his ARKidsCanCode initiative, which encourages students to participate in tech- nology programs, and to learn computer liter- acy and computer programming. In addition to classes, students can also participate in coding nights, Girls in STEM (science, tech- nology, engineering and mathematics).
A new extracurricular program at Bryant is Destination Imagination. This is a hands- on system of learning that fosters creativity, courage and curiosity through open-ended academic challenges in the STEM fields. The program encourages students to use their imagination, teamwork and presentation to tackle a variety of challenges.
“The more opportunities we can give stu- dents, the better,” she said. “What works for one child might not work for another.”
Bryant High School seniors participated in a new internship program at the school, with 185 seniors taking one to three periods each day to perform internships in the com- munity. This gave the students some real- life experience and the chance to look at possible career choices to see if they would be something the students want to pursue. Students worked in a variety of places in the community, such as attorney’s offices, the Bryant Parks and Recreation Department, a veterinarian’s office and more.
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