Representative French Hill announces recipients of the 2024 Education Achievement Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Rep. French Hill (AR-02) today announced the high school recipients of his 2024 Education Achievement Award. There were 38 honorees throughout central Arkansas this year.

“I am proud to announce the recipients of this year’s Education Achievement Award. These bright students have worked tirelessly towards success in their studies and in their communities. I am inspired by the success and determination shown by each of these students and I wish them the best in all their future endeavors.” 

2024 Education Awards:

 Kady Beth Jacks (Bauxite High School), Caden Treat (Bauxite High School), Isabel Butler (Benton High School), Kaleb Marshall (Benton High School), Bennett Wilson (Bigelow High School), Maricka Farr (Bryant High School), Cole Giompoletti (Bryant High School), Laiken Cornett (Concord High School), Josey Sutherland (Concord High School), Annalise Montgomery (Conway High School), Avery Ferguson (Conway High School), Matthew Vano (Episcopal Collegiate), Willow Wagner (Episcopal Collegiate), Chanley Wood (Greenbrier High School), Kyla Hinton (Greenbrier High School), Lexie Wells (Harmony Grove High School), Tristen Hogan (Harmony Grove High School), Yahya Younus (Little Rock Central High School), Jadon Sanders (Little Rock Central High School), Khushi Patil (Little Rock Central High School), Ally Ballard (Little Rock Christian Academy), Kaiden Fox (Little Rock Christian Academy), Christian McGill (Maumelle Charter High School), Kerrigan Quast (Maumelle Charter High School), Bailey Mason (Maumelle High School), Victoria Barksdale (Mayflower High School), Aarya Patel (Morrilton High School), Julie Russell (Morrilton High School), Annabelle Angtuaco (Mount St. Mary Academy), Elizabeth Hunter (Mount St. Mary Academy), Rylee Ramsey (Pangburn High School), Cole Ramsey (Pangburn High School), Macey Chambers (Perryville High School), Zava Payne (Perryville High School), Jack Lowenthal (Pulaski Academy), Brooke Beckemeyer (Pulaski Academy), Reid Brafford (Shirley High School), Abigail Hensley (Shirley High School). 

Further Background:

 The Education Achievement Award is available to one senior and one junior from each high school in the Second Congressional District, nominated by either their counselor or principal. This award is designed to recognize those students who have shown a commitment to high academic achievement, as well as contributions to their schools and communities. Students were selected based on these qualifications: 

• Academics: Achievement of at least 3.5/4.0 GPA (or the equivalent)

• Community Service: Demonstrated commitment to the betterment of one’s community through projects with, for example, Scouting groups, Student Government Association, other volunteer organizations, etc.

• Leadership & Teamwork: Demonstrated leadership and teamwork through, for example, extracurricular activities such as athletic teams, school clubs, etc.

UA Cossatot’s Textbook Rental and OER Program Saved Students Over $3 Million Dollars

UA Cossatot’s textbook rental and Open Educational Resource (OER) program has saved students $3,004,899.01. What began as a chancellor’s vision in 2015 exceeded all expectations in 2022. Nearly 70% of courses at UA Cossatot are taught with OER.

UA Cossatot Chancellor, Dr. Steve Cole recently recognized Relinda Ruth, Director of Educational Resources and OER Specialist, for her efforts in building this program and leading the OER effort in Arkansas. Dr. Cole also commended Ruth for serving as a leader for the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Arkansas State OER Action Team and leading the Arkansas Community Colleges (ACC) consortial membership with the Open Education Network (OEN). “Good visions only become reality if the right persons can see them through. In our case, that person was Relinda Ruth. She not only built this program but just like Johnny Appleseed, she has provided her ideas and leadership community to Arkansas and the United States. This program would not have happened without Relinda!” said Cole.

Ruth was recently invited to Florida to join the SREB Educational Technology Cooperative (ETC) alongside 11 others representing 16 southern states.

UA Cossatot continues to lead Arkansas in OER usage and has become a leader in the OER world. Ruth has traveled to other colleges across the state to help educators move toward OER. Ruth has shared her

experience in building an internal textbook rental and OER program through national interviews, presentations, publications, blogs, and even podcasts. To date, she’s presented at 20 state and national conferences.

“It’s amazing what everyone at UA Cossatot has accomplished with our textbook rental and OER program. Dr. Cole had a vision of making college more affordable to students and the entire UA Cossatot team worked together to make it a reality,” said Ruth.

Ruth will travel to Atlanta in March 2023 to present at the SREB OER and Dual Enrollment Conference. Her focus is expanding the use of OER in developmental education and college readiness in Arkansas Community Colleges.

For more information on UA Cossatot’s textbook rental and OER program, contact Relinda Ruth at 870-584-1181 or rruth@cccua.edu.

Applications now open for 2023 F2OCUS: Future of Food undergrad summer program

By John Lovett
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Opening the realms of possibility in food science is the goal behind the Future of Food: Opportunities and Careers for Undergraduate Students (F2OCUS) Fellowship Program. 

FIRST FELLOWS — The inaugural class of the Future of Food: Opportunities and Careers for Undergraduate Students (F2OCUS) Fellowship Program in 2022 included Maya Henderson, left, Amanda Stuber, Natalie Blake, Derek Mullins, Luke Norman, Sarkis Kalajyan and Addie Gerstner. Application deadline for the 2023 summer fellowship program is Jan. 13, 2023. (U of A System Division of Ag photo)

Applications will be accepted until Jan. 13, 2023, for the paid, summer program, which is open to undergraduates in degree programs that can be complementary to food science, like physics, biology, chemistry, animal science, consumer sciences, psychology and agricultural studies like horticulture.

Kristen Gibson, professor of food safety and microbiology for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, is the F2OCUS Fellowship Program director. The program was created in 2022 with a $730,000 Research and Extension Experience for Undergraduates grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to increase understanding of food supply safety, quality and security. The grant supports the program for five years. 

“We are looking forward to having the second cohort of F2OCUS Fellows on campus in summer 2023,” Gibson said. “We are hoping to select from another great pool of applicants.”

Gibson, who is also director of the Center for Food Safety, is joined by food science faculty members Jennifer Acuff, assistant professor of food microbiology and safety, and Jamie Baum, associate professor of nutrition, as fellowship project directors. Jill Rucker, associate professor of agricultural education, communications and technology for the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas, is also a project director and fellowship mentor.

In addition to the four project directors, 10 collaborating mentors with extensive mentoring experience have been chosen to assist with the fellowship program. Industry partners, many of whom are University of Arkansas graduates and serve as adjunct faculty, will also participate in the fellowship program.

F2OCUS Fellow experiences include the 4-H ExCEL Leadership Program at the C.A. Vines Arkansas 4-H Center in Little Rock, which features a high-ropes course and zipline. Gibson said there will also be numerous food industry visits in northwest Arkansas, such as the Tyson Discovery Center and Newly Weds Foods, as well as a visit to the annual Blackberry Field Day at the experiment station’s Fruit Research Station near Clarksville.

Hands-on learning activities with professors as mentors are expected to result in the development of technical skills in food science research. Participants will take part in the creation of a novel food product with a team of F2OCUS Fellows and engage in externships with food industry and cooperative extension partners. 

 While scientific research is a significant part of the fellowship, there is also a heavy emphasis on team building, leadership development, and communications skills, Gibson said.

The 2023 summer F2OCUS fellowship program runs for 10 weeks from May 22 through July 28. Each student awarded a fellowship will receive a $5,000 stipend, in addition to room and board. Additional financial support for necessary travel is also possible. 

Eight undergraduates who are not enrolled in a food science program will be chosen to spend the summer in Fayetteville, Gibson said.

For more information and to apply, please visit the F2OCUS Program website at https://future-food-reeu.uada.edu.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk. To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu.

AUDIO: Governor Hutchinson’s Weekly Address | Building a Culture of Reading

LITTLE ROCK – The ability to read well is one of the most crucial skills we can give our students, and today I’d like to encourage you to join in our efforts to build a culture of reading in Arkansas.

Reading is not simply one skill of many that we choose to master. Young people who don’t learn to read well will always struggle in life. Reading changes everything.

We can give our children the gift of reading by providing books at home and reading aloud to them. Children with age-appropriate books at home are more likely to excel academically. When we read to our children, we help them build a broad vocabulary, strengthen language skills, and foster a desire to read.  Their memory of that time spent with parents and grandparents is a bonus.

Dolly Parton, the iconic singer from Tennessee, understands that children must read to succeed. So in 1995, she started the Imagination Library to provide books to children up to the age of five. The Department of Education has partnered with Dolly to provide books to more than 55,000 Arkansas children. Dolly visited the Governor’s Mansion in May to join us for a dinner to celebrate the expansion of Imagination Library into every county in Arkansas, which is an impressive accomplishment.

Just this morning, as I wrapped up my year as Chair of the National Governors Association, Dolly joined us by livestream at our summer meeting in Maine to talk about Imagination Library. As the First Lady points out, the children who receive a book in the mail every month have a new story to read and a reminder that someone cares about them.

Public and school libraries are another important element of a reading culture. Libraries offer books, newspapers, and magazines to readers who might not otherwise be able to afford those materials.

When I was growing up in Gravette and reading Hardy Boys detective books, a trip to the library was as much a part of the reading experience as sitting down with a book.

A resident of Helena once wrote to a Little Rock newspaper editor about the mystique of   Helena’s public library, which “was what a library is supposed to be — dark in the corners, cool air, quiet, a little mysterious, and the wonderful smell of books.”

The road to a reading culture in Arkansas is lined with dozens of libraries, including the four that the railroad tycoon and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie paid for in Little Rock, Fort Smith, Morrilton, and Eureka Springs.

Of all the gifts I’d like to leave to Arkansans, a culture of reading is one of the most important. One of our goals has been to ensure that by the time students leave the third grade, they are reading at the third-grade level. To enhance that possibility, the Arkansas Department of Education launched the Reading Initiative for Student Excellence – or RISE. We emphasize phonics and the science of reading.

For Arkansas to continue to prosper, we must build a foundation of readers. Our success depends in large measure on the strength of our collective reading skills.

But it’s more basic than that. I love to read. Literature of all kinds has greatly improved the quality of my life. I want Arkansas’s kids to enjoy books and to read for pleasure as well as education, because we miss so much of life when we don’t.

UA Cossatot Partners with Dr. Randy Walker Clinic to Provide Mental Health Services to Students

UA Cossatot and Dr. Randy Walker Family Practice and Allergy Clinic recently partnered to provide mental health services to UA Cossatot students with no out-of-pocket expense to students.

The plan is for the clinic to bill the student’s insurance if available and then bill the college for any remainder. UA Cossatot has received HEERF funds to cover this cost, which are projected to consist mainly of copays.

Tonya Chambers, PMHNP, with Dr. Randy Walker Family Practice and Allergy Clinic, provides health coaching to patients struggling with depression, anxiety, substance abuse, alcohol abuse, tobacco cessation, grief, anger management, OCD, PTSD, Trauma, and Caregiver support.

Angie Walker, with Dr. Randy Walker Family Practice and Allery Clinic, said, “Our goal is to improve health outcomes, reduce costs and create a happy, healthy community. This Partnership is the first step!”

Mental health services will be available to all UA Cossatot students beginning July 1. “This will be super convenient for our De Queen students, but telehealth will also be available so students on our other 3 locations can also utilize these services face-to-face!” said Suzanne Ward, Director of Student Services. According to the Mayo Clinic Health System, “Up to 44% of college students reported having symptoms of depression and anxiety.” Additionally, “Up to 75% of struggling students are reluctant to seek help. This increases the risk of harmful outcomes, such as dropping out of college, poor academic performance, suicide and substance abuse.”

UA Cossatot Chancellor Dr. Steve Cole said, “UA Cossatot students are the reason we exist and we want to make sure we are doing all we can to make them successful. Today's world has brought more stress than we have ever seen, and partnering with Dr. Walker's office to offer mental health counseling for our students will hopefully give our students a private and helpful way for them to deal with this stress or any other mental health matter they are facing. We also wanted to make sure there was no cost to our students for this service. We want to have healthy students...body and mind, and we feel this is a helpful way to accomplish this.”

For more information, contact Suzanne Ward at 870-584-1143 or sward@cccua.edu

UA Cossatot Receives In-class Ambulance Simulator

The holidays arrived early for UA Cossatot and its Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) students; the long-awaited arrival of its in-class ambulance simulator.

The ambulance simulator was purchased with grant monies awarded to UA Cossatot and is located in the EMT classroom on the De Queen campus. This simulator exists to help students save lives by experiencing training scenarios that are as close to real-life as possible with instructor Waco Jackson and the inclusion of the most up-to-date technology available.

“This grant allows us to provide students with real-world experience in a classroom setting, making their training hands-on to improve their skills upon employment,” said Jackson.

Enrollment for spring 2022 EMT courses is currently open, and classes begin in January.

For more information on UA Cossatot’s ambulance simulator and EMT courses offered, contact Waco Jackson at 870-584-1101 or wjackson@cccua.edu. ###

Virus Cases Jump At Arkansas Schools In 2nd Week Of Classes

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

More than 3,100 active coronavirus cases have been reported in Arkansas public schools among students and employees, according to newly released numbers from the state.

Most students returned to the classroom last week — and the majority of public school students attend districts that are requiring masks. The mask requirements emerged after a judge in Little Rock temporarily blocked a state law that bans mask mandates in schools and public places.

The Arkansas Department of Health’s latest report on schools, released Thursday, found 3,102 active cases in 173 school districts in the state. The Bentonville, Springdale, Rogers, Cabot and Fort Smith districts all reported more than 100 active cases among students, faculty and staff.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/virus-cases-jump-arkansas-schools-2nd-week-classes

CREDIT ARKANSAS.GOV

Weyerhaeuser to Partner with UA Cossatot to Offer Paid Internships and Tuition

Mechanical Millwright Paid Internships Available for UA Cossatot Students at Weyerhaeuser in Dierks

Weyerhaeuser in Dierks is offering some new paid mechanical millwright internships for UA Cossatot students.  This is an opportunity for our students to pursue an Associate of Applied Science – General Technology or a technical certificate for Industrial Technology or Industrial Electricity tuition free, plus $15.96 per hour.  There are 4 positions open for application now through 8/18.  Below are the direct links to the posting along with a job description.   

Mechanical Millwright Intern-01016597

http://weyer.jobs/16597 - external

http://weyer.jobs/16597i - internal

Description:

Weyerhaeuser Company is partnering with Cossatot Community College of University of Arkansas to build a talent pipeline.  We are seeking applicants for internship/sponsorship opportunities for our Mid-South manufacturing facilities located in Dierks, AR.  We are seeking applicants with a desire to work in the Electrical/Electronics and Industrial Maintenance areas of study. This is an excellent professional development opportunity.
   
Key Intern Expectations:

·         Commitment to completing degree at Cossatot Community College of University of Arkansas (CCCUA)

·         Dependability – punctual and prepared to work

·         Professional communication and behaviors

·         Commitment to learning and understanding critical safety behavior requirements

Qualifications:

·         Enrolled at CCCUA in Associate of Applied Science – General Technology or pursing a technical certificate for Industrial Technology or Industrial Electrical

·         Must be at least 18 years of age with high school diploma or GED

·         Must be able to commit to summer internship each year while enrolled and will be required to work weekend schedule during school year.

·         Must be able to complete the internship requirements for degree completion

·         Strong verbal and written communication skills

·         Technical writing capability

·         Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work within a team environment

·         Problem solving and analytical skills

·         High level of initiative and motivation

·         Ability to pass pre-employment requirements including drug screen and background check

·         Proficient in MS Office

·         Willingness to work in challenging environments (outdoor temperature extremes)

·         Willingness to perform the essential functions of this position

·         Commitment to at least 3 years of employment with Weyerhaeuser upon graduation from CCCUA

·         Eligible to work in the U.S. without sponsorship

About Wood Products:
We've been delivering quality building products and solutions to our customers for more than 100 years. From builders and dealers to specifiers and homeowners, we offer exceptional product performance and unparalleled support.
For more than a century, we’ve been building our reputation as a leader in sustainable wood products.

About Weyerhaeuser
We sustainably manage forests and manufacture products that make the world a better place. We’re serious about safety, driven to achieve excellence, and proud of what we do. With multiple business lines in locations across North America, we offer a range of exciting career opportunities for smart, talented people who are passionate about making a difference. 
We know you have a choice in your career. We want you to choose us. 

 
Weyerhaeuser is an equal opportunity employer. Inclusion is one of our five core values and we strive to maintain a culture where all our people feel a sense of belonging, opportunity and shared purpose. We are committed to recruiting a diverse workforce and supporting an equitable and inclusive environment that inspires people of all backgrounds to join, stay and thrive with our team. 
 

Job:  Operations, Manufacturing, & Construction

Primary Location: USA-AR-Dierks

Schedule:  Full-time

Job Level:  Entry Level

Job Type:  Temporary Work

Shift:  Day (1st)

UA Cossatot Reopens Emergency Financial Aid Grants for Summer & Fall

Arkansas Bill Allowing Misgendering of Trans Students Progresses to Senate

By JACQUELINE FROELICH

A proposed Arkansas law to protect teachers and school administrators who misgender public school and college students is expected to be approved by the state legislature. House Bill 1749, which prohibits requiring public school and college employees from identifying students by genders inconsistent with a student’s biological sex, was approved by the House and is now being considered by the Senate. It's one of nearly a dozen anti-transgender bills proposed this session.

https://www.kuaf.com/post/arkansas-bill-allowing-misgendering-trans-students-progresses-senate

COURTESY / INTRANSITIVE ARKANSAS

Federal Work Study Available for UA Cossatot Students