Faulkenberry celebrates 100
Doris Faulkenberry of Bentonville is celebrating her 100th birthday today. She was born Doris Adele Harrison on March 20, 1914, in Commerce, Texas.
She graduated from high school in Wapanucka, Okla., in 1934, and married Hollis D. Faulkenberry the same year. The couple moved to Coalgate,Okla., where they had two children.
Faulkenberry's daughter, Jo Meda, died in 2004. Her son, Danny Faulkenberry, lives in Bella Vista with his wife, Margaret.
The family moved to Oklahoma City in 1960 and lived there for 22 years before moving back to Coalgate. Hollis Faulkenberry died in 1984.
Faulkenberry moved to Bentonville in 2013 to spend time with her son. She has five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Faulkenberry enjoys reading and sewing.
Pierson tours with choir
Joe Pierson of Van Buren will tour the southwest United States with the Concordia University A Capella Choir this month. The choir is celebrating its 75th anniversary.
Performances will include selections from the ensemble's history along with two songs by school music professor and choir conductor Kurt von Kampen. The choir tours a different region of the country each year and tours internationally, too.
Concordia University is located in Seward, Neb.
College honors Golden Eagle
Raul Najera-Bahena is the February Golden Eagle Award winner at NorthWest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville.
Najera-Bahena is a full-time business student at the college who is active as a student ambassador and on the Activities Board. He has served as a senator in the Student Government Association and has participated in the Honors Program, in Latin Culture Club and in the National Society of Leadership and Success.
He has a 4.0 grade-point average and works full-time.
Fennel cited as leader
Joe Fennel of Bordinos Restaurant & Wine Bar in Fayetteville has been named the Corporate Leadership Circle Sponsor of the Month by the Fayetteville Public Education Foundation.
Ludwig receives award for thesis
Till Ludwig, a graduate of the University of Arkansas' Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, received the 2013 Hans H. Ruthenberg Graduate Award for his master's thesis on food security.
Ludwig received his United States-European Union Atlantis master's degrees in agricultural economics and rural development from the UA and the University of Ghent in Belgium in 2012. His thesis was selected for the award by the Fiat Panis Foundation at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany.
His thesis is called "Impact of Hybrid Rice on Food Security: A Spatial Equilibrium Analysis of Global Adoption and Diffusion of Hybrid Rice Varieties." Ludwig, who is pursuing a doctorate at Humboldt University in Berlin, is currently employed by GIZ in Frankfurt, Germany.
Local students 'Terrific Kids'
Tyson Middle School students Paige Cartwright, Duncan Center, Martin Jeban, Xenia Regalado Garcia, Jada Patenaude, Cheyanne Parrish, Biton Hemos and Cade Myran were recognized as Terrific Kids by the Springdale Kiwanis Club. Terrific Kids are recognized for character development, self-esteem and perseverance.
Owl Creek School fifth graders Fiona Kanani and Makaya Ward were named Kiwanis Terrific Kids for the month of January by the Fayetteville Metro Kiwanis Club.
w/mugs of Peer, Tholen and Schwartz
Students participate in STEM event
Cassie Peer of Fort Smith, a former University of Arkansas at Fort Smith student, and current UA Fort Smith students Daniel Schwartz, also of Fort Smith, and Alice Tholen of Edmond, Okla., recently participated in the 2014 STEM Posters at the Capitol event in Little Rock.
The event provided an opportunity for science, technology, engineering and mathematics students from across the state to talk about their work with state officials, the media, each other and the public.
Peer won the Outstanding Research Award in Mathematics from UA Fort Smith last year. Her research focused on theoretical mathematics and conformal mapping.
She is currently a math teacher at Darby Junior High School in Fort Smith.
Schwartz is a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering. He contributed to the Mars Rover Project by programming the microcontroller that controls the rover's movements.
His project was funded by the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium Collaborative Research Program.
Tholen will graduate in May with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering as part of a dual program between UA Fort Smith and the UA-Fayetteville campus. Her research focuses on nanoparticles.
UA students win first prize
A team of students from the University of Arkansas department of horticulture recently won first prize at the Southern Region of the American Society for Horticulture Science meeting.
Graduate student Derek Barchenger won first place in the graduate student oral and poster presentation competition. The undergraduate team of Megan Lankford, Leah Malvar, Jack McCoy and Amon Ibrahim won first place in the commodity juding competition.
Lankford was also elected to serve as a representative to the Associated Collegiate Branch of the American Society for Horticulture Studies.
w/mug of VanDyke
Literary magazine wins journal contest
Applause, the literary magazine of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, placed first in the Southern Literary Festival's journal competition.
UA Fort Smith student Tim VanDyke of Alma also received second prize for his poem "Riff on Brathwaite's 'Bread.'" He will read his poem at the festival, set for March 27-29 in Oxford, Miss., and receive a check and certificate.
The magazine's editor, Rhiannon Corley of Fort Smith, will also be on hand to accept the magazine's award.
Selections for the publication are chosen by staff and, then, reviewed by faculty judges. Winning essays, short stories and poems from this year's magazine contest will be published in the 2014 edition, and first-place winners will receive a $50 check.
Lindsay Miranda of Cedarville took first prize in the formal essay contest for "Alexander Pope, a Political Poet." Second place went to Staci Miller of Van Buren for "Jay Gatsby and the Nostalgia That Kills."
Jessica B. Weisenfels of Alma earned top honors in the short story category for "The Prize Fighter" and second prize for "The Usage of the Outside Couch."
Miller won first place in the poetry category for "Lizzie Dear," and VanDyke's poem took second place honors.
Send information about birthdays, honors and reunions to [email protected], [email protected] or Northwest Arkansas Achievers, P.O. Box 7, Springdale, AR 72765.
NAN Our Town on 03/20/2014