Lyon College’s med school acceptance rate exceeds national average

Almost every Lyon student who took the Medical College Acceptance Test (MCAT) last cycle will be attending med school in the fall.

Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Alexander Beeser said nine out of 11 applicants were successful this year. Although the number of applicants varies year to year, Lyon significantly exceeds the national percentage average of student applicants matriculating into M.D. and D.O. programs.

Melanie Beehler, McKinley Fox, Thomas Maloney, Allison Mundy, Sean O’Leary, Zach Poe and Emerson Smith will all be attending the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). Hannah Zang will attend the Duke University School of Medicine, and Tressa Asbury will attend Kansas City University- Joplin Medical School.

Allison Mundy, ’21, of Bryant, said she was “over the moon” when she found out she was accepted into UAMS. She was initially on the alternate list and was waiting for a call when graduation came around.

“Saturday, I graduated with a B.S. in biology. Sunday, I got engaged to Zachary Ward, ‘21, and Monday I got the call I was going to medical school!”

Mundy continued, laughing, “I had quite the whirlwind of emotions in just three days!”

Hannah Zang, ’21, of McKinney, Texas, was “absolutely ecstatic” when she got accepted into Duke.

“It was such a long process. When I got the call, I was in complete shock,” Zang said. “I immediately called my mom afterwards crying, and we both celebrated over the phone. It absolutely made my day!”

“I am thrilled at the success of Lyon students this cycle,” said Beeser. “I think it speaks to how well Lyon academically prepares students, and the skills students obtain during their time here.”

How does Lyon achieve such high acceptance rates?

Melanie Beehler, ’20, of Pea Ridge, believes the rigorous academic curriculum and dedicated faculty prepare students for the medical school application process.

“Lyon gave me the confidence to succeed in my future goals,” she said.

Mundy agreed, saying she knew Lyon would prepare her for the academic challenges of being a physician because the College is known for its academic rigor. In addition to the foundational knowledge she received from the biology department, she said the College’s liberal arts approach pushed her to “be a better person both in and out of the classroom.

Associate Professor of English Dr. Wesley Beal and Professor of Philosophy Dr. Martha Beck helped Mundy develop communication and public service skills.

“Being a physician is much more than just knowing your sciences,” Mundy said. “You must also know how to communicate with people and learn how to meet them where they are. [Beal and Beck] taught me how to be a better local and global citizen.”

Not only does the coursework at Lyon prepare students for the MCAT, Zang said, but the College also has structures in place to help students with the entire application process, such as the Career Center and the pre-health professions program. She said Beeser was incredibly supportive in his role as the Pre-Health Profession Advisor.

“I’m lucky to have such a great mentor in my life,” Zang said.

Thomas Maloney, ’21, of Jonesboro, said the classes at Lyon may be challenging, but they forced students to develop good study habits.

“Take as many classes as you can that are related to courses on the MCAT,” he said. “Personally, I would say don’t put so much stress on whether you make an A or B in a certain course.”

Maloney continued, “It is more important that you retain the information you learn long term so you can use it to prepare for the MCAT.”

Beehler advises current students interested in medical school to find an older mentor to help them through the application process, such as understanding prerequisites and how to enhance their personal statements.

“Remember why you started the pre-med journey when it gets tough,” she said.

Zang encourages current students to explore the resources available to them, find a great support system and try new opportunities. She also recommends that they shadow physicians or volunteer at the White River Medical Center in Batesville and take the Health Coaching course at Lyon.

“The admission process is grueling, but Lyon provides all of the tools necessary to succeed,” she said.

“There is no such thing as a perfect application,” Mundy added. “There are one thousand things that ‘look good’ on an application, but it’s impossible to do them all.” 

She concluded, “You probably have achieved more than you think you have, so don’t be humble when filling out your application.”

“As the pre-professional health advisory chair, I know all of these students and am convinced they will make excellent physicians,” Beeser said.

He concluded, “This year is, by far, the largest number of students who worked exceedingly hard to get into medical school, and I could not be prouder of their accomplishments.”

Philander Smith College Student Joins 2021 Expanding Diversity in Economics Summer Institute at University of Chicago

Philander Smith College is pleased to announce that John Amhanesi, a junior with a double major in business management and psychology, will participate in the inaugural cohort of the Expanding Diversity in Economics (EDE) Summer Institute offered by The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) at the University of Chicago. The EDE Summer Institute will be held virtually from July 18-August 6 and will identify and support talented undergraduate students from a broad range of backgrounds interested in the study of economics.

An international student from Benin City, Nigeria, Ahmanesi is a member of the McKinley Newton Honors Academy at Philander Smith College and will be one of 45 participants from a pool of more than 200 applications from 31 institutions. The cohort GPA average is 3.78 on a 4.0 scale.

Amhanesi said, “I am very passionate about research centered around behavioral economics, decision science, and policy management. I want to ask questions that will promote inclusion in policy objectives, market strategy, organizational operations, and people management. Currently, I am a PRIMO (Program for Research in Markets and Organizations) research fellow at the Harvard Business School and a summer intern at NVIDIA Corporation.”

“Talent is dispersed widely, and this program will help to bring a wider set of people into economics,” said Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Director of BFI.

Following the 2021 summer program, participants will become part of an ongoing EDE mentoring network. Select participants will be eligible to join research projects and complete assistantships during the academic year. To learn more about the program, visit https://bfi.uchicago.edu/news/becker-friedman-institute-at-uchicago-announces-inaugural-cohort-for-2021-expanding-diversity-in-economics-summer-institute/

Harding University hosts STEM Camp for middle school students

The Harding University Finley STEM Center is hosting ten middle school students from the Searcy School District for its STEM day camp June 14-18. The University is holding the first of six camps across the state.

The camp, funded by the Arkansas Migrant Education Program in cooperation with the Arkansas STEM Coalition, provides students with the opportunity to be involved in hands-on math and science investigations throughout the week.

“It is exciting to be a part of this state-wide program,” department of chemistry and biochemistry lecturer, Heather Hollandsworth said. “We are hosting the first of 6 STEM camps across Arkansas, incorporating lots of hands-on activities for the students to integrate math and science. We plan to have them using lab equipment to make measurements, graph their results, and create procedures to solve problems. This is a great opportunity for us to work with local middle schoolers and to be able to give them a week-long camp devoted to STEM.”

The Finley center coordinates events with Searcy-area schools throughout the year to encourage students to pursue studies in science, technology, engineering and math. It also offers professional development and hands-on training for math and science teachers.

Hendrix Professors and Students Study Coral Reefs in Belize

After commencement, Hendrix biology faculty members Dr. Jenn Dearolf and Dr. Adam Schneider traveled with 16 students from Dearolf’s Marine Biology class on a 10-day trip to San Pedro, Belize, on the island of Ambergris Caye.

The group spent eight days on the water, snorkeling various sites on the Belize Barrier Reef, the longest barrier reef in the Caribbean. 

Because of the pandemic, very few people had visited the reef for more than a year. As a result, Dearolf, Schneider, and the students saw an abundance of animals, including three manatees and a pod of seven dolphins, which hung out with them for over 30 minutes.

Sadly, they also observed the skeletons of pillar coral (Dendrogyra cylindricus), a unique type of coral. There were two large stands of this coral directly in front of San Pedro. Both stands were thriving in March 2020, when the directors of Belize Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC), the facility at which Dr. Dearolf’s group stayed, had to leave the island because of covid-19. When they returned this May and visited the site with her group, the coral was dead. Currently, it is unclear why this coral died, but it has been struggling throughout the Caribbean and on the Florida reefs.

To help preserve corals, Dr. Dearolf and her students are studying environmental conditions conducive to the growth of elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata), another important coral species in the Caribbean. Elkhorn and staghorn coral (A. cervicornis) are the major reef builders in this region. 

For their study, Dr. Dearolf’s students measured the height and width of coral stands at sites where this coral is abundant and where it is not. They also recorded environmental parameters (e.g., light levels, current speeds, and water temperature) and collected water samples. The water samples are analyzed for the concentrations of ions that are important for the growth of the coral.

Each of the students in the Marine Biology class will write up the results of their experiment in the form of a scientific journal article and submit it to complete their work for the class. In addition, a subset of the students who traveled to Belize will also earn Global Awareness (GA) Odyssey credit by writing a paper reflecting on their experiences in Belize and snorkeling on the barrier reef.

Windgate Foundation funds relocation of Lyon College’s Kilted Kiln

The Kilted Kiln is now part of the Lyon campus thanks to a $25,000 gift from the Windgate Foundation.

“The Windgate Foundation has made an extraordinary investment in strengthening arts education around the state of Arkansas over the last several decades,” said Vice President for Advancement Dr. David Hutchison. 

He continued, “Lyon College shares that vision, and so we are excited to create this new partnership with Windgate.”

Visiting Professor of Art James Berry said the Kiln is now located in the Temp in the old kitchen area and will have an auxiliary building behind the Temp starting in fall of 2021. Being on campus gives the Kilted Kiln the opportunity to start a clay club and have onsite recruitment efforts through Upward Bound, APPLE and individual high school events.

“We have started referring to the space as ‘The Kitchen,’” said Berry, laughing. “Being on campus will also allow us to have demonstrations for Lyon students, faculty and staff.”

Lyon College acquired the Main Street Pottery studio in Batesville in 2018 and began leasing the commercial space downtown, allowing the College to offer ceramics classes for the first time in decades.

The studio was rebranded as the Kilted Kiln and began hosting Lyon academic courses as well as community workshops and demonstrations. In its first year, the Kiln underwent a dramatic expansion with the hiring of a full-time artist-in-residence.

The facility, which is more than a century old, lacked heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) and suffered from structural integrity issues. Its location and lack of parking limited its appeal to the community and its accessibility for students.

The Windgate Foundation’s gift allowed Lyon to fund the relocation of the Kilted Kiln to campus, allowing the College to continue keeping the direct costs low for students and free to community members.

Berry said the Kilted Kiln will host community events with local and discounted workshops for members of the Lyon community.

“I’m hoping to bridge ceramic students with the Scot Shop and a few other businesses on Main Street in fundraising efforts,” he said. 

“The College’s visual arts and ceramics have been some of its most prominent and successful programs in recent years,” said Hutchison, “and this relationship [with the Windgate Foundation] will help facilitate the growth of both as we expand our presence and offerings in the region.” 

New Esports Director to bring his passion for gaming, education to Lyon College

Payton Tucker plans to bring his passion for education and gaming to his new role as Director of Esports for Lyon College.

Originally from Springdale, Ark., Tucker graduated from the University of Arkansas in December 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in educational studies. He played on the university’s League of Legends team for his first three years before becoming the team manager his senior year.

He also helped coach local high schools’ esports teams in Northwest Arkansas.

“I have played games ever since I was a kid,” Tucker said, “mainly Call of Duty and sports games with my brothers.”

He later discovered World of Warcraft in middle school and League of Legends, which is his main game now, in high school.

“My favorite parts of the esports scene are the events, community and competitions,” Tucker said. “The connections and friendships built along the way through esports have been awesome.”

“We’re so excited to bring an Arkansas-native who understands the collegiate Esports scene into the Lyon College family!” said Dean of Admissions Tommy Newton.

Tucker said Lyon has already upgraded its monitors in the esports room on campus. He plans to facilitate more team-building experiences for the College’s esports players.

“Making sure they are taken care of so they can focus on competing is my top priority.”

He will continue to develop plans for the program’s future that will excite not only the players but also the Lyon campus as a whole.

“I will do my best to build and grow this program at Lyon,” Tucker said. “I am excited to be here and can’t wait to meet everyone.”

Harding Students receive national research awards at Alpha Chi Convention

Two Harding students received awards for work presented at the 2021 National Alpha Chi Convention, which was held virtually April 8-10. 

John Lim, interdisciplinary studies major and May 2021 graduate

Senior interdisciplinary studies major John Lim and senior computer science major Pedro Navarrete, who both graduated May 2021, received recognition as the top presenters in their field at the national convention.

Lim received the Clark Youngblood Prize in Philosophy and World Religions with his presentation titled “Hybridized Spirituality in Singaporean Christians,” which focused on how Christianity brought by Western missionaries blends with the culture of Singapore, Lim’s home country. Lim said this project led him to view this blend in a new light and allowed him to have more knowledge about this as he plans to return to Singapore to do ministry.

“It would certainly affect the way I approach the intersection of faith and culture,” Lim said. “I think my approach to ministry is not shunning away from culture — while certainly admitting that it has certain elements that are not in keeping with Christian ethics and lifestyle, still engaging with it meaningfully, acknowledging that it exists and that we are affected by it, then using that as a starting point to then meaningfully engage with those who have not heard the gospel yet.”

Dr. James Huff, Honors College faculty fellow and Lim’s advisor, praised Lim for his quality of work.

“I would say as his advisor he completed this study at the level of an advanced graduate student — not even a first-year graduate student, but someone who’s advanced,” Huff said. “He did very thorough, extensive qualitative analysis and had just very, very insightful findings on things that otherwise wouldn’t be visible.”

Pedro Navarrete, computer science major and May 2021 graduate

Navarrete received the Floyd Tesmer/Strayer University Prize in Computer Science and Engineering for his presentation, “Comparative Study: MongoDB vs. Elasticsearch.” He proposed using a search engine rather than a database to find The Bison newspaper articles, later conducting a test study to determine if changing the system to a search engine would be beneficial to the Brackett Library website. 

“It’s a lot faster because it’s a search engine, and the only additional cost is that it uses more space, but that’s not a significant cost, especially since the cost of storage is getting a lot cheaper,” Navarrete said. “So, I found out that there’s actually no reason for companies to not be using search engines except that they are used to using these databases.”

Huff said Navarrete’s presentation stood out from others because of its originality.

“That was really above and beyond a lot of scientific presentations, which often maybe try to replicate an experiment, or in computer science, [in which] you would maybe see software developed,” Huff said. “He went above and beyond and made it very original by seeking a novel claim to compare those two databases.”

Navarrete is now implementing his findings by working with the Brackett Library to transition The Bison from a database to a search engine.

Other students who presented at the National Alpha Chi Convention included junior public administration and communication studies double major Mary Grace Golden with “Political Identity in First-time Voting Christian Women: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis,” senior biochemistry and molecular biology major Emory Malone, who graduated May 2021, with “Reducing Resistance to Antibiotics: The Antibacterial Effects of Treated Zinc Surfaces on E. coli,” and clinical mental health counseling graduate student Daylan Moore with “Seasonal Affective Disorder: Etiology, Prevalence, Course, Assessments and Treatment Interventions.”

Harding’s Paul R. Carter College of Business establishes $1M Student Managed Investment Fund

The Harding University Paul R. Carter College of Business announces the establishment of a Student Managed Investment Fund. The fund was created to offer business students valuable experience in investment analysis and portfolio management. 

“The Student Managed Investment Fund is a significant opportunity for our student members to gain valuable experience in investment analysis and portfolio management,” said Dr. Allen Frazier, dean and professor of the College of Business Administration. “Students will work with a contingent of Harding’s board and COBA’s finance faculty to gain a unique educational experience in financial management and understand how to become faithful stewards of money entrusted to them.”

The fund will be overseen by a student manager team made up of 12 junior and senior COBA students. Senior managers will be responsible for researching and evaluating investment opportunities within a particular industry group or groups (e.g. health care, technology, energy, etc.) while junior managers will serve a supporting role and prepare to advance into the senior position the following year. This year’s student management team includes three juniors and nine seniors. 

  • Senior Alden Bradley of Grapevine, Texas
  • Senior Ashton VanBrunt of Jenks, Oklahoma
  • Senior Bennett Holloway of  Kansas City, Missouri
  • Junior Collin Nieman of Spencer, Wisconsin
  • Junior Cooper Carroll of Madison, Mississippi
  • Senior Cort Chambers of Larchmont, New York
  • Senior David Reed of Vienna, Virginia
  • Senior Emma Jackson of Siloam Springs, Arkansas
  • Senior Grant Countess of Shelbyville, Tennessee 
  • Senior Julio Montenegro of Urbanizacion Farallones, Chinandega
  • Junior Mason Callaway of Burleson, Texas
  • Senior Riley Fox of Cave Springs, Arkansas

Under oversight of faculty, student managers will research and analyze stocks to identify prospective changes to the fund. Student managers will meet frequently to address board market movement and expectations, fund and sector performance, and discuss prospective investments. At the end of each month student managers will provide a written and oral report on performance of their investments and recommend changes to the fund portfolio.

A sum of $500,000 has been designated as an initial fund balance. Another $500,000 will be invested in an S&P 500 index fund to help the Student Managed Investment Fund and allow additional funds to be transferred to student management in time. 

Lyon senior designs bicentennial coin for Independence County

A Lyon senior’s design has been selected for Independence County’s bicentennial coin.

The coin commemorates the 200th anniversary of the county’s founding, which was established in 1820. Batesville was established in 1821, and it is the oldest existing city in Arkansas.

Samantha Long, a fine arts major from Cave City, created the coin’s design based on her own interpretation of what Independence County Judge Robert Griffin had requested. 

The front features a Native American based on the Cherokee tribe as a nod to Arkansas history and a steamboat as an homage to Independence County’s beginnings as a trade area. The back of the coin features a glimpse into modern-day Independence County, showing local farmers and businesses coming together while Independence County grows in the background.

“I felt that it was very important to incorporate farmers into the design because our community has so much to thank them for,” Long said.

She continued, “My brother gave me the idea to have them shaking hands, as a way to show the two coming together to help build our community.”

Professor of Art Dustyn Bork had approached Long about submitting a design. He told her it would be a great way to gain experience for her fine arts major.

“This is an excellent example of a Lyon student seeing their design come to fruition in a tangible way,” Bork said. “What an awesome opportunity for Sam and to celebrate our community.”

“It’s honestly an honor to be selected for something so important!” Long said. “I couldn’t believe it at first, and I did feel a bit anxious during the process.”

She concluded, “But by the end of it, I was very proud to have had the opportunity to leave my small mark on Independence County.”