Mena School District

4A Dual State @ Jim Rackley Gymnasium 1/22/26!

The Mena Bearcats went against Gravette in the first round &
lost a nail biter 36-37.

One of the best ways to discover new favorite books is through recommendations—and that’s why we LOVE We Recommend Wednesday! 📚
This week’s We Recommend Wednesday features First Grade student Violet Ward! 📚📚
Violet from Mrs. Sawyer’s First Grade class loves visiting the library throughout the week, where she enjoys discovering new characters and stories.
She LOVES books and was so excited to recommend all the books in the Pig The Pug Series by Aaron Blabey.
“I love all of the books in the Pig The Pug Series! He is so much fun and always makes me laugh.”~Violet
Stop by the LD Library to grab any of the books in this fun series and discover so many other amazing books!

The HHE Teammate Award winners are Parker Marshall, Travis Epperson, Lila Garrett, Kyleigh Gonzales, and Rafaella Woods. They demonstrated a positive attitude, reliability, helpfulness, and a willingness to learn.

Mena FCCLA attended Region 5 STAR Events and Leadership Conference in Hope, AR.
Students Advancing to FCCLA State STAR Events Are:
MMS CHAPTER: Level 1
Raul Toribio - Career Investigations
Cord Gibbs - Entrepreneurship
Prachi Desai, Zallie Evans, & Shaelynn Manning - Event Management
Averie Martin & Jenna Williams - Focus on Children
Harper Bentley & Macy Herod - Food Innovations
Macy Flores & Avori Gortemiller - Hospitality, Tourism & Recreation
Brent Epperson - Leadership
Alida Newbolt & Remi Olsen - National Programs in Action
Addison Emmitte - Public Policy Advocate
Camilla Ashcraft, Hollie Hamilton & Briggs Robertson - Repurpose and Redesign
Emma Butterfield - Say Yes to FCS
Paul Holliday, Easton Johnson & Brady Jones - Sports Nutrition
Melanie Cude, Serenity Hogan & Dane Palmer - Sustainability Challenge
MHS CHAPTER: Level 2
Raelynn Ashcraft, Kenley Cochran & Brandi Miller - Chapter Service Portfolio
Lainey Smart - Food Innovation
Lily Kate Doughty, Sophia Cummings & Zahra Sofi - Hospitality, Tourism & Recreation
Barrett Frost - Repurpose & Redesign
Kinsey Mullen - Public Policy Advocate
Mckenna Nottke & Camryn Stepp - Professional Presentation
Please congratulate these students on their achievements if you see them this week around campus! We are so proud of them and their accomplishments!

Congratulations to Mena High School Senior Naveli Pinon for receiving a scholarship for $5,000.00 per year to play the flute in the band at Henderson State University.

Mena Bearcats competed at the Hatcher Bruins Invitational today and did great!
Our wrestlers competed against 4A, 5A, & 6A from much bigger schools and earned 5th place as a team out of 16 other school!
Very proud of ALL our wrestlers today
Results are as follows
106 Braxton Barker 🥈
120 Tycen Baber 🥉
132 Auden Woods 🥉
144 Andrew Threlkeld 🥈
144 Tripp Hensley 🥉
150 Chance Hughes 🥉
175 Jace Hankammer 🥈
215 Guice Anderson 🥉
Great job to them all!

The Mena Ladycats and Bearcats played Waldron on Friday night in Jim Rackley Gymnasium.
Ladycats-32 (16-4/1-2)
Waldron-42
Bearcats-60 (12-11/2-1)
Waldron-57 ot
The teams are bac in action on Tuesday when they play Dardanelle at the Union Bank Center.

Mrs. Ford’s and Mrs. Parsons’ 2nd Nine Weeks AR Goal Getters!!

Congratulations to the 2026 King of Hearts candidates! The King of Hearts pep rally is Friday, January 30th at 1:15pm.
From left to right:
Adam Hughes, Max Rocha, Grayson Farringer, Tripp Hensley, Guice Anderson, Ryder House, Levi Neufeld, Tucker Stricklin, Jackson Thompson, and Beck Vacca

The Senior High Ladycat Basketball team not only succeeded on the court during the fall semester, but also in the classroom. They held a team GPA of 3.96 .

The Senior High Bearcat Basketball team not only succeeded on the court during the fall semester, but also in the classroom. They held a team GPA of 3.815.

The Mena High School Spotlight Singers not only performed on stage during the fall semester, but also in the classroom. They held a combined GPA of 3.78.

The Senior High Ladycat Volleyball team not only succeeds on the court during the fall semester, but also in the classroom. They held a team GPA of 3.825. Outstanding job, Ladycats!!

High School Band All Region Auditions were held at at Fort Smith Southside on Saturday.

Our kindergarten class is excited to begin working with number bonds! Students are having fun composing and decomposing numbers as they build strong math skills.

Mena Computer Science Students participated in a Capture The Flag event on Thursday at the DeQueen Mena Education Service Cooperative. CTF events are cybersecurity competitions where participants solve challenges in areas like web security, cryptography, and reverse engineering to find hidden "flags" for points.
Congratulations to MMS students Jocelyn Bates, Zach Horn, Levi Lawrence, and Jack Parsons, who placed 3rd overall! We are proud of your hard work and problem-solving skills.

A recruiter from the Marine Corp was on campus at Mena High School on Thursday. Students were allowed to test their strength and stamina on his pull up bar in the cafeteria.

Battle at the Hensley Activity Center!

We recommend Wednesday: Brantley, one of our 6th grade students, likes romance, but she also likes a little bit of sport related books. This book, Takedown, is her favorite. It includes wrestling and a little bit of a love hate relationship. Come check it out!