Student Resources

UCA’s 2017 Miss Essence Scholarship Pageant Crowns Jordan Sanders

The 42nd annual Miss Essence Scholarship Pageant was held on Friday, February 17, 2017, at Reynolds Performance Hall.

missessence1

Since the pageant began in 1975, Students for the Propagation of Black Culture (SPBC) has spearheaded the event. SPBC raises money through several fundraisers throughout the year to fund the pageant. Scholarship money is then awarded to the top three contestants.

missessence3

The theme of this year’s pageant was “When the Clock Strikes 12” and featured many Cinderella elements. The contestants competed in swimwear, talent, and evening wear, and answered an on-stage question.

missessence2

The winner of this year’s pageant was Jordan Sanders. Congratulations Jordan!

Arkansas TRiO Program Selects Student Trey White in Hall of Fame From Upward Bound At UCA

Every year, each Arkansas TRiO program has the opportunity to select one student for inclusion in the Arkansas TRiO Hall of Fame. TRiO programs provide educational opportunities for first-generation, low-income or students with disabilities.

Although individual programs may establish their own criteria to determine their program’s selection, students chosen each embody the spirit of TRiO!

This year, we want to congratulate the 2017 Arkansas TRiO Hall of Fame student selected from Upward Bound at the University of Central Arkansas, Trey White.

bb1

Trey was honored, along with the Hall of Fame students from other TRiO programs across the state, at National TRiO Day held Saturday, March 11, 2017 on the University of Arkansas Community College – Batesville campus.

Trey will be graduating this year from Mayflower High School and plans to attend college at UCA. He wants to pursue a degree in Communications or Political Science.

In Trey’s own words, he writes:

“My name is Trey White. I grew up in Mayflower, Arkansas, and have gone to school there my entire life. I am President of Student Council and Book Club, Vice President of the Senior Class and NHS, and Treasurer of Beta Club. Additionally, I have the special honor of being President of UCA’s Upward Bound.

Upward Bound has meant so much to me. As a ninth grader, I didn’t know what to expect. I did not even understand the intricacies of what choosing a college would be like. Upward Bound has helped me grow and understand what a good college should have and what college matches my interests. I honestly can say Upward Bound has shaped me into the person I am. I feel so prepared for college and do not feel as overwhelmed as some other people I know. Upward Bound has made preparing for college easy.

I have been in Upward Bound for four years and have only missed one Saturday Academy. I genuinely enjoy what the UB experience entails. I have met so many great people and experienced so many great things that without UB, I would not have experienced. I am proud to say that UB has given me such great success in high school and for me, someone who comes from a low-income family where no one has ever gone to college, UB helped me realize a generations-long dream. The Bridge program I will attend this summer is the next step in that dream and the beginning of a new and exciting chapter.”

bb2

Congratulations Trey!

For more information about UCA’s Upward Bound program, visit the Upward Bound website here!

STEM Leadership For Girls Conference At UCA Proves To Be Huge Success

The University of Central Arkansas STEM Institute hosted the STEM Leadership for Girls Conference Wednesday, March 8, which began at 8 a.m. in Brewer-Hegeman Conference Center on the campus.

Girls from high schools in central Arkansas such as Conway, Vilonia, Bigelow and Mayflower attended the event that featured a keynote address from Ark. Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin.

STEM girls — High school students are learning about careers in geology from Arkansas Geological Survey’s Sandra Chandler. “Everything around us comes from something. Most of it comes from the Earth.

There were six workshop sessions going on throughout the day, and each girl attended three sessions based on an interest survey that they completed prior to arrival. The sessions offered will be Geology, Genetics Counseling, Endocrinology, FBI – Evidence Recovery Team, Computer Science (afternoon only), and Nursing (nursing SIM lab in UCA nursing department). Our hope is to expose the girls to STEM careers and to encourage them to pursue jobs in STEM.

stem2 — The Third Annual STEM Leadership for Girls day kicked off with inspiring and encouraging welcoming messages from UCA Associate VP for Communications, Public Relations, and Marketing Christina Muñoz-Madsen.

The goal of the conference was to expose the girls to STEM careers and to encourage them to pursue jobs in STEM.

Lt. Governor Tim Griffin was among the speakers to the girls attending the third annual STEM Leadership for Girls Day event.

The welcome began at 8:20 a.m., which included UCA’s very own Christina Madsen, Lt. Governor Tim Griffin, and representatives from Wal-Mart who will be speaking about Million Women Mentors.

stem3 — Lt. Governor Tim Griffin was among the speakers to the girls attending the third annual STEM Leadership for Girls Day event.

Representatives in STEM fields from Arkansas businesses and organizations such as Acxiom, Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the FBI also hosted learning sessions throughout the day.

Anna Beth Gorman, a representative for Million Women Mentors of Arkansas, spoke to the girls to kick off the day’s events.

stem4 — Anna Beth Gorman, a representative for Million Women Mentors of Arkansas, spoke to the girls to kick off the day’s events.

Attendees learned more about the Million Women Mentors initiative, which supports the engagement of one million STEM mentors to increase the interest and confidence of girls and women to persist and succeed in STEM programs and careers.

For more information about the STEM Leadership for Girls, visit their website.

UCA Senior Psychology Student Accepts Position At Harvard Medical School

Emily Hahn, a senior psychology major graduating this spring, has accepted a position as a Clinical/Computational Research Coordinator in the Division of Neurotherapeutics at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.

Responsibilities for this position include: collecting and analyzing data for fMRI component of closed-loop Deep Brain Stimulation study (funded by Department of Defense) designed to treat a broad range of treatment resistant psychiatric populations.

Congratulations Emily! Go Bears!

Holocaust Survivor Susan Warsinger Shares At UCA Event

UCA was host to the Spring 2017 presentation of “Witness to History: An Evening with Holocaust Survivor Susan Warsinger.”

This year’s event was free and open to the public and was held in the UCA Student Center Ballroom on Monday, March 6, 2017, from 7:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M.

The event was sponsored by UCA Foundation, Inc., UCA Department of Philosophy and Religion, UCA Department of History, UCA College of Liberal Arts, University of Arkansas Community College – Morrilton, and Hot Springs Village, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Jewish Federation of Arkansas

For more information, please contact Phillip Spivey at pspivey@uca.edu or 501-450-3690.

For more information about Susan Warsinger, visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s website.

Main navigation

Student Resources