Russellville High School students bring home awards
Students at Russellville High School can participate in a variety of clubs, teams and other extracurricular activities, and those teams have been winning awards across the state. From putting on performances to building unique robots, these teams are giving students a chance to shine outside the classroom. The school’s robotics team recently competed in the Arkansas State VEX Robotics Competition. The team, along with its alliance partners, Bryant High School and Har-Ber High School in Springdale, won the tournament champion award. Ethan Hodge, computer science teacher and robotics coach, said the students compete with and against the other teams to score points in the competition. Points are scored in a variety of ways, and students have to design and build a robot that is able to score as many points as possible. He said robotics allows students to use teamwork, communication, organizational, time-management and collaboration skills. “These skills are lifelong skills that transition to the workplace,” he said. “Employers are always interested in hiring people who can work in teams, communicate with those inside and outside of the team, manage work to be time efficient, and collaborate with colleagues and employees of other organizations.” Hodge said problem-solving is a big part of the competition. Often during the building of the robot, new challenges will pop up, and the students have to work together to solve the problem. “The students come away from robotics with the ability to collaborate in teams to achieve a goal, which is a vital part of the modern workplace,” he said. Last school year, Russellville High School’s Quiz Bowl team won the state championship. This was the team’s third consecutive state title. The team’s coaches, Paul Gray, Johnny Barham and Brandon Cooper, said they are proud of the team’s accomplishments. “Winning three consecutive state championships requires a high level of commitment and dedication,” Gray said. Barham said that during the fall semester, the team will practice two to three times each week after school, and in the spring, practices will increase to four to five times a week. Practice sessions include a combination of researching and writing questions, student-led study sessions teacher-led tutorials, reading and analyzing questions, playing practice games and intensive memorization strategies. “Quiz Bowl creates a mutually beneficial environment for our students,” Cooper said. “The knowledge and skills gained in Quiz Bowl translate to better performance in the classroom.” In addition to the team’s success, Gray and Barham have each earned the distinction of State High School Quiz Bowl Coach of the Year, and numerous players have earned all-region and all-state status. The past two years, the team has traveled to New Orleans to compete in the national tournament. “I’m extremely proud of our Quiz Bowl and robotics teams,” said Al Harpenau, principal. “The coaches for these two teams have developed a rapport with these students that will last a lifetime. We are very fortunate to have high-caliber coaches in both of these areas. We strive for excellence at Russellville High School, and these two programs bring that out in our students.”