Speakers’ Circuit
Members of the El Dorado School District’s Hugh Goodwin Elementary’s fourth-grade and El Dorado High School Odyssey
of the Mind teams and Beth Sullivan, Gifted-Talented coordinator for the district, will give demonstrations of their problem solving teams and tell about the program when the Rotary Club meets at noon on Monday at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. Parent and Rotarian Kelly Halstead will also accompany the teams.
Patrick Hotard, executive director of the South Arkansas Historical Preservation Society, will be the guest speaker when the Kiwanis Club meets at noon on Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church. Hotard will talk to club members about the upcoming Mayhaw Festival scheduled to be held May 2 in and around the Newton House Museum on North Jackson in El Dorado.
Hotard began serving as the executive director for the South Arkansas Historical Society
in 2010. He grew up in Jennings, La., and has had over 20 years of archival and museum experience. He received his bachelor’s degree in history from Louisiana State University and his master’s degree in history from Southeastern Louisiana University.
In his previous positions, he worked on various restoration projects, overseeing external repairs to Beauvoir House in Biloxi, Miss., and coordinating the installation of a new nature trail boardwalk on the grounds at Beauvoir, where he served as curator and executive director.
Coordinating symposia and fundraising, implementing battlefield tours and establishing a successful speaker’s series at both Beauvoir and Glen Foerd on the Delaware (located in Philadelphia), is also part of his background. While directing museum operations in three states, Hotard performed executive liaison work with local elected officials, legislators, garden clubs and civic organizations.
Hotard and his wife, Donna, have been married for 24 years and have two daughters, Catherine and Elisabeth.
(Organizations interested in listing a speaker in Speakers Circuit should send information about the speaker to editorial@eldoradonews.com. A club member should provide background information on their speakers in writing or by e-mail to the NewsTimes. The deadline for submitting background information is 5 p.m. on Thursday for the following Sunday’s newspaper).