BRIAN CHILSON
Star
Material
Meet our 2024 class of Arkansas Times Academic All-Stars. BY RHETT BRINKLEY, MATT CAMPBELL, GRIFFIN COOP, AUSTIN GELDER, DANIEL GREAR, MARY HENNIGAN, JEANNIE ROBERTS AND STEPHANIE SMITTLE
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ust when we’re pulling out our boxes of Kleenex and donning our dark sunglasses to mourn the loss of decency and hope in the world, our new class of Academic All-Stars comes bounding into view, reminding us that all is not lost — that the kids are, in fact, alright. This year marks the 30th roster of Arkansas Times Academic All-Stars: 20 exceptional students chosen from a pool of applicants from across the state, each nominated by their high school counselor or principal. Past winners have gone on to become innovators in the fields of engineering, medicine, technology, the arts and science — like Crystal Morrison, a past All-Star we revisited in this month’s installment of Savvy (see Page 56). Read on and recharge your sense of optimism with our profiles of this year’s All-Stars — among them robotics whizzes, founders of nonprofits, math competition champs, budding health care trailblazers and tenacious food bank volunteers — followed by the list of finalists and nominees. ARKTIMES.COM
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