There were 235 Bryant High School students who registered to donate blood in a drive sponsored by the high school Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) and the American Red Cross.

According to Red Cross representative Randy Stribling, that number of volunteers is the highest of any high school in the state this year. Although some students were turned away due to stringent medical requirements and time constraints, Bryant volunteers were still able to donate 102 units, equivalent to 1,632 ounces, of blood.

By Rob Patrick

As it turns out, the Bryant High School athletes will continue to compete in the Central Conference after this year.

As part of the usual two-year cycle re-alignment by the Arkansas Activities Association, Bryant had been assigned to the South Conference in a move that mixed Class 7A and Class 6A schools in hopes of saving travel costs.

Of course, even that re-alignment saved some teams travel while increasing others so there was a lot of dissatisfaction expressed about the plan. As it turned out, the schools that would most benefit from the cut-down in travel were those in Little Rock (Hall and Parkview, moving from the East to the Central, and Fair, moving from the South to the Central).

By Rob Patrick

On Tuesday, May 12, Bryant's Christen Kirchner made a formal commitment to a great adventure.

It's no surprise that one of the best softball players in the high school ranks in Arkansas accepted an offer to continue her career and education in college. The adventure involves where she will headed.

Kirchner is headed to New York City.

Actually, it's a suburb of the Big Apple, Orangeville, N.Y., where Dominican College is located, just 25 miles from Times Square.

By Rob Patrick

It wasn't too long ago, says Sarah Hart, that she was a benchwarmer on her summer softball teams.

But she's obviously come a long way since then because, on Tuesday, May 12, she signed a letter of intent to continue her career under scholarship at Lyon College in Batesville.

High school, and particularly her head coach Lisa Stanfield, changed things for Hart.

Congratulations to these yearbook, newspaper and literary magazine students for these 119 awards won Thursday and Friday at the Arkansas Scholastic Press Association Convention in Little Rock.

Top awards in state:

Randy Rutherford – Administrator of the Year

Veronica Heatherly – Designer of the Year

Austin Esry – Runner up to Designer of the Year

Caitlynn Kimbrough – first runner up to Business Manager of the Year

Courtney Taylor — second runner up the Writer of the Year

Kelsey Kehrees – Photojournalist of the Year

Wil Chandler – First Runner up to Photojournalist of the Year

Monica Kuykendall – Second Runner up to Photojournalist of the Year

Courtney Taylor – third place for JEA Journalist of the Year

Members of the 2009-2010 Bryant Varsity Dance Team are, front from left, Captain MacKenzie Cole, Captain Katy Mozisek, Captain Cara Prichard; middle row, Katherine Kordsmeier, Lauren Penfield, Jennifer Bull, Amy Whitt, Erica Reeves, Samantha Sanders, Mariah McElroy, Erin Moser, Betsy Browning, Aimee Tedford; back row, Oliva Lovell, Brooke Kenney, Shelby Ellison, Morganne Gillespie, Aaryn Murdock, Callie Akers, Katy McCreight, Paige Farnam and Coach Laura Wooten.

The team's new members were chosen on March 19, and, since then, these young ladies have been working hard to prepare for dance camp at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, to be held June 3-6.

In addition, the team has participated in several community service events, such as volunteering to help with the Miracle League and Relay for Life.

The Bryant Varsity Dance team is six-time State Dance Champions and were 2009 National Finalists in hip hop and pom.

Several Bryant High School DECA students competed recently at the Arkansas State DECA competition and qualified to go to Nationals by playing in the top three in their respective divisions.According to sponsor Alena McNew, those students have the opportunity to represent Bryant High and their state at the ICDC (International Career Development Conference) in Anaheim, Calif., from April 28 to May 2, 2009.

“We are attempting to raise money in order to attend this conference and compete,” McNew said. “Any funds would be greatly appreciated.”

For more information, contact McNew at amcnew@bryantschools.org or call (501)-633-5339.

At the state competition, Bryant students competed in Automotive Services, Accounting Applications, Business Services, and Internet Marketing.

McNew said that DECA is an organization that seeks to provide an interactive, hands-on learning environment for Marketing students. It places students in positions of responsibility for management and operations.

“We provide an opportunity for students to learn entrpeneurial and retail skills, group problem-solving, and effective decision making,” she added. “We encourage creativity and innovation and help students learn a broad range of academic and career-oriented skills. We provide an opportunity for students to learn about a number of aspects of the business, not just the specifics of a particular job within that business.”

FAYETTEVILLE — The Bryant Lady Hornet track team kicked off their 2009 season Saturday at the ATCA Indoor Track Invitational held at the Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville.

The short-handed Lady Hornets scored 19 points to finish eighth in the team competition. Bentonville won the meet with 127 points, followed by Mansfield with 87, and then Fayetteville with 81 points. There were 23 teams in the meet.

Two Lady Hornets’ relay teams turned in third-place finishes.

In the 4x800, Mikayla Speake, Dylan Vail, Kayla Randolph and Stacy Emmerling combined on a time of 10:42.27.Speake, Kiana Thomas, Lacie Raney and Vail teamed up for a 4:31.7 in the 4x400 to earn third-place points.

Kayla Davidson’s throw of 31’2” garnered a fifth-place finish in the shot while Ashley Petz covered 15’4” in the long jump to take seventh.

Speake added an eighth-place finish in the 800 meter run, timing out at 2:39.1.

“I was really proud of all our girls who competed,” commented Lady Hornets coach Danny Westbrook. “We had several girls missing. Some team members were taking the ACT test and we also have several team members who are cheerleaders. The cheerleaders were in Orlando for the national competition.

“I truly believe at the state meet in three weeks when we have our full team competing, we will be able to score a lot more points,” Westbrook concluded.