NW Arkansas achievers

— Marlon Blackwell, distinguished professor of architecture at the University of Arkansas’ Fay Jones School of Architecture, has been selected as the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Visiting Professor at the University of Virginia School of Architecture in Charlottesville, Va.

Blackwell will make four trips to Charlottesville as part of the professorship to work with Maurice Cox, an associate professor of architecture at the school. He made his first visit Thursday and Friday and will present a public lecture on April 18.

Ivan Bibiano, Brody Hill and McKenzie Thacker - all students at Washington Junior High School in Bentonville - will have their artwork on display at the Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock during April, May and June as part of the Young Arkansas Artists Exhibit.

Bibiano, an eighth grader, and Thacker, a seventh grader, will both show self-portraits drawn using pencils. Hill, also an eighth grader, will have an acrylic self-portrait on display.

The Governor’s Mansion Association Art Committee, Arkansas first lady Ginger Beebe and several community art leaders chose 40 pieces of art from 365 submitted to be part of the exhibition.

Adam E. Douglas, a graduate student at the University of Arkansas, will have four plays in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival regional competition this week in Amarillo, Texas.

Douglas wrote two one-act plays that will be judged at the event - Oscar Goes To... and Hamlet. His 10-minute plays Forgotten Gifts and The Weird Sisters will be part of the festival’s competition as well.

Douglas grew up in Bentonville and is working towards a Master of Fine Arts degree.

Caroline Chen, Phillip Meeks, Meredith Pitsch and Matt White - all seniors at Southside High School in Fort Smith - have been designated as candidates for the Presidential Scholars Program.

The students are among 45 students named as candidates for the program statewide. One man and one woman from Arkansas will be named National Presidential Scholars and will travel to Washington, D.C., to receive their awards.

The scholarship winners will be announced in May.

Peyton Wilson, a fifth grader at Young Elementary School in Springdale, and Benjy Baugh, a fifth grader at Springdale’s Tyson Elementary School, won Sprout Awards from the Kids Directory of Northwest Arkansas.

Wilson dedicated her seventh and ninth birthday parties to collecting books and crafts for Children’s House instead of receiving gifts for herself. She also created Peyton’s Pals Lemonade and Cookie Stand, which raised $1,700 for the charity.

Baugh worked to earn and save money for a wheelchair for a local resident through the American Wheelchair Mission. He also traveled to Haiti with his brother Baylor and cousin Parker to distribute food, vitamins and school supplies as part of Hope for LaGonave.

Peyton and Benjy are the inaugural winners of the awards.

Calvin Poindexter, a student at Washington Junior High School in Bentonville, has been named a semifinalist in the national VSA art contest for his work Not Real People.

Poindexter is one of four students around the state with an opportunity to be named as a finalist in the competition and travel to Washington, D.C. Winners will be announced in April.

Colleen Adkins, a counselor at Northside High School in Fort Smith, has received the 2011 Southwestern Region Advanced Placement Award for work with the school’s advanced placement program.

In 2010, Northside was recognized for demonstrating the largest gain in students who passed advanced placement exams nationwide.

Northwest Arkansas Achievers is an opportunity to give recognition to those for their achievements.

Civilian and military achievements are accepted. Please follow these guidelines: Achiever(s): 1) Must be an Arkansan or have graduated from a school in Arkansas. 2) Received an award, scholarship, medal or promotion.

Pageants, deans’ lists, graduations or military enlistments aren’t accepted.

No Photographs Please. To submit an Achiever mail information to: Northwest Arkansas Achievers, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Northwest Edition, P.O. Box 7, Springdale, Ark. 72765.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 02/21/2011

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