Ouachita River School District

ORSD Parent-Teacher Conferences - Thursday, March 14, 2024 Ode Maddox Elementary (K-5) & Oden High School (6-12) Thursday, March 14th 3:30 - 8:00 PM Scheduled appointments (See attached flyer for review) Acorn Elementary School Thursday, March 14th 3:30-8:00 PM Scheduled appointments (See attached flyerfor review) Acorn High School Thursday, March 14th 3:30 - 8:00 PM Scheduled appointments (See attached flyer for review)

CONGRATULATIONS, Coach Mike Jackson & the Acorn Lady Tigers! 2A South Regional Tournament CHAMPIONS!!!!

Due to road construction along AR Highway 71 enroute to the Acorn campus, please allow additional travel time today with delays around 15 minutes or so. See you at the 2A South Regional Tournament Finals today at Acorn Gymnasium! Acorn Public Schools 143 Polk Road 96 Mena, AR 71953

Just a friendly reminder, the tickets for today's Regional games are sold in two different sessions. Make sure to select the correct session before purchasing. Also, if you plan on attending both sessions, you will have to purchase a ticket for each session. Thank you and Good Luck to all of the teams!!

Attention Acorn Tiger Fans: Come out and support your Lady Tigers as they take on the Woodlawn Lady Bears in the 2A South Regional Semi-Finals tonight @ 4:00 PM.

Area High Schools CAREER CONNECT - Building Your Future On February 20th, five area high schools from Polk and Montgomery Counties hosted the second annual CAREER CONNECT Reverse Career Fair event in partnership with Western Arkansas Planning & Development District and the University of Arkansas Rich Mountain.The first in a series of two events was held in the Ouachita Center on the main campus of the University of Arkansas Rich Mountain. The event was from 9-11:30 a.m. with over 45+ career representatives from business, industry, agencies, organizations, military branches, and higher education institutions. High school seniors from each of the five school districts were represented: Cossatot River School District, Mena School District, Mount Ida School District, and Ouachita River School District - Acorn and Oden and included seniors identifying and assessing their career interests, postsecondary plan and career pathway, completing a career profile and resume, and participating in job interviews with our career and community partners. Career pathways were grouped by occupational clusters to help our partners more effectively target and identify students for interviews to facilitate opportunities for employment, internships, apprenticeships, job shadow experiences, education, and training based on students’ career pathways, skills, and career goals. Students also learned about potential career and occupational pathways to explore as a result of this experience. The event was a huge success for students, career and community partners, and school districts. The career pathways represented for the February 20th CAREER CONNECT included: - Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports and Media Occupations - Business and Financial Operations Occupations - Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations - Healthcare Support Occupations - Personal Care and Service Occupations - Computer & Mathematical Occupations Additional career pathways will be represented at the upcoming March 27th CAREER CONNECT event! Career and community representatives interested in participating in the March 27th event, please contact: Tammy Young at (479) 394-5544, x. 104 or tyoung@orsd.k12.ar.us Our school districts would like to extend our gratitude to the University of Arkansas Rich Mountain, DeQueen-Mena Education Service Cooperative, area Chamber of Commerce offices in Polk County/Mena, Montgomery County, Garland County, City of Waldron & Scott County, and all of the career and community representatives and partners! Thank you for sharing your time, talents and important information with our students in helping them be better prepared for life!

Updated brackets for the 2A South Regional Basketball Tournament

ORSD Spotlight on Alumni! AHS Alumni Spotlight - Damian Bohlman Damian Bohlman is a sophomore at Champion Christian College and a member of the Champion Christian Varsity Basketball Team. Damian was named first in the nation as a freshman, shooting 50% from the three point line. He also earned a starting spot as a freshman and has continued as a sophomore. Damian was named to the President List each semester with a 4.0 GPA. This exceptional honor is reserved for students who demonstrate unsurpassed diligence and impressive scholarship by earning a cumulative GPA of 3.8 or higher. Congratulations, Damian! We are proud of you! #orsdlifeprep

Attention Acorn Tiger Fans! The Acorn Senior Boys game against Fordyce has been moved up to 7:30 tonight, 2/21/2024.

Friendly reminder that the Acorn Campus will have early dismissal at 2:30 pm today to prepare for the 2A-Regional Tournament. Acorn Campus will dismiss early Thursday and Friday at 2:30 pm as well. Buses will run approximately one hour early for the rest of the week. Respectfully, Jerrall A. Strasner Superintendent

ORSD Spotlight on Alumni! AHS Alumni Spotlight – Cyrus Auer AHS Spotlight on alumnus is Cyrus Auer. Cyrus earned honors and was named to the UA Rich Mountain Vice Chancellor’s List for fall 2023 semester. UA Rich Mountain students named to the Vice Chancellor’s List are full-time, current students who complete 12 semester credit hours or more, excluding developmental coursework, and earn a 3.5 to 3.99 grade point average. Congratulations, Cyrus! We are proud of you! Ouachita River School District...preparing students for life! #orsdlifeprep

Oden Campus Announcement: There will be a public meeting to discuss the possibility of a "Four Day School Week" held in the Oden cafeteria on February 26th at 7 p.m. Please contact William Edwards if you have any questions.

2A South Regional Basketball Information Dates: February 21st-February 24th Location: Acorn New Gym Admission : All attendees must purchase a ticket through GoFan prior to entering the gym and AAA pass holders must present a valid ID when validating their pass. **In compliance with AAA regulations, we cannot accept senior citizen passes and our school employees are required to pay for entry during the Regional Tournament unless they are working the event. **

Congratulations, Coach Mike Jackson and the Acorn Lady Tigers!!! 2A- 7 District Champions! Final Score: Acorn Lady Tigers - 40 vs Horatio Lady Lions - 31

CALLING ALL ACORN TIGER FANS!! If you do not have plans tonight, make the drive to Caddo Hills and cheer on our Lady Tigers in the 2A-7 District finals as they take in the Horatio Lady Lions!!!

The regular monthly board meeting for Ouachita River School District has been rescheduled for February 19, 2024. The meeting will be held in the Acorn Cafetorium, 6:00 PM. Reminder - Board meetings are open to the public. Reminder - Board meetings are open to the public. Agenda items and requests for public comment must be in writing prior to board meetings. Please contact ORSD Administration Office at (479) 394-2348 for information. Respectfully, Jerrall Strasner, ORSD Superintendent

Have you ordered your 2024 Acorn Tiger Yearbook? It's not too late! Online orders and orders through Mrs. Pearce at AHS Library can be made until we hit our number of books we get printed, but once we run out...it's too late. Books are priced at $55 now and will arrive in May. You can email gpearce@orsd.k12.ar.us, text 479-234-0614, or call 479-394-5544, ext. 106 to order or check to see if you already placed an order or order online: jostens.com/yearbooks

Acorn Elementary will not have after-school tutoring next Wednesday and Thursday, February 21, and February 22, 2024.

Acorn FBLA Advances to State On February 9th, Acorn FBLA traveled to District I FBLA Spring Conference in Fort Smith. At the conference, Acorn students participated in a variety of competitions and placed accordingly: 1st Place - Graphic Design: Shay Allen, Kora Carter, Ava Smith-Hawley 2nd Place - Journalism: Rebecca Bloodworth 1st Place - Business Calculations: Clay McGee 8th Place - Health Care Admin: Damon Cruz 8th Place - HR Management: Alexis Bradley 8th Place - Intro to Public Speaking: Lauren Cruz 7th Place - Social Media Strategies: Matilda Grant, Jordan Lyle Students placing in the top five (5) of each category qualify to compete at the FBLA State Leadership Conference in Little Rock, AR on April 29-30, 2024. Congratulations to the Acorn students who competed this year! We are proud of you! Thank you to Mrs. Makaila Goodner for helping students to prepare for the competition! #orsdlifeprep Photo, l to r (back row): Kora Carter, Ava Smith-Hawley, Shay Allen, Rebecca Bloodworth, Jordan Lyle, Clay McGee, Lexi Bradley. (front row) Matilda Grant, Madelynn Auer. (Not pictured) Damon Cruz and Lauren Cruz.

Acorn Archery Display Skills at Regional Tournament Acorn top scorers in each category: August Alvis - High School Cooper Strother - Middle School Isabella Willeford - Elementary Congratulations! We are proud of you! For more information about Acorn Archery, contact: Acorn Archery Coach Brittney Moore at bmoore@orsd.k12.ar.us #orsdlifeprep