Wednesday, April 23, 2014

AHS Quiz Bowl team advances to state championship

The AHS Quiz Bowl team will compete for its third state title on live television on Saturday, April 26, at 1:30 P.M.

The Arkadelphia High School Quiz Bowl team will compete for its third state title on live television on Saturday, April 26, at 1:30 P.M. AETN will broadcast the state finals from their Conway studio where Arkadelphia will face Maumelle High School for the 4A championship in what head coach Steve Patterson said should be a “very evenly matched” contest.

“What it will boil down to will be which team positions themselves best for the different categories of questions,” team captain and AHS senior Noah McMillion said.

A quiz bowl match consists of four rounds where a team of four players competes against one opposing team to answer questions in a competition similar to Jeopardy. The questions are categorized by subjects, which range from entertainment and pop-culture, to Greek mythology and quantum physics.

“The questions are made up of material included in the Arkansas frameworks,” Patterson said, meaning that any senior-level Arkansas high school student should be able to answer the questions since the information is contained within the state department’s curriculum frameworks.

Of the four rounds of play, the first and fourth are “toss-up” rounds with 20 questions. The individual team member who sounds his or her buzzer first must answer that question. In rounds two and three, team members may confer with each other before answering.

“Most teams have one person who is their star and answers most of their questions,” Patterson said, “but we have several strong players."

Twelve players fill a team’s roster, and once regional play begins, a team must continue to use the same 12 players through state-level competition. AHS’s roster includes four seniors: Dalton Huerkamp, Seth Daniell, Devan Moses, and McMillion. Daniell and McMillion were named to this year’s all tournament team. Sierra Westberg, Julie Williams, Matt Savage, Tyler Sanders, Kaleb Reid, Chase Masters, Johnathan Miles and Race Craft complete the 12-player team, which, according to Patterson, “Shares a variety of backgrounds and personal talents which contribute to their knowledge of different subject areas.”

“We are really good with fine arts and physics,” Patterson said. “But the team members all have a diverse knowledge-base, and they compliment each other well.”

Teamwork is a critical aspect of the game, but remaining unaffected by the pressure of being put on the spot in front of peers and judges present the biggest challenge aside from actually answering challenging questions correctly.


“[In Quiz Bowl], you can't be bothered by being on the spot and potentially making mistakes in front of others. That will be a little harder on live TV.”
-Noah McMillion, AHS senior and Quiz Bowl team captain


“Enjoying working together is more important than anything,” McMillion said of the team’s chemistry, “but you also can’t be bothered by being on the spot and potentially making mistakes in front of others. That will be a little harder on live TV.”

Where some extracurricular activities may teach a concept that can benefit a student with classroom work, such as a volleyball player developing a strong work ethic that she can apply to doing homework; quiz bowl reinforces, or even increases, actual classroom learning.

“We constantly find ourselves in a quiz bowl competition answering questions from something we just covered in class, or,” McMillion said, “we hear something in class and think ‘that’s likely to come up later [in a competition]’.”

Just as athletes often go beyond what is asked of them during practice or strength training, AHS’s quiz bowlers are putting in extra effort.

“We all go out of our way to study topics on our own,” McMillion said, “out of a personal interest in the subject, as well as being a better quiz bowl player.”

Team members cited their experience in band, G.T. classes, and personal reading as the top contributors to their understanding of the more unusual topics. 

“I’m very proud of this year’s team,” Patterson said. “We are very excited to represent AHS.”

Saturday’s other finals include Benton versus Greenwood in 6A, Morrilton versus Watson Chapel in 5A, Episcopal Collegiate versus Fountain Lake in 3A, Cedar Ridge versus Hazen in 2A, and Haas Hall versus Lisa Academy in 1A.


APS News
sean.ruggles@arkadelphiaschools.org


Interested in learning more about the Arkadelphia Public Schools? Find us on the webFacebookTwitterissuuVimeo, and YouTube. Graduate to Good Living... We Promise.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

AHS ranks in top 1 percent of nation's high schools

AHS ranks in the top 1 percent of high schools in the nation, and No. 4 in Arkansas, as seen on the image above which was taken from The Washington Post's story

Arkadelphia High School was recently ranked in the top 1 percent of the nation’s high schools, and No. 4 in Arkansas by the Washington Post. Earlier this month, the Washington Post published the annual High School Challenge Index, which rates the nation’s high schools in terms of each school’s academic rigor. According to the article’s author, Jay Mathews, “The Challenge Index is designed to identify schools that have done the best job in persuading average students to take college-level courses and tests.”

“It is outstanding for AHS to be recognized in this manner,” Donnie Whitten, Superintendent at the Arkadelphia Public Schools, said. “We are proud of our faculty, staff and administration for their hard work and dedication to excellence.”


“We are proud of our faculty, staff and administration for their hard work and dedication to excellence.”
-Donnie Whitten, APS Superintendent

Whitten continued, saying “AHS’s rankings as No. 213 in the nation and No. 4 in Arkansas demonstrate a commitment to challenging our students with the most rigorous curriculum possible.”

AP, or Advanced Placement, classes are college-level classes offered to high school students in a wide variety of subjects. If a student scores high enough on the AP exam, then they can earn college credit for that subject. The curriculum of these classes offers students challenging course work and an example of the increased demands of college classes. In 2012-13, AHS administered 561 AP exams to 199 students, 34 percent of AHS’s enrollment. All core subject-area teachers at AHS are Pre-AP or AP certified and, during the 2013-14 school year, AHS offered 11 AP classes in subjects such as Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, Government, Biology and Literature. AHS also offers AP tests in two additional classes where teachers mentor students who excel in specific, advanced subjects.

“The most important aspect of the AP curriculum is to challenge these students early so that they are better prepared for college,” David Maxwell, AHS Principal, said.  

College retention rates of AHS graduates reinforce the claim that exposing a greater number of high school students to more rigorous curriculum does increase their chances of success after graduating high school.

“The freshman to sophomore college retention rate for AHS graduates is 15 percent better than that of the national average,” Maxwell said. “Our kids can afford to stay in college because of the Arkadelphia Promise, and just as importantly, can make the grades to stay in college because of the education we’ve made available to them.”

“The freshman to sophomore college retention rate for AHS graduates is 15 percent better than that of the national average. Our kids can afford to stay in college because of the Arkadelphia Promise, and just as importantly, can make the grades to stay in college because of the education we've made available to them.”
-David Maxwell, AHS Principal

“Our students wouldn’t be able to achieve at this high of a level without the tireless effort of the AHS faculty and the support of our community. It is truly a blessing to be part of a community so dedicated to academics and education,” Maxwell said.

To calculate the Challenge Index for the Washington Post’s rankings, Mathews divides the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or other college-level tests a school administered by the number of graduating seniors. The article states that, while not a measure of the overall quality of the school, the rating can reveal the level of a high school’s commitment to preparing average students for college.

“I designed the list to identify the schools working hardest to challenge average students with Advanced Placement tests, good preparation for both college and the workplace. This is in contrast to the usual ranking of schools by test score averages, which is more of an indication of how affluent the parents are than of how good the school is,” Mathews said.

“I decided not to count passing rates in this way because I found that many high schools kept those rates artificially high by allowing only top students to take the courses. AP… [is] important because they give average students a chance to experience the trauma of heavy college reading lists and long, analytical college examinations. Research has found that even low-performing students who scored a two on an AP test did significantly better in college than similar students who did not take AP,” Mathews said.


APS News
sean.ruggles@arkadelphiaschools.org


Interested in learning more about the Arkadelphia Public Schools? Find us on the webFacebookTwitterissuuVimeo, and YouTube. Graduate to Good Living... We Promise.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Kindergarten Registration

2014-15 kindergarten registration begins Monday, April 7!



2014-15 kindergarten registration will begin Monday, April 7, and continue through Friday, April 11. Students who will be 5 years old on or before August 1, 2014, and will be attending Arkadelphia Schools should register. Please bring the child’s birth record, shot record, and social security card to Perritt Primary between 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. any day that week. At registration you will be given an appointment for your child’s state required screenings to be provided free of charge at Perritt on Wednesday, April 30, 2014.


APS News
sean.ruggles@arkadelphiaschools.org


Interested in learning more about the Arkadelphia Public Schools? Find us on the webFacebookTwitterissuuVimeo, and YouTube. Graduate to Good Living... We Promise.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

27th annual "Just Say No" Walk coming soon!



Perritt Primary's 27th annual "Just Say No!" Walk is Friday, April 11, 2014.

Head Badger Football Coach J.R. Eldridge will be the featured speaker at the rally which begins at 9 A.M. at Perritt Primary School. After the rally, Arkadelphia Police and Clark County Sheriff Jason Watson will lead the parade of students, staff, family & community members to Cornerstone Baptist Church at the intersection of Walnut and 26th streets, where refreshments will be provided by the Farm Bureau Ladies Group.

Perritt's Nickelodeon Choir, AHS's No-Smokemon, Cheerleaders, Barney the Badger, Jazzlers, Jazz Band, HSU Step Dancers, and others will also speak and perform.

Please make plans to be part of this year's event and help teach our community's children the importance of living drug-free.

Perritt Primary School serves PreK-1st grade students in Clark County, Arkansas - Home of the Arkadelphia Promise.


APS News
sean.ruggles@arkadelphiaschools.org


Interested in learning more about the Arkadelphia Public Schools? Find us on the webFacebookTwitterissuuVimeo, and YouTube. Graduate to Good Living... We Promise.