CommunityLink

Conway, AR

Education

Conway Public Schools, the eighth-largest school district in the state of Arkansas, had an enrollment of 8,402 students in the 2004–2005 school year. The district operates 13 schools, including one high school on two campuses; two middle schools; one intermediate school, with plans for a second; eight elementary schools; and one preschool.

Conway schools have a lot to brag about. Approximately 54 percent of the teachers in the district hold master’s degrees or higher. Furthermore, many of the district’s teachers and administration have received national and state honors.

Conway’s students are award-winning, too. In 2004–2005, five students were recognized as National Merit finalists. In 2005, Conway High School graduates received a total of $4.75 million in higher-education scholarships.

The Conway Area Career Center serves Conway and 13 other area school districts. The center offers classes and apprenticeships, including auto-body repair, banking and finance, construction trades, cosmetology, microcomputer applications, medical professions, metal trades, and technical drawing.

The Conway Adult Education Center offers educational classes to adults within Faulkner County. Classes include computer literacy, math, reading and English. A GED preparation class is also offered.

The school district offers a Gifted and Talented Program, support services, and advanced-placement classes for all qualifying students.


Private Schools

Conway Christian School
Conway Christian School, established in 1992 under the direction of the Arkansas Baptist School System, is a member of the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). With an enrollment of more than 400 students, it represents 60 churches and serves students from preschool through high school. The elementary division is composed of K4 through 6th grade and uses the A Beka curriculum. Their elementary achievement test scores average in the top 20 percent nationally. Conway Christian High School is enjoying new facilities on a planned $8 million, 31-acre campus in Conway and uses A Beka, Bob Jones, and other selected texts and materials. The high school has many extracurricular activities, including a sports program, academic competitions and various clubs. Students in 7th through 12th grades are involved in community service, spending one day a month helping service agencies in the area. CCHS students consistently score high on college entrance exams, and the school is home to a National Merit Scholarship finalist as well as award winners in chess, spelling, writing and yearbook. Three faculty members from the school have been named among Who’s Who of Teachers in America.

Conway Christian School hosts numerous community-wide events. The school has had the privilege of presenting “An Evening with James Neihouse” (the IMAX cinematographer), NBA-affiliate Rim Rocker basketball, and many well-known authors and speakers.

St. Joseph School
St. Joseph School has been part of the Conway Community for 125 years and is dedicated to providing a quality, affordable Catholic education for every student. The school is fully accredited through ANSAA (Arkansas Nonpublic School Accrediting Association) and is a member of the National Catholic Education Association. Approximately 500 students are housed on three campuses at St. Joseph School, which provides students with strong core academic and elective courses as well as a diverse athletic program, extracurricular activities, state-of-the-art educational technology, and modern science labs. The students also receive specialized instruction in music, physical education, library skills and art.

Primary and elementary students score, on average, in the proficient range on the Stanford Achievement Test, while the ACT scores of these students are well above state and national averages. More than 90 percent of St. Joseph graduates pursue higher education at universities nationwide and through specialized training institutes in various industries.


Area Colleges

Central Baptist College
Founded in 1952, Central Baptist College provides its students a challenging and exciting curriculum in an uncommon learning environment.

CBC promotes academic excellence with a stimulating educational program that enriches each student’s life academically, spiritually and socially. Offered at CBC are four-year and two-year programs with bachelor’s and associate’s degrees available.

CBC also offers an Adult Degree Completion Program. PACE is presented in an accelerated, nontraditional format. Students choose between two bachelor’s degrees and can complete their degree in 20 months.

Associate of Art degrees are available in Business, Education, General Education, Math, Music, Pastoral Studies and Religious Education. Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science Degrees are available in Bible with emphasis in Missions, Pastoral Studies, Religious Education, Music, Church Music, Youth Ministries, Social Services, Bachelor of Business Administration, Management, Marketing, General Studies, Organizational Management, and Management Information Systems.

Central’s intercollegiate sports offerings include men’s basketball, baseball, cross country, golf and soccer, and women’s basketball, volleyball, fast-pitch softball, cross country, golf and soccer.

Hendrix College
When The Princeton Review named Hendrix College as the nation’s No. 4 “best value” college in its 2006 edition of America’s Best Value Colleges, it came as no surprise to those familiar with the college.

Hendrix, located in the heart of Conway, is regularly recognized as one of the top private liberal arts colleges in the nation by leading authorities in higher education, including U.S. News & World Report, The Fiske Guide to Colleges and Colleges That Change Lives.

After more than a century of educating some of the country’s best leaders and citizens, Hendrix has perfected the art of seamlessly integrating a traditional liberal arts education with active learning experiences. The college has become a national leader in experiential learning since launching its curricular program, Your Hendrix Odyssey: Engaging in Active Learning. The Odyssey program gives all students practical, engaged learning opportunities and transcript recognition in areas such as Artistic Creativity, Global Awareness, Professional and Leadership Development, Service to the World, and Undergraduate Research.

Noted for the overall quality of its academic programs, Hendrix leads all Arkansas colleges in these important areas: the highest average ACT and SAT scores, the highest four-year graduation rate, and the highest percentage of graduates who enter postgraduate and professional schools.

Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, Hendrix enrolls approximately 1,100 students each year, 80 percent of whom live on campus. The student-to-faculty ratio is 11-to-1, and half of all classes have 15 or fewer students. An impressive 100 percent of full-time faculty has doctorate degrees or the appropriate terminal degrees in their field.

With the motto of “Unto the Whole Person,” Hendrix offers students a broad-based education that combines critical thought with meaningful action — the best foundation for future leaders and citizens in a global society.

University of Central Arkansas
Like the booming city where it is located, the University of Central Arkansas continues its pattern of record enrollments. UCA has established itself as a landmark in not only Conway and throughout Arkansas, but also across the Mid-South. Extensive landscape work and the continuous construction of classically tasteful academic buildings make UCA the envy of many.

Located at 201 Donaghey, the University of Central Arkansas passed the 10,000 mark in enrollment in 2004, and it continues to grow.

The university’s state-of-the-art Donald W. Reynolds Performance Hall and the Brewer-Hegeman Conference Center are valuable tools in attracting quality entertainment and business meetings to Central Arkansas. Not only do the venues attract political pundits, scholars and authors, but they also draw big-name entertainers.

Whether you are a nontraditional student looking to audit a class or a pre-med Honors College student, UCA has a wide variety of degree programs in its many internal colleges. More than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 40 graduate programs are offered at UCA.

Fine art and music can be found anywhere on the campus. Student artwork is commonly displayed inside and outside university buildings. The Silas D. Snow Fine Arts building is the university’s megaplex devoted entirely to showcasing the many talented musicians on the campus. The Charles and Nadine Baum Gallery of Fine Art is among the finest in the state.

The College of Business and Admini-stration at UCA offers complete degrees in everything from accounting to computer-information systems. The ever-growing College of Liberal Arts offers a wide variety of degrees. The nationally acclaimed Honors College has strict admission standards and offers a more challenging curriculum.

Sports are important at UCA. The football rivalry between the University of Central Arkansas and Arkansas Tech University is the longest-running football rivalry in Arkansas. With that in mind, the Governor’s Football Classic was born. Each year, the schools compete for a traveling trophy, with the home advantage changing every season.

The UCA Athletic Department offers a full range of athletic opportunities for students. Football, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s golf, women’s cross country, baseball, women’s fast-pitch softball, women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s soccer are all NCAA-sanctioned sports at UCA.

The new Pepsi Indoor Center allows all UCA sports teams to practice indoors during inclement weather. Also, the HPER Center, a state-of-the-art, full-scale fitness center, opened in the 2000–2001 school year and is available for student use.

UCA recently completed more than $20 million in construction projects ranging from residence halls to the cafeteria.