Mount St. Mary Academy has been blessed once again!

Fr. Keith Higginbotham joined the staff in August as Assistant Chaplain and teaches a Freshman Theology course.  He was ordained in May and originally hails from North Little Rock.

Fr. Keith joins Fr. Fred, our Chaplain and AP Physics instructor; Mrs. LouAnn Gieringer, our Campus Ministry Director; Mrs. Buff Easterly (senior Theology), Mrs. Lauren Ramsey Lawrence ’08, (junior, freshman Theology),  Mrs. Brenda Stevens (sophomore Theology), Mrs. Cheri Martinka (sophomore Theology), and Mrs. Sara Mader, (freshman, senior Theology).

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.

The Counseling program at Mount St. Mary Academy has grown this summer.  Amy Owens (standing), Counseling Director, along with Sr. Joan Pfauser (seated, left) and Sadie (seated, center), welcomed a new staff member in July.

Mrs. Emily Coffey (seated, right) has joined the Counseling staff and will concentrate her time on the College Application/Acceptance process.   She will assist Mount St. Mary students with the college application process by narrowing their college list down, work-shopping essays, answering application questions, writing letters of recommendation, and anything else the girls may need in regards to College!

Sister Joan Pfauser  will be focusing on the Freshman Experience.  As the Freshman Counselor, she will assist the ninth grade students as they transition to high school.  She will focus on academic, social, and emotional issues and work closely with the Freshmen teachers to ease any transition issues students may have.

Mrs. Amy Owens  will oversee the Counseling program and focus her time on academic, social, and emotional issues with sophomore, junior, and senior students.   She will continue to lead the Student Wellness Team and work with teachers and staff to monitor our students’ needs.

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.

The senior class left their last school day at Mount St. Mary Academy with feelings of sadness and joy. At the Closing Prayer Service on May 10, the seniors took part in the fourth and final tradition experienced by students at Mount St. Mary, the presentation of the graduation tassels. Throughout the school year students receive their Mercy cards in 9th grade, Mercy pins in 10th grade, class rings in their 11th grade year, and the graduation tassel marks completion of their academic and spiritual development during the four years of high school.

After parting words from teachers, administration, classes of 2019, 2020 and 2021, as well as from their peers, the Class of 2018 then sung the last verse of the alma mater reserved for seniors at graduation. Then, they exited the school through an Honor Guard made up of the Mount St. Mary faculty and staff. An Honor Guard of students welcomes each ninth grade class into the school at the Opening Prayer Service at the school year’s beginning – the only other time the Honor Guard takes place.

Though joyful they are moving on to bright futures and a new phase of life, the seniors’many tears lamented good times and memories that were shared during their time at the school.

“Good-bye to St. Mary’s, the best school we know of.
You’ve given us friendship and knowledge and love.
And though we’ll be leaving, we’ll always believe in
the things you’ve taught for you’ve still got our loyalty.”

 – Alma Mater of Mount St. Mary Academy

Mount St. Mary Academy Advanced Placement U.S. History students (APUSH), under the direction of MSM Social Studies Teacher Rachel McLemore, honored the victims of the Parkland school shooting with a student-led prayer service on Wednesday, March 14, the one-month anniversary of the tragic event. Along with members of MSM Student Council, the students planned and presented a vigil to the student body during an all-school program where they shared memories of each of the students and faculty members killed in the school shooting on February 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Mount St. Mary Academy students, faculty and staff also observed a moment of silence at 10 a.m. and were invited to stand for 17 minutes in solidarity with the Parkland students.

Hear about the service in detail from an article published on March 22, 2018, by Arkansas Catholic:

Catholic students step up to face shooting tragedy

Read the article written by Olivia Parker ’18, which was published in the Young Faith column of the Arkansas Catholic on March 23, 2018:

Faith, action both needed to keep schools safe

Mount St. Mary Academy Lip Sync was held on Thursday, March 15. Check out photos from the individual and group acts and the MSM faculty and staff performance to “The Greatest Show!”

Lip Sync photos and more spring events on Flickr.

A group of eleven Mount St. Mary students spent the week of January 15-19 in Washington, DC, with the Close Up program. In addition to touring famous monuments and memorials in the nation’s capital, students were able to visit with Arkansas’ U.S. Representative French Hill while on a private tour of the Capitol Building and present a Mount St. Mary Academy wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Arlington National Cemetery. This year they also enjoyed the special privilege of spending MLK Day with a visit to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.

Close Up’s High School Programs are designed to give students and educators an inside look at their democracy in action. Each year the program welcomes students from schools around the country to Washington, DC, to learn more about government and their nation’s capital.

Over the past three years Mount St. Mary Academy art students in IB Art, Art III and Art IV have been creating portraits for children around the world in collaboration with The Memory Project. The nonprofit organization works with art students across the globe with the purpose of creating portraits for youth who have faced substantial challenges, such as neglect, abuse, loss of parents and extreme poverty. The portraits are sent to the children to help them feel valued and important, to know that many people care about their well being, and to act as meaningful pieces of personal history in the future.  For the students, it is an opportunity to creatively practice kindness and global awareness; they have provided portraits for children in Bolivia and Syria over the last few years.

In order to raise awareness of the Syrian war’s effects on children, seventy photographs of The Memory Project student artwork will be on display at the University of Wisconsin beginning September 21, 2017; two of the portraits in the exhibit were created by Mount St. Mary students Aryn Angyal and Meredith Muller.

If you happen to pass through Madison, Wisconsin, between now and November 19, please check it out!  For more information on the Memory Project click here.

Syrian portraits by MSM students on display at the University of Wisconsin: artwork by Meredith Muller (left) and Aryn Angyl (right)

On September 23, 2017, 21 members of the Mount St. Mary Junior Classical League (Latin Club) and friends washed over 40 cars to raise money to help victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.  The club wanted a way to help provide relief and decided to sponsor something culturally appropriate yet fun.  Latin club president, Evelyn Nick, proposed the fundraiser to the administration, who then approved it.  All determined that Saturday the 23rd would be perfect since it was homecoming weekend and alumnae would be visiting the campus over the weekend.  One alumna, who is now a Latin teacher in Washington, D.C., stopped in to make her donation and think about the fun times in Latin class while she was at MSM. The event also drew in neighbors of Mount St. Mary who were happy to help the effort made for people hit so hard by the recent disasters.  God provided great weather for the event, and the students worked hard throughout the morning.  All proceeds ($1249) will go to the the “Texas Flood Relief” fund of Catholic Charities of Arkansas which is providing aid to victims of both Harvey and Irma.  

The 15th annual Mount St. Mary Academy “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” Alumnae Picnic welcomed more than 200 of the school’s graduates back to their high school home.  Alumnae representing classes from 1948 to 2012 gathered for school tours followed by dinner and fellowship. Alumnae perused yearbooks and alumnae merchandise and enjoyed the photo booth mementos, courtesy of LeMay Photography. Rosalyn Hastings, Class of 1948, was recognized for earliest class year and received the award with her daughter and granddaughter, both MSM alumnae. The Class of 1977, celebrating their 40-year reunion, won the coveted spirit stick for most classmates in attendance.

Mount St. Mary Academy kicked off the first week of the 2017-2018 school year by welcoming 142 ninth graders in the Class of 2021 and a student body of 500 young women in grades 9 to 12.

The Come with Belles On event held on August 14 invited the new class and their parents to get to know one another at a picnic followed by a freshman rally in the gymnasium. Mountie Messenger student ambassadors led the ninth graders through a scavenger hunt in the school while freshman parents attended an informational meeting.

Welcome Back Day on August 16 began with each class returning to school to pick up schedules and supplies, catch up after their summer vacation and see what was new this year in school merchandise, school events and volunteer opportunities. After Welcome Back Day, Freshman Orientation was held to familiarize the ninth graders with their teachers, schedules, lockers and school policies.

At the Opening Mass on August 18 the student body came together to officially welcome the Class of 2021, calling each student by name to receive their Mercy cards and then announcing the annual button theme, Faith Can Move Mountains.

More photos of Welcome Back 2017 events at https://flic.kr/s/aHsm1qqreY

Mount St. Mary welcomed six new faculty and staff today at new employee orientation. 

(left to right): Ms. Rachel McLemore, History/Cross Country Coach; Mr. Justin Brady, Math; Ms. Cheri Martinka, AP Research/History/Theology; Mr. Cody Henry, History/Freshman Basketball Coach; Dr. Nilu Runge, Science; Mr. Mark Cottingham, Facilities

Meet the New Teachers

Mr. Brady will be teaching Algebra I. With many of his family members having attended Mount St. Mary, he says he “grew up around MSM and is excited to be teaching here.” His wife is a graduate of the school and one of his two daughters will be starting her senior year at MSM. Mr. Brady has been been teaching math for 17 years at The Anthony School.

Mr. Henry will be teaching American and World History and coaching the Mounties 9th grade basketball team. He is married with two children, a four-year-old daughter and 10-month-old son. Mr. Henry is excited to start teaching and coaching and hopes to pass on inquisitiveness to his students and team members by encouraging them to think critically and learn for themselves.

Ms. McLemore will be teaching American History and International Relations as well as coaching the MSM Cross Country team. She comes to MSM after 5 years of teaching at the University of Mississippi. She is excited to now be teaching high school at Mount St. Mary and helping her students prepare for college. As a history teacher, she hopes her students “become engaged in their communities and learn how to be citizens of our country and the world.”

Dr. Runge will be teaching Biology and Forensic Science. She comes to MSM after 26 years as a professor in the science department at the University of Central Arkansas, where she also served for a time as their concurrent credit coordinator. Dr. Runge says she looks forward to teaching biology and getting students ready for college and shares that forensic science is one of her passions. She hopes her biology students learn how science is applicable to everything in life and wants her forensic science students to learn different techniques and have fun at the same time.

Ms. Martinka is returning to MSM to teach AP Research, AP European History and Theology. She is thrilled about all the new AP classes and especially AP Research, one of the required courses in the AP Capstone diploma and certificate programs. Her hope for her students is that they “leave with the desire to know more.”

Learning about nuclear power and nuclear radiation, Ms. Johnson’s third period class made a trip to Nuclear One in Russellville.  The students  participated in a discussion with the training staff on

• Energy Options (Solar, Wind, Hydro, Nuclear)
• How ANO produces power (operation)
• Costs of energy production
• Career Options in Nuclear power
• Accidents (What we have learned)

After the lecture, students visited simulators which replicated actual control rooms and also experienced what it is like to “suit up” for a contamination area.

Ms. Johnson’s fourth period class received a visit from guest speaker Dr. Leanne Jolly, a phD nurse and nutrition counselor from the Little Rock Athletic Clubs organization. To supplement the unit on food as energy, Dr. Jolly spoke to the students about the importance of nutrition and exercise.

Mr. Stotts’ anatomy class visited the Museum of Discovery, where students learned about guts, bones, skin, blood and more in the Amazing You gallery with activities that explore how their bodies function.

The Closing Prayer Service at Mount St. Mary Academy has always elicited fond memories, class unity and yes, some tears, and this year’s service was no exception for the Class of 2017. The students, faculty, administrators and Sisters of Mercy gathered as a school community one last time with this year’s seniors to celebrate the gift of the past school year and look forward to next steps on the journey.

Monsignor Frederick began the prayer service by telling the seniors that it was time for them to GO — to spread God’s mercy and live their faith as they move into the next phase of life.

Student Body President Grace Clark ’17 remembered the last four years with her classmates and how they have grown into the sisterhood she didn’t think was possible when she entered the school as a freshman. She recalled the challenges and the events that have bonded their class as well as the teachers and leaders in faith who have led them through adversity, and she thanked the student body for her opportunity to serve as their leader.

Three teachers were thanked for their exceptional service to the school as they move on to new chapters of their lives:

Kara Tobey, math instructor

Olivia Dumboski ’08, social studies instructor

Mary Logan, social studies instructor

The Closing Prayer Service marked the “end of an era” for a few different reasons. Included with the goodbyes to the seniors, Mary Logan announced her retirement after having taught at Mount St. Mary Academy for the past 37 years. And, after 166 years of Sisters of Mercy residing on the campus of Mount St. Mary Academy, the student body bid farewell to the last two Sisters in residence.  Sr. Ann Hardcastle ’54 and Sr. Jolitta Konecny ’55 were honored for their years of service to the school community as it was announced they will be relocating to the Sisters’ retirement home in Barling, Arkansas.

Lifting everyone’s spirits were the well wishes from students in the freshmen, sophomore and junior classes before Caroline Wahlgreen ’17 gave an entertaining recollection of the past four years, and then, final traditions concluded the time at the Mount for the Class of 2017. Seniors were called to receive their graduation tassels — the last symbolic gift in a four-year tradition at Mount St. Mary Academy following freshman mercy cards, sophomore mercy pins and junior class rings. After the seniors sang their class song, the service ended with a surprise performance by an ensemble of MSM teacher singers and musicians.

Just as each class enters through an honor guard of their schoolmates at their first all-school prayer service, the seniors conclude their last day on campus by exiting through an honor guard made up of their teachers and administrators. Spending their final time together with words of gratitude and encouragement, they ended their last day and their time at Mount St. Mary Academy and set off on the weeks leading up to graduation.

More photos from Closing Prayer Service:

https://flic.kr/s/aHskWjSVRT

Twelve Sisters of Mercy left Ireland in 1851 with Arkansas’ first Catholic bishop, Bishop Andrew J. Byrne, to set up a school for children in Arkansas that would come to be known as Mount St. Mary Academy. One hundred sixty-six years later, thirteen Mercy Sisters gathered to celebrate the 80th birthdays and relocation of the last two Sisters in residence at the school and to honor the Mercy legacy on the school’s campus.

At Mercy Moments on Our Journey, held Sunday, May 7 in the Mount St. Mary Convent in Little Rock, three Sisters of Mercy were honored for their years of service and ministry:  Sr. Jolitta Konecny, Sr. Ann Hardcastle, and Sr. Joan Pfauser. Sr. Jolitta and Sr. Ann are both graduates of the school and past faculty members who will be relocating from the Mount St. Mary Convent to the Sisters’ retirement home in Barling, Arkansas. Sr. Joan, also a graduate, will continue as one of the school counselors to bring the daily presence of Mercy to Mount St. Mary Academy.

Past principals of the school Sr. Richard Mary Burke, RSM and Sr. Deborah Troillett, RSM were in attendance at the event to reflect with gratitude and give thanks to God for the school’s 166-year history and to offer prayers and affirmation for the future. Relaying a message from the Sisters of Mercy leadership team for the South-Central Community, Sr. Richard Mary announced that the convent has been deeded to the current ministry and school leadership at Mount St. Mary, proclaiming that it has been a blessing to all of the Sisters, for which they give thanks and say “yes!” to all that will be.

“Catherine McAuley said of our journey as Sisters, ‘We have one solid comfort amidst this little tripping about: our hearts can always be in the same place, centered in God for whom alone we go forward — or stay back,’” said Sr. Deborah, member of the Institute Leadership Team for the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas. “While there was sadness in me to say goodbye to the Sisters living in the convent, there is also joy in knowing that the Sisters of Mercy will go forward so deeply enriched by the partnership with our many lay colleagues who lead and serve at Mount St. Mary Academy. I feel great confidence and gratitude that the school will continue to respond to the new needs of the young women served and the convent building will inevitably be utilized in a way to meet some new unmet need!”

Mount St. Mary Academy President/CEO Karen Flake thanked the Sisters and expressed that “because of their tremendous impact, the spirit of God’s mercy will always be present at Mount St. Mary Academy.” She assured there were no immediate plans to change the way the convent is being used at Mount St. Mary Academy and said the board of directors is currently in the process of reviewing the master plan.

During refreshments and “a comfortable cup of tea” with the Sisters, an impromptu rendition of the school’s alma mater was sung by many of the 60 guests present, which included alumnae, parents, and friends of the school, Mercy Associates, and Sisters of Mercy from throughout the region. There are currently six Sisters of Mercy serving on the academy and foundation boards and one staff member serving at Mount St. Mary Academy.

Pictured:
Front Row: Sr. Ann Hardcastle, Sr. Elisa Bauman, Sr. Jolitta Konecny, Sr. Jacqueline HowardBack Row: Sr. Judith Keith, Sr. Deborah Troillett, Sr. Carol Ann Corley, Sr. Cheryl Quave, Sr. Richard Mary Burke, Sr. Rebecca Hendricks, Sr. Noeline Banks, Sr. Joan Pfauser, Sr. Teresa Kelone

More photos from Mercy Moments on Our Journey:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskUKDJCL

On April 28 the Mount St. Mary student body celebrated the college decisions of the senior class with College T-shirt Day and a special “Pizza on the Plaza.”  Seniors shared their newly painted Mount St. Mary houndstooth skirts decorated with college mascots and school logos while posing for photos with friends, teachers and classmates.

The Class of 2017 then invited the family of Bella Brown to join the school community for a special dedication to honor their friend’s memory with a garden of three butterfly bushes and a flowering tree. The tree’s flowers will be Bella’s favorite color, pink, and the butterfly bush flowers will be purple, the color of the school she loved.

Mount St. Mary will be participating in Drain Smart again this year. Junior Art student Grace C.’s design “A Day in the Creek” has been selected for installation on the storm drain located at Kavanaugh and Ash in front of Hangers in Hillcrest. Art students will be painting the design as a group so keep your eyes peeled for us!

The Concert Belles were AMAZING at the State Festival April 6, 2017!  They received a Division I plaque and TWO best in class awards:  “best medium female chorus” AND “best medium chorus OVERALL” for the 6A division.

Mount St. Mary Academy teams performed well in several State Tournaments held during the weekend of April 1.

Mount St. Mary Latin students received eight first-place awards and 24 awards for top-three placings at the State Latin Competition held at Harding University. The competition included a variety of categories, such as Poetry Recitation, Latin Extemporaneous Reading and Vocabulary Bee.

At the Arkansas Odyssey of the Mind State Tournament, the Mount St. Mary team placed first for their creativity and problem-solving abilities applied to this year’s problem, “It’s Time, OMER” in Division III. The seven team members will advance to the World Finals at Michigan State University in May.

The Mount St. Mary Quiz Bowl team competed admirably in the state Quiz Bowl tournament held at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. Katie Strickland received All-State honors, and she will be invited to play in the state All-Star tournament in May.

Fourteen Mount St. Mary forensics team students qualified for and competed at the State Tournament of Champions. The forensics team focuses on developing students’ public speaking and communication skills. The team received charter member status in February.

Five Mount St. Mary Academy students joined forces with nine Catholic High boys to compete in the annual Mock Trial State Tournament hosted by the Arkansas Bar Association on March 3-4, 2017.

The two teams have been practicing twice a week since shortly after school began last fall.  The Junior Team (Freshmen Sarah Meeks and Naomi Moreland) made the semi-finals but lost to a team from Springdale Har-Ber High School. Senior Team (Juniors Clara Cordell, Sydney Eagan and Katie Strickland) lost in the second round to another team from Springdale Har-Ber High School, who competed against the other Har-Ber team for the state championship title.

The Arkansas Bar Association Mock Trial Competition gives high school student teams from across the state the opportunity to act as lawyers and witnesses in simulated civil trials before actual judges and panels of juries. Lawyers volunteer to assist students as team advisers, scorekeepers and regional coordinators. Each year, the winning team goes on to represent Arkansas in the national competition.

Hundreds of grandparents joined their granddaughters for a special Grandparents Day celebration held on March 3rd at Mount St. Mary Academy.

Granddaughters gave their grandparents personalized tours, introducing them to teachers and friends and showing them around the campus. Grandparents participated in activities and demonstrations with different classes and school organizations, such as Quiz Bowl, Forensics, Odyssey of the Mind, Family and Consumer Science, Robotics, Latin Club, and they even were able to take part in a Chemistry Lab making “fake snow.”

Thank you to LeMay Photography for the photo booth keepsakes and to all of the grandparents and their granddaughters who made this such a special day!

Photos of the event:

https://flic.kr/s/aHskVk6p7y

Congratulations to the Mount St. Mary Academy Forensic Speech team on their spectacular performance in the Searcy Lion’s Pride Classic Tournament this weekend.

Eighteen members of the Forensics team competed, with many of them earning recognition and awards:

Breaking to Semi-finals which qualifies for State:

Dramatic Interpretation:  Abby Todd

Prose:  Amalie Shollmier

Poetry:  Jayme Swillum

Duo Improvisation:  Karina Singh/Victoria Volpi

Finalists:

Humorous Interpretation:  Lily Eagan (3rd Place)

Storytelling:  Lily Eagan (3rd Place) and Holly Marr (1st Place)

Original Oratory:  Victoria Volpi

Extemporaneous Speaking:  Kassidy Reyes

The Mount St. Mary Academy Odyssey of the Mind team competed in the Regional competition at MLK Elementary on February 25. The team won first place in their first competition of the year and will advance to the state competition on April 1.

Odyssey of the Mind (OM) is an international problem-solving competition designed for pre-school through college-age students. Unlike Quiz Bowl or other like competitions, OM has a creative interpretation element and an interpretive solution to a multi-stage long-term problem. This year’s problem involves an original performance about time travelers looking to discover the inspiration for great works of art.

Mount St. Mary Academy has participated in Odyssey of the Mind since 1996.  Its teams regularly have been awarded first or second place in regional and state competitions since 1999, and teams have placed in the top six at the World Finals consecutively for the past three years.

2017 marked 166 years since Mount St. Mary Academy was founded on February 4, 1851. Founders Day celebrations started with members of Student Council ringing of the Angelus Bell 166 times to wish the school a Happy Birthday. The Founders Day Mass/Sophomore Pin Mass also celebrated a special day for MSM sophomores, who received their Mercy pins and were invited to a special reception with their families and classmates.

View photos from Founders Day: http://tinyurl.com/jjf9yz6

Mount St. Mary Academy senior, Caroline Coplin-Chudy, has been awarded a full college scholarship to Duke University through QuestBridge’s college match program.

Caroline was one of 5,338 students who were selected as finalists out of an application pool of 14,491 in the college match program. Of those finalists, she was one of 767 matched to a QuestBridge partner and one of 32 selected nationally for admission to Duke University. She will attend Duke University in Durham, North Carolina on a $290,468 scholarship award that will cover full tuition, fees, room and board, books, supplies and travel expenses for four years.

QuestBridge is a national program that pairs high-achieving, low-income high school seniors with full scholarships to the nation’s top colleges. Students selected for the College Match are “matched” to one of QuestBridge’s 38 college partners that include top liberal arts colleges such as Amherst, Colby, Pomona, and Williams and research universities such as Brown, Columbia, Duke, Stanford, and Yale. Students must demonstrate high academic achievement that meets or exceeds the admissions standards of the partner colleges; they are selected as finalists based on their academic, financial and extracurricular credentials.

More information about the program may be found on the QuestBridge website at: https://www.questbridge.org/

Rachel Chenault, Sarah Forester and Madison Fox were awarded High Five Awards from Miracle League of Arkansas for their volunteer work with the organization over the last four years. The Chris Anderson “High Five” Scholarship was formed in 2015 in honor of Chris’ tireless dedication to the Miracle League players, their families and the volunteers. Usually, only one scholarship recipient is awarded; however, this year it was expanded to include all three girls because of each one’s amazing dedication to the kids and families at Miracle League. Rachel, Sarah and Madison each donated more than 400 hours of service, and they each received a scholarship of $2,000. The Miracle League of Arkansas encourages all Mount St. Mary Academy students to be as giving of their time as these three students and to demonstrate the same commitment to service within the community.

Congratulations to Mount St. Mary Academy history teacher Mary Logan! At a special assembly on October 17, she was presented with the Amazing Educator award by Little Rock Family for making a difference in the lives of her students.

Little Rock Family surprised the student body with the special recognition, narrowing down the identity of the award recipient by describing her as one of the department chairs at Mount St. Mary Academy who has been teaching for over 30 years and is also a Stanford Fellow of International History. Ms. Logan is also the Model United Nations team sponsor and a student travel sponsor. One of Ms. Logan’s former students nominated her for the award, inspired once again by her phenomenal teaching now that her daughter is taking a history class taught by one of her own most memorable teachers.

Along with educators from elementary school, middle school and special needs, Ms. Logan will be featured in an Amazing Educators section in the January issue of Little Rock Family. Thank you, Little Rock Family, for recognizing that outstanding teachers like Ms. Logan prepare our students for college and inspire their dreams for the future.

Two more Mount St. Mary Academy students have been honored this month for exceptional academic promise, and we couldn’t be prouder.

The 2016-17 National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP) selected Rosemarie Ochoa from the Mount St. Mary Academy Class of 2017 as a National Hispanic Scholar. Rosemarie scored in the top 2.5% on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®) test among all Hispanic and Latino test-takers in the region. Established in 1983, the National Hispanic Recognition Program is a College Board program that provides national recognition of the exceptional academic achievements of Hispanic/Latino high school seniors and identifies them for post-secondary institutions. In order to be eligible, students must be at least one-quarter Hispanic/Latino, as defined by the NHRP, meet the minimum PSAT cutoff score by state, and achieve a minimum grade point average requirement.

Katie O’Malley was named a Commended Student in an announcement by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Katie joined approximately 34,000 students throughout the nation who received the distinction. Although they will not continue in the 2017 competition for National Merit Scholarship awards, Commended Students placed among the top five percent of more than 1.6 million students who entered the 2017 competition by taking the 2015 PSAT/NMSQT®.

“The young men and women being named Commended Students have demonstrated outstanding potential for academic success,” commented a spokesperson for NMSC. “These students represent a valuable national resource; recognizing their accomplishments, as well as the key role their schools play in their academic development, is vital to the advancement of educational excellence in our nation. We hope that this recognition will help broaden their educational opportunities and encourage them as they continue their pursuit of academic success.”

We congratulate Rosemarie and Katie for the academic commitment they have demonstrated; these awards will enable them to highlight their outstanding educational achievements to top colleges and universities. They join the two Semifinalists from Mount St. Mary Academy recognized in September by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Two students from Mount St. Mary Academy have been named Semifinalists in the 62nd annual National Merit® Scholarship Program. Chloe Beall ’17 and Hannah Isaacs ’17 are among the 16,000 Semifinalists who represent the top one percent of the Class of 2017. Last fall, about 1.6 million juniors across the country entered the 2017 National Merit Scholarship competition by taking the PSAT qualifying test.

“These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth about $33 million that will be offered next spring,” according to a news release from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

Steps in the 2017 Competition

About 15,000 seniors will be announced as Finalists in February. To advance to the finals of the scholarship program, students must show a record of consistently high academic performance throughout high school while also earning SAT scores that confirm their earlier performances on the qualifying test. Their high school principal must also write a recommendation.

National Merit Scholarships

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2017. Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit® $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded on a state-representational basis. About 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 230 corporations and business organizations for Finalists who meet their specified criteria. In addition, about 190 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 4,000 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.

Best of luck to Chloe and Hannah!