Mena School District

Ladycat Soccer played their home opener on Friday at Bob Carver Bearcat Stadium. Ladycats-6 (1-1) Danville-0 Mena is back in action on Tuesday against Heavener at BCBS.

Mena Theatre students performed "12 Incompetent Jurors" for 11th Grade English, 12th Grade English, AP Language & Literature as well as Business Law classes on Friday. Those participating in the production include Ella Ballew Lilly Davidson Nevaeh Day Ryker Erickson Andrew Gomez Conner Lafollette Gabriel Lawrence Stori Margraff Jonathan McClure Trent Moore Nayeli Pinon Hailee Pullen Jayden Scott Ashleigh Townsend Norah Williams

Congratulations to Mena High School Senior Abi Koppein for racking up a career milestone with her 400th career strikeout during Tuesdays softball game. Abi and the Ladycats are back in action Thursday at Nashville.

The Holly Harshman Elementary teachers and staff love reading, book talks, and sharing many of their favorite titles with you. 4th grade Science teacher, Mrs. Sterner, recently decided to give a new genre a try! She had always believed that she would never like a mystery book until her friends kept suggesting great books! After reading one, she read another, and then another, and now she has found a new favorite genre! She wants to encourage those who are struggling to find a good book, to “think about trying something different!” Which new genre would you like to try?

We Read Wednesday: Levi is a frequent visitor in our library. He is a reader! He enjoys science fiction and his favorite book is The Big Book of Monsters by Hal Johnson. This is a nonfiction book with information about movie/classic book monsters. We love that our students have a variety of interests!

The best way to find new favorite books to read is by book suggestions and thats why we LOVE We Read Wednesday! 📚 We Read Wednesday is so much fun because we get to share all of our favorite books! 🎉 The Faculty and Staff at Louise Durham love books, reading and talking about all their favorite stories! Meet Shelby Williams. She teaches Kindergarten. Mrs. Williams brings love and excitement about books and reading into her classroom! She loves surrounding her students with lots of books and creating connections and excitement through her read alouds! “ I enjoy reading "Llama Llama Red Pajama" to my children because it teaches them the valuable lesson of being patient. The story follows Baby Llama as he gets anxious waiting for his mama to come back after bedtime, which is something many kids can relate to. My children learn that sometimes they need to wait calmly and trust that their parents will always be there for them, even if they can't be right by their side immediately. This lesson in patience is important for their growth and helps them handle similar situations in real life.” Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney Check it out in our school library!

And another round of applause for Spotlight Singers. They achieved a Division I rating and will be going on to compete at State CPA in April. Thank you for your hard work and commitment to your choir. Congrats Spotlight!

We are ao very proud of our Second Grade students who competed at the Battle of the Books Competition at the Dequeen Mena Co-Op. These students read a lot of great books, worked as a team and had so much fun! Good job Second Grade ! You represented Mena Public Schools so well.

Post season honors have been released for Mena Ladycat Basketball. All Conference Chloe Hooper Kate Wilson Isabel Cross All Conference Honorable Mention Laney Gilchrist Elliott Dugan Isabel Cross was also nominated for the All-Star Team.

Mena Jr. High Track competed at the DeQueen Cub Relays on Tuesday. The Jr. Ladycats finished 2nd as a team and the Jr. Bearcats finished in 5th place. Brynlee Bahr won the Pole Vault, Blayden West won the 200 Meter Dash & Bentley Brewer won the 300 Meter Hurdles. You can view complete results at the link below. https://ar.milesplit.com/meets/651615-de-queen-cub-relays-meet-is-full-2025/results

Theatre Arts II students performed "10 Reasons You Should Have Stayed Home Sick" for 6th grade English classes on Tuesday. Key roles in the production were played by: Nevaeh Baldwin Megan Lee Finleigh Robertson Carolina Romine Payton Rose Kenny Thomlison Olivia Vanarsdale

A Big Congratulations to our First Grade Battle of the Books teams who competed at the Dequeen Mena Co-op and came home with a 2nd Place Win! 🎉🏆📚 We are so very proud of each of you!! These girls read lots of books, learned to look for key details in stories to better understand what they were reading, saw the importance of team work and had fun all along the way!! Good job First Grade! You represented Mena Public Schools so well!!

The 2024-2025 wrestling season came to an end at the State Tournament on Saturday. The Ladycats had four All Region Wrestlers Lanie Taylor Paisley Burger Sydney Jones Evergrace Anderson The Bearcats had 11 All Region Wrestlers & 2 All State Wrestlers. Wyatt Head Cody Short Andrew Threlkeld Auden Woods Tripp Hensley (all state) Chance Hughes Beck Vacca Jace Hankammer Brody Peters Guice Anderson (all state) Carter Cossey The Bearcats finished as Back to Back Regional Champs! & 6th at the State Tournament! A special thanks to our volunteer coaches Sheriff Scott Sawyer & Cody Woods for spending so much time and energy into our kids.

Congratulations to Mena High School Junior Tripp Hensley on his 3rd Place finish in the 144 pound weight class and Guice Anderson on his 4th Place finish in the 190 pound weight class on Saturday at the 4A State Wrestling Tournament in Little Rock.

“Alone We Can Do So Little, Together We Can Do So Much!”❤️📚 Thank you Sheila L Graves for working with our Battle of the Books students! Your love for books , reading and your dedication to helping our students grow is greatly appreciated!!

The Mena Bearcats kicked off the 2025 baseball season with a win at Union Bank Park on Thursday. Bearcats-12 (1-0) Subiaco-2 Mena is back in action on Monday at Fort Smith Northside.

Congratulations to Robbie! He joined the 💯 point club today!

📚 We Read Wednesday is so much fun because we get to share all of our favorite books! 🎉 The Faculty and Staff at Louise Durham love books, reading and talking about all their favorite stories! Meet Mrs. Taylor. She teaches and supports students Kindergarten-Second Grade. She works to model her love of books and reading with the students at Louise Durham as they are growing as readers everyday! “I fell in love with Corduroy when my girls were little. Before my oldest knew how to read, she memorized all the words and would read it to me. 🥰 Corduroy teaches us to look beyond appearances and to remember the importance of friendship.” 📚~Mrs. Taylor Corduroy by Dr Don Freeman Check it out in our school library!

The Holly Harshman Elementary teachers and staff love reading, book talks, and sharing many of their favorite titles with you. The HHE Principal, Tamara Smart, has chosen one of her all- time favorite read-alouds she loved sharing with her students when she was a teacher here at HHE (yes, she used to be a teacher! 😀)-The Naked Mole-Rat Letters written by Mary Amato. “The Naked Mole Rat Letters by Mary Amato is about a 12-year-old girl named Frankie who discovers that her dad is emailing a zookeeper named Ayanna. Worried that this could mean big changes for her family, Frankie starts replying to the emails herself—without her dad knowing—trying to push Ayanna away. As the story unfolds, Frankie learns some important lessons about honesty, growing up, and the unexpected ways people can connect. It’s funny, heartfelt, and full of quirky moments (yes, including actual naked mole rats). Check out this wonderful book at your school library!

The Polk County Spelling Bee was held on Wednesday. Congratulations to Rhythm McMellon for his 3rd place finish in 1st grade.