Monthly Archives: April 2020

Governor selects Mount St. Mary junior for art award

Junior Caroline Gunderman was honored with the Governor’s Award in the 2020 Governor’s Young Artist Competition. Her pencil drawing, Wisdom, was chosen by Governor Asa Hutchinson from the nearly 100 pieces selected for exhibition in the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion in February.

This year’s student exhibition was not open to the public as planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Governor Hutchinson and First Lady Susan Hutchinson announced their award winners and shared a virtual tour of the exhibition online on Tuesday, April 21 – four days before the reception and awards ceremony was originally scheduled to be held. That video may be viewed here.

All three of the works Caroline submitted into this year’s competition were selected for display in the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion. Her piece, Yellow Wallpaper, received an honorable mention. Senior Cecilia Ilg’s work, TRANSendence, also received an honorable mention.

Mount St. Mary Academy, sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy, develops young women with a moral and intellectual foundation rooted in Catholic tradition. Mercy-minded and college-prepared, our students meet the future with wisdom, compassion and integrity.

Four MSM seniors awarded AYAA scholarships

Four Mount St. Mary senior art students were recently awarded scholarships from the Arkansas Young Artist Association (AYAA) despite this year’s Spring Convention being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Audrey Caruthers won the organization’s top award, the $750 Carmen “Allie” Thompson Memorial Scholarship. Also, Cecilia Ilg, Amelia Ochoa and Maria Thomas each received one of 14 additional $500 scholarships awarded by AYAA.

“Mrs. Holder and I are so proud of these students,” Marianne Nolley, MSM art teacher, exclaimed. “We are over the moon!”

Before it was canceled, nearly 100 Mount St. Mary students were set to attend the organization’s 41st annual Spring Convention and Competition on Wednesday, April 8, in downtown Little Rock. Students typically spend months preparing for the event, for which they create works of art in a wide range of mediums, styles and subjects. Last year’s participating group of students won 20 awards for excellence in the visual arts.

AYAA is a state-wide organization whose mission is to encourage participation in the visual arts by Arkansas students through professional speakers, competitions, exhibition and scholarship. There are currently more than 1,500 student members in the organization from over 60 participating high schools across the state. It annually awards a minimum of 10 $500 scholarships to senior members in good standing.

Senior’s art earns top 10 finish in Thea Foundation competition

Mount St. Mary Academy senior, Livvie Falcon, placed ninth and won a $2,000 scholarship in this year’s Thea Foundation Visual Arts Scholarship Competition. Her winning abstract portrait, inspired by her grandmother, represented Livvie’s interpretation of the 2020 competition theme: “Brilliant, radiant, overcoming the senses.”

According to the Thea Foundation, 170 Arkansas high school seniors entered this year’s Visual Arts Scholarship Competition, which was hosted online for the first time ever due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Only 10 students were selected as winners of scholarships ranging from $2,000 to $4,000.

“We are so proud of Livvie and grateful that the Thea Foundation continues to spread joy and hope through their work in the arts,” said Marianne Nolley, art teacher, on behalf of the MSM Fine and Performing Arts Department.

Congratulations to Livvie and all of this year’s Thea scholarship recipients!

Two Mount St. Mary teachers win Stephens Award

Two Mount St. Mary Academy faculty members have been named recipients of the 2020 Stephens Award by The City Education Trust. Social studies teacher Rachel McLemore and Spanish teacher Ruth Pineda are two of just seven high school teachers in Little Rock selected to receive a $5,700 cash award recognizing their outstanding and inspirational teaching. Over the past five years, a total of nine MSM faculty have earned this prestigious honor.

Ms. McLemore is in her third year of teaching at Mount St. Mary Academy. She currently teaches AP United States History, AP Comparative Government and Politics, and American History. She sponsors Model United Nations and Quiz Bowl in addition to coaching the Belles’ cross country team.

In the essay that accompanied her nomination, Ms. McLemore shared the following words of advice for new teachers: “Know your stuff. Believe in your students’ capacity for growth. Express genuine interest in each student’s success. Strive for progress, not perfection. … By making ‘Progress, not perfection’ our mantra, we can pass on lessons that go beyond the classroom. As teachers, we can allow students room to make mistakes, to learn, and to grow.”

Sra. Pineda has been a faculty member at Mount St. Mary Academy for 14 years. She teaches all Spanish classes at the school, including Honors Spanish and AP Spanish Language and Culture, and sponsors the school’s Spanish Club.

Sra. Pineda’s essay, also providing advice to new teachers, included the following sentiments: “You need to grasp each student’s unique method of learning so you can reach and impact them all. This requires a special connection between student and teacher. In my classroom, I believe in respecting, understanding, and being open with my students. This allows them to be more comfortable with me, and in return they provide me with the same respect, understanding, and openness.”

Congratulations to all of this year’s Stephens Award winners for this incredible achievement!

Junior Service Learning Program goes virtual amid COVID-19 crisis

From hospitals and hospice care facilities to schools and nursing homes, Mount St. Mary Academy juniors regularly devote 7,500 collective hours of hands-on service at numerous local organizations each year through the school’s signature Junior Service Learning Program. Despite the challenges and restrictions created by the current coronavirus crisis, this year’s Class of 2021 is finding new, resourceful ways to keep Mount’s rich tradition of service alive.

“Service is such an integral part of our school, especially during students’ junior year at Mount when they spend their theology class periods volunteering out in the community and experiencing firsthand what it means to put others before ourselves,” said Lauren Lawrence, theology teacher and Junior Service Learning Program coordinator. “During our present circumstances, in particular, this important service work cannot end. Although we have to get a bit creative in how we do it, we can still be a source of positivity for our community during a time it needs it most.”

With the help of the school’s technology and media specialist, Carrie Burkhead, students in the Junior Service Learning Program have explored ways to volunteer virtually in order to continue assisting their service sites or reach others in need throughout central Arkansas during this challenging time. One idea – utilizing the online video discussion platform, Flipgrid – recently led to the creation of websites featuring nearly 120 videos of Mount St. Mary 11th graders reading different children’s books. Links to these websites were sent to a handful of Mount St. Mary Academy’s service sites to be shared with their younger students or patients.

Little Rock-based nonprofit ACCESS was one of the service sites to benefit from this resource after having to temporarily suspend their onsite volunteer programs in light of current circumstances. “We were thrilled with the innovative virtual story time these dedicated volunteers created,” Suzanne Carter, assistant director of ACCESS Early Childhood, said. “Our teachers will be able to utilize smart board technology for those students receiving services at this time, as well as share the links for our students at home to continue to promote language and literacy. These videos enable us to continue the partnership between Mount St. Mary Academy and ACCESS while combining literacy and fun for our students.”

According to Coach Lawrence, more projects like this have already been completed or are in the works for the time period social distancing is required. For example, the students composed uplifting letters that were delivered electronically to service sites to share with residents or patients who can’t have visitors. They are also partnering with UAMS to submit inspirational messages for the hospital’s electronic health record system Message of the Day.

“We will continue to find ways to be a shining light to others, from a distance, during this time,” Coach Lawrence said.

View the Junior Service Learning Program’s virtual story time project at the following sites: https://flipgrid.com/9799485b, https://flipgrid.com/c27d81c3, https://flipgrid.com/7b6ffad5, https://flipgrid.com/ffe8bf8d and https://flipgrid.com/7709e13e.