Mena School District

Norah Williams won the top prize today at the Arkansas Young Playwright Competition as Best Playwright! Eric Decker was honored with one of the two Best Actor Awards and Anna Burt was one of two Honorable Mentions! We are super proud of these students! All of them that brought Norah’s play Night Off to life for the judges. We have not won the top playwright award since 2014 when Hannah Lochala and Madi Sherrer brought home the prize. We always have great plays and actors, and it is great to be involved in this competition each year.

Mena Soccer played Nashville on Friday at Bob Carver Bearcat Stadium. Bearcats-0 (2-4-1) Nashville-4 The Bearcats play next on Monday @ Magnolia.

Mena Soccer played Nashville on Friday at Bob Carver Bearcat Stadium. Ladycats-3 (6-1-1) Nashville-0 The Ladycats play next on Monday @ Magnolia.

In honor of Earth Day this month, 5th grade picked up trash and cleaned!

The following Mena Middle School students finally received their FBLA District I plaques and certificates on Wednesday for placing 1st place in their district competitions. Super proud of these guys! Atticus Ryan - 1st place in the 1 minute timed typing test Rayden Lopez - 1st place in the 3 minute timed test

Mena Middle Schhol FBLA attended the State Leadership Conference on Wednesday. Francesca Vacca competed in the FBLA Concepts competition. She placed 4th overall in the state and qualified to compete at Nationals this summer in Anaheim, California.

We Read Wednesday 📚 The Mena library media specialists hosted a literacy professional development for all of the media specialists in the Dequeen-Mena Co-Op. Librarians are the heart of schools that promote literacy and reading. We ❤️ reading!

Congratulations to the Mena High School Band. The band received an overall rating of 1st division superior at Region Concert and Sightreading Assessment. These ratings combined with the marching band ratings make the Mena High School Band a Sweepstakes band for the 2025 school year.

National Honor Society juniors voted for officers on Wednesday. Congratulations to the 2025-2026 officers! President - Kate Wilson Vice President - Jackson Thompson Secretary - Chloe Hooper Treasurer - Anabelle Peters Historian - Chloe Stepp

Skylar Bahr finished high point for the girls and Bentley Brewer finished high point for the boys at the Waldron 7th Grade Relays on Tuesday. The Bearcats finished won the meet and the Ladycats finished 3rd. See the complete results when posted at the link below. https://ar.milesplit.com/meets/653968-waldron-7th-grade-bulldog-relays-2025/results

Mena High School FBLA has been in Little Rock at the State Leadership Conference. Students that attended qualified on the district level to move on or chose state only events. Several groups took an objective test to qualify to present and others have worked on presentations for months. Many students stepped out of their comfort zone to do speaking events and they all did so well! I have had comments from judges and advisors about how good our kiddos did on their presentations. Today we find out who will have the opportunity to compete one more time at Nationals in Anaheim . Good luck to all of them! No matter what, you have represented our school, our chapter and yourselves well National qualifiers from MHS are….. 1st Place Broadcast Journalism Jayden Cox Addison Thomas Isabel Vacca 1st Place Mobile App Development Zach Sweet 2nd Place Business Plan Hunter Cannon Reese Montgomery Kate Wilson 2nd Place Intro to Business Concepts Ailiyah McEntire 3rd Place Business Management Bryant Thomas Auden Woods WE ARE HEADED TO ANAHEIM!!!!!

Ladycat Softball run rules Ozark. Mena Ladycats-10 (8-2) Ozark-0 Mena is back in action on Thursday when they play Nashville at Union Bank Park.

On Friday, Mena Middle School participated in the UARM Science Fair. Our students had a wonderful time interacting with area participants, judges, and members of the community about their science projects. Thank you UARM for hosting this event. We are looking forward to seeing you next year! Middle School division winners are as follows: 1st place—Annabelle Sprague 2nd place—Jack Parsons 3rd place— tie Tuck Sterner and William McDonald

Mrs. Montgomery’s Club has some Lexia SuperStars Leveling up!

Eight female scholars from Mena Middle School attended the Girls of Promise STEAM conference Friday, April 4th. These young ladies had the opportunity to network with other young STEAM scholars, meet Professional Women in STEAM fields, experiment and create in workshops and enjoy all the Arkansas 4-H Center has to offer. Students in attendance were Avery Cox, Roxanne Ezell, Kenley Cochran, Linda Maechler, Brandi Miller, Kinley Cox, Haidyn Valdovinos, and Raelyn Ashcraft. Teacher chaperones were CTE Teachers; Sarah Billings and Lauren Frost.

Southwest EMS recently trained Mrs. Wilson’s FACS classes for CPR certification. Shane Rowe discussed careers related to the medical field, specifically EMT’s and Paramedics and discussed the importance of saving people’s lives through learning CPR and related skills.

On Wednesday, April 2nd, 100 senior Bearcats from Mena High School took part in the Career Connect Event at UA Rich Mountain’s Ouachita Center. This event was a collaborative effort with Acorn High School, Cossatot River High School, and Oden High School, bringing together a total of 181 seniors from across the region. Career Connect is a reverse career fair opportunity in which our Senior Bearcats prepared an elevator pitch and resume which they presented to local and state business representatives. The elevator pitch is a short 1-3 minute speech in which they introduce themselves, state their career objective as well as educational goals to a prospective employer. The resume is a professional resume they provided to interested business members. There were approximately 30 area businesses, including 55 business representatives, that interacted with our students by interviewing them for prospective jobs. While some students connected with a prospective employer, the event allowed every student to practice skills such as interview preparation, communication skills, interview skills, and connecting with caring adults in our business community. Every opportunity a student has to engage with adults within their community is an opportunity to build confidence in themselves, make connections for future employment opportunities, and create within the student a deeper feeling of belonging and connectedness to their community. We greatly appreciate the positive responses from community members concerning the professionalism, preparedness, and excellence of our students. We are proud of our Bearcats as they prepare for their NEXT and their dedication to being work ready as they confidently join our community. A special word of appreciation to all of the MPS faculty and staff who have helped prepare our students for their NEXT, as well as the support staff who feed, transport, prepare facilities and clean up after all of our students' events.

The 7th-8th grade Mena Middle School Theatre Class performed "Julius Caesar" on Thursday in the Performing Arts Center. Students participating include: Julius Caesar- Tanner Cobb Calpurnia- Kaiden Brandenburg Mark Antony - Easton Schoeppey Ocatvius - Wyatt Newbolt Brutus- Ashton Loyd Cassius- Angelina Wisnoski Cinna - Jayden Bishop Decius - Camren Edwards Casca - Avery Smedley Portia- May Yates Pindarus - Charles McKee Lucius- Briahna Ramzy Pompey- Maddison Farriell Narrators - Hadassah Torres, Kloe Phillips Soothsayer- Ryleigh Brandenburg, Kerry Irons Cinna The Poet- Madison Hexamer Caesar´s Ghost- Tanner Cobb Townsfolk- Logan Winger, Natalee Watts, Roxie Ezell, Maddison Farriell, Ryleigh Brandenburg, Kerry Irons Henchmen- Logan Winger, Natalee Watts Lights- Nevaeh Ray Projections - Halia Peterson Sound - Emily Pilgrim

This was our first year to have Technology Student Association at Mena High School. Mrs. Titsworth took 3 teams and 2 non-competing members to the TSA State Competition on Wednesday. Those attending included: Eli Swall Zach Sweet Adam Hughes Nathaniel Needham Briley Parker MK Poo-ai Elijah Smith Yennyte Tecson Vaughn Vacca Two teams made the top 3! Board Game Design Team: Briley Parker & Yennyte Tecson - 3rd place Promotional Design Competitor: MK Poo-ai - 1st place

Arkansas Children’s Hospital delivered an informative presentation on ATV safety to students recently. As part of the event, several lucky students won a drawing and received custom ATV helmets, goggles, and gloves.