Mena Middle School

The History of Mena Public Schools Part 3: In September 1907, Louise Durham became principal of Southside School. The school population had continued to increase and Mrs. Mershon’s primary enrollment of 113 was exceeded by Miss Durham’s room enrollment of 125. Some years later, when Mrs. Mershon and Miss Durham were reflecting back on their years of heavy enrollment they asked, “How did we ever manage it?” One replied in the familiar saying of a Polk County pioneer, “If en we hatter… we hatter.” Fortunately the pupils seemed most eager to learn and there were very few distractions to interfere with the school life. The home, the school, and the church were the three institutions that most influenced a child’s life. Besides a place of learning, the school was also a place for satisfying their cravings for social life and recreation. The Southside School had a baseball team of which it was justly proud. The team sometimes played inter-school games with the fifth and sixth grades of Central School, the Lutheran School, and St. Joseph’s Academy. Usually the Southside team was the winning team. County school fairs were popular from 1907 until 1920. By 1908 there were 1200 school children in the three wards and it became necessary to plan for a separate building for high school students. In 1908 Mena graduated four students, all female. In 1909 the first unit of the high school building had been erected. It was built on the corner of Magnolia Avenue and Eleventh Street at a cost of $12,000. The superintendent was W. T. Adams. It was during this school year that the school paper, “The High School Yell” made its first appearance. Dorothy Shaver was editor-in-chief. The “Yell” was published for a number of years and often contained articles and poems of real merit and special interest to the student body. The class of 1909 was also all young ladies. The ten graduating members of the class received their diplomas at the Opera House. An admission of .25 cents was charged to attend the graduation exercises in order to help pay for class expenses. The first football game was played in 1912. In the game the Bearcats played DeQueen. DeQueen won by a score of 20-6. There were only thirteen boys on the Mena squad. Additionally, only two boys had ever even seen a game. One eyewitness said, “The small squad made up for lack of knowledge by rough play.” The high school did not have electric lights until the class of 1914 had lights installed as their graduation gift back to the school. Check out Part 4 next Wednesday.

The MMS STEM Daily Challenge Summer Camp ! Up, Up, and Away!! Day two= success!! Our hard work paid off and every hot air balloon rose into the air!

The Mena Jr. Girls wrapped up the Harding Team Camp on Tuesday. Coach Goss said, "I saw tons of improvement and I'm very proud of their effort these 3 days."

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The MMS STEM Daily Challenge Summer Camp is underway ! Todays Challenge: Up, Up, and Away! Students are challenged to create a hot air balloon using only a few resources. So far, they’re looking great!! But, our objective is to see if we can create a hot air balloon that will rise with less dense hot air. Tune in tomorrow to see our results!!

MENA GOLF,BASEBALL, SOFTBALL & TRACK ON THE MOVE FOR 22-24 CYCLE. Conference alignments have been approved by the Arkansas Activities Association board of directors for tennis, golf, baseball, softball, track & field and soccer for the 2022-24 competition cycle. Baseball, softball, soccer and track & field conferences are tentative as spring sports have until Dec. 1 to declare. It was announced previously that Mena basketball would be moving to the 4A-4 as well & Mena football will be moving to the 4A-7.... Schedules for 2022-2023 are available on the website https://www.menaschools.org/o/athletics/athletics

The Mena Jr. and Sr. Girls are at the Harding Basketball Team Camp this week !!!

Rich Mountain seems to be smiling about the sunny skies in this picture from the Mena Schools Weather Camera on Thursday. We're sure the crew working on the turf at Bob Carver Bearcat Stadium are pleased as well... Remember that BCBS remains closed to the public for the next several weeks. Follow the link to the weather cam 24 hours a day. https://www.weatherbug.com/weather-camera/?cam=MNHCK

The Whitt & Watkins Basketball Academy began on Thursday at the Union Bank Center. The morning session is for 1st-8th grades & the afternoon session is for 9th-12th grades. It continues on Friday & Saturday. GO BEARCATS !!!

Mena leaders are attending training with the DeQueen Mena Education Service Cooperative at Degray State Park this week. Administrators from schools across the DMESC area are attending.

Mena teachers are already learning new skills to help with engaging lessons. Tuesday at HHE they were participating in Summer PD learning how to use new technology… BenQ interactive panels have been installed & will help teachers interact with students.

The history of Mena Public Schools! Part 2: In 1901 the schools were under the supervision of S. H. Allen a graduate of Ouachita College. Mena had made such rapid progress by this time that they had built and furnished three buildings containing eight large rooms of the common school grades. Central School was built in 1904. This two story red brick building was erected on the site where the First Baptist Church is now located. There were eight classrooms and one teacher for each grade first through eighth. There were times when enrollment in each room might reach 55 or 60 students for each teacher. A high wire fence was stretched from the front porch to Port Arthur Avenue to separate the girls on one side toward the library and the boys on the ninth street side. In each room was a large stove. The custodian really had to get up early to start eight separate fires and keep two full coal buckets in each of the rooms. He would go around sometimes three times a day to put the coal in the stoves. Only occasionally did the teacher have to perform this task. All the school children were suppose to bring a cup from home since the Janssen Park Spring was the only source of drinking water. Paper cups had not been introduced as yet. Teachers had spring duty in those days. The children went by rooms to the park to get water three times a day. The children did not take the drinking cups home. It was thought that the construction of the Central School would accommodate the school population for some time to come, but by 1905 it was necessary to provide other facilities as those housing the school population of the new boom-town of Mena were greatly over-worked. The first buildings that had been erected for school purposes were bulging with children. To provide further housing facilities, the Southside Ward School was built. This was a neat frame building of two rooms. At this time the late and much beloved Prof. W. T. Adams had supervision of the schools. He was untiring in his efforts to build up the city schools. Mrs. Ruby Grant was the first principal of the new school. Miss Mable Adams, now Mrs. John Mershon, was the primary teacher. Mrs. John Mershon had a room enrollment of 113 pupils. The town of Mena continued to grow rapidly and by 1907 it was necessary to add another room to the Ward building. Check bac next Wednesday for part 3!

Mena teachers are already earning professional development hours at the DeQueen/Mena Education Service Cooperative. Today exploring the latest Google Classroom updates, new features, and tips they can use for a more effective and efficient classroom.

The Mena Jr. Bearcats had a great time at the Harding Camp !

This past Friday the Mena FFA Jr. Trap team competed in the state tournament in Jacksonville! Team members competed in the second flight of the morning. However, the other squad in our bracket had our number on Friday and the team was knocked out in the first round. For first year shooters this was a great first year! These five will be able to compete in the fall at the FFA shoot in November and in the spring they will move to the senior division. Congratulations on a great first year! Team Members: Drake Dollar-Captain Dax McMellon Grayson Farringer Sean Maechler Waylon Head

The Mena Jr. High Cheerleaders attended camp at Hendrix this week. They worked on many skills and made many improvements. They have worked so hard and it has paid off! Five girls were nominated for All American Cheerleader: Chloe Cossey Bre Crider Rayleigh Goodnight Trinity Aviles Lily Kate Doughty. As a team Mena earned most improved, a stunt safe award, a bid to Nationals, a spirit stick, and 1st place for the Jr High Band Chant!

Mena Public Schools will offer breakfast and/or lunch to anyone 18 and under free of charge beginning June 6th,2022 through June 30th 2022. Locations are: Louise Durham Elementary 106 N. Reine in Mena on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Mena Middle School, 700 S Morrow St. Monday -Thursday. Times are 8:00am to 8:30am for breakfast, 12:00pm to 12:30pm for lunch.

The Mena Public Schools Year End Celebration was held on Tuesday in the Performing Arts Center. A number of employees were recognized for their years of service. 1 YEAR MADYSON BIRTCHER JAMIE GROGAN WANALYNN ALEXANDER JORDAN BAILEY REAGAN BLACK ALEXA BREWER BRIANNE BURFORD CHRISTIE CHANDLER VINCENT COLEMAN LANA COOGAN HANNAH CRAFTON SHANDA CRAIG CARRI CRANFORD AUDRA CUMMINGS SHELBY GARCIA ERIN GRANT LEANNA HARPER JESSICA HUGHES AMBER LABERTEW SHANNON LYLE KRISTEN MANASCO MALLORY MCCONNELL CHERISH MICHAEL ABBY MINTON ISAAC MINTON REAGAN PETERS ASHLKEY PREGON JAQUELINE REDFEARN LISA ROBERTS KRISTI SCHULLER AILEEN SIRKIS KATHRYN SMITH ABIGAIL TILLEY TIMOTHY WALSTON COURTNEY WARREN ERIKA WILLIAMS BRIANNA PETERS LIBERTY JACOT 5 YEAR SARAH BILLINGS RACHEL CARTER DANIEL HENDRIX ALYSSA HOSTETLER CHARMAINE MARTIN KENNEDY MCCORMICK JILL NEWBOLT CYNTIA STANDRIDGE LEAH TAYLOR 10 YEAR KRYSTAL BOYD PEGGY FOSTER LORRIE HENRY TIFFANY LUTTMER AMY MONTGOMERY LINDA SHELLEY TERESA TORIX SCOTT WRIGHT 15 YEARS CE;ESTE ASHCRAFT DIANNE HUNTER MITCH MILNE SHERMA PETERS DEE SMITH HEATHER GOSS 25 YEARS STACI BROOKS DALYNNE RANDOLPH NATHAN STONE 30+ YEARS LEO BARGE TODD COOGAN TERESA CLARK BECKY RICHARDSON MEGAN TIBBS BRYAN MAYE PATTY OGLESBY ANNITA HENDRIX RETIREES RODNEY PURVIS LINDA COLLINS JIMMA HOLDER KAREN PURVIS

Mrs. Sikes is very pleased with her 6th Grade Top 3 Timed Test Typists: 1st place Brynlee Bahr - 73 WPM 2nd place Bryer Landrum - 68 WPM 3rd place: Alec Erickson -67 WPM

The Junior Ladycat’s competed in Spring Queen where they were tested in vertical, mile, 400, 100, squat, bench, power clean and push press. Several girls met the challenge. Including Elliott Dugan, Ava Fields, Emmi Hensley, Chloe Stepp, Kylene Denton, Alayna Gilbert, Pascha Wistrand, Kate Wilson, Anabelle Peters, Jayden Cox, Chloe Hooper. Kylene Denton was crowned our Spring Queen.