Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Area Students Graduate From Math And Science High School
HOT SPRINGS — Autumn Kaderly of Farmington and Chenyeng Vang of Lincoln were two of the 103 students who graduated with the Class of 2022 for the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts. The school held its 28th annual Commencement on May 21, at Bank OZK Arena at the Hot Springs Convention Center.
The ceremony honored graduates from 36 counties. The students earned more than $ 22 million in scholarship offers as a class. State District 84 Rep. Les Warren served as the keynote speaker for the event. The ceremony also featured two student speakers.
Warren told the graduates that while the ceremony may have marked the end of their story’s chapter at ASMSA, many more chapters await them. He spoke about the quilt on display next to him on the stage.
The quilt was handstitched by his wife’s grandmother. Each quilt square tells a part of his wife’s story. All of the squares except one include a piece of fabric from clothing that his wife’s grandmother made for her as a child. Her grandmother made a quilt for several family members, and she would often work with a quilting group who would give quilts to those who needed them. While her name may not be found in history books, she made a difference for others, Warren said.
“What does this quilt have to do with you and your graduation?” Warren said. “I think a lot. You’ve heard the saying everyone has a story. I believe that 100 percent. We’re each created uniquely with our own set of gifts from God. You’ve reached a milestone — graduation from ASMSA. That is only the end to a chapter of your story. What will you do now? What will your life’s quilt — all the pieces of fabric that make up your life — what will it look like when you get older and you’re looking back? I want to hear some great stories about you. Your quilt or life story is early in the making.”
One of the speakers, senior Sidney Hansberry, addressed her classmates after being chosen by a selection committee to speak during graduation. She reflected on how her younger self before ASMSA desired to be challenged academically and how she met not only those challenges but others as well during her time at the school.
“Before I came here, I wondered what a Sidney who didn’t make straight A’s looked like. What a Sidney who struggled in classes sometimes and didn’t have other kids asking for her homework would look like. What a Sidney who was academically exhausted would look like. Well, she looks like this,” Hansberry said.
“We all learned from ASMSA that life gets hard and we are not perfect. We do in fact fail sometimes, and I personally learned I am in fact touchable academically. And if I were to have a talk with little miss ‘ sophomore Sidney’ who sat up and begged for the challenges I had to face, I would tell her to go ahead and apply,” Hansberry said.
“Because I also learned from ASMSA that our struggles don’t have to set us back. As someone who has an unhealthy addiction to using analogies, I will put it this way: when there is a speed bump in the road, you don’t reverse and take another route. You simply slow down and keep pushing.”
The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts is one of 17 public residential high schools in the country specializing in the education of academically gifted students. Located in historic downtown Hot Springs, the school is a campus of the University of Arkansas System. For more information about Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts, visit www. asmsa. org or call 501.622.5100.