HSNP Sister City Foundation gives scholarships
This year’s teacher scholarship recipients from the Hot Springs National Park Sister City Foundation who traveled to Hanamaki, Japan, Hot Springs’ sister city, are; Jana Catlett, Lake Hamilton Intermediate School; Alena McNew, Jessieville High School; Ashley Brown, Lake Hamilton Primary School; and Kathy Sue Hopper, Cutter Morning Star High School.
Lake Hamilton High School junior Julia Ross traveled with the teachers to Japan, and will spend six weeks as an exchange student in Hanamaki.
She will attend classes at Hanamaki Higashi High School and was invited to stay with the same family whose daughter stayed with Ross’ family when visiting Hot Springs on a previous student delegation visit.
Ross, who used a computer program to teach herself Japanese, was a member of the 2010 student delegation that traveled to Hanamaki.
The teachers traveled to Japan June 5 and returned Wednesday. While there, they stayed with Japanese families, visited area schools and learned about the Japanese culture, customs and education system.
Catlett is a fifth- grade science and social studies teacher. She also serves as English as a second language facilitator, Wolfpack Newsletter writer and Runnin’ Wolves coach.
She is a member of First Baptist Church of Hot Springs, where she serves as Sunday school teacher for adults with special needs and sings in a ladies’ ensemble, Refuge.
Catlett enjoys singing, traveling, reading, cooking, trying new restaurants, sports and spending time with her family. She and her husband, Kevin, have two children, Malorie and Avery.
McNew is a second- year English and business teacher at Jessieville and the mother of three children. She previously taught a variety of business, marketing, multimedia and work- based learning courses at a high school for five years. She received undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Recently, she obtained her licensure to be an educational administrator, a position she hopes to pursue in the future.
Brown holds bachelor’s degrees in communication- mass media and early child- hood education and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in advanced instructional studies with an emphasis on ESL.
She has been teaching kindergarten for the past two years at Lake Hamilton. She and her husband enjoy working together in their photography business, playing sports, being involved in their church and spending time with family and friends.
Hopper teaches science, physical science, physics and chemistry at CMSHS. She holds a bachelors degree in environmental science from Texas Christian University. After college she worked in research and industry, employed by agencies such as the Department of Energy and the University of Georgia.
Hopper owned a laboratory testing business for eight years, performing analyses for the poultry industry. She also worked as a quality assurance- food safety manager for a company that produced chicken products for McDonald’s.
She received her master of arts in teaching degree from Miami University of Ohio in December 2011. She and her husband Steve have four daughters and two dogs.