Mena School District

The Mena team won 1st place on Friday in the Sr. High Quiz Bowl at the Dequeen Mena Education Service Cooperative.

Join us in giving a HUGE round of applause to our amazing Preschool readers who have reached incredible goals — 500 Books Before Kindergarten and 100 Books Before Kindergarten! 🎉🎉
We are beyond proud of each of you! We continue to fill our weeks with great stories, new authors, exciting adventures, and so much growth. With every book opened, you are building a strong foundation to become lifelong readers.
“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.”
❤️ — Emilie Buchwald
Our 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program is completely FREE and designed to encourage families to read together every single day. Reading at home is not only a special bonding time — it builds vocabulary, strengthens comprehension, develops memory, sparks imagination, and lays the groundwork for future academic success.
🎉 A special congratulations to our students who have reached the 500 Book milestone! What an incredible accomplishment! Keep turning those pages! 📖✨
Charlotte Hall
Ray Riley
🎉 And a big celebration for our students who have reached the 100 Book milestone! Every page you turn helps you grow stronger, smarter, and more confident as a reader. We are so proud of your hard work — keep reading and keep shining! 📚✨
Zackori Hamilton
Luca Mendez
Harmmoni Foret

So much fun was had by MMS students and parents at BATTLE @ THE HAC!

Mena Coach Zen Valencia was the guest speaker today at the Polk County Rotary Club. He spoke about how much the program has grown over the past four years as well as their postseason performance. He educated the audience on the sport of wrestling; acquired skills, nutrition, training, and confidence that is gained through the sport of wrestling. Additionally, he spoke about the new youth wrestling program in our community.

Mena High School students earning community service hours for highway trash pick-up!

The Arkansas State Wrestling Tournament is in the books and what a show your Mena Wrestlers put on here in Little Rock!
We had 16 kids qualify for state reaching All Region status, out of those 16, seven of them reached All State status!
We had 2 young ladies that wrestle their hearts out for 3rd place but fell just short.
Paisley Burger 4th place
Evergrace Anderson 4th place
On the boys side we had two wrestlers won their matches for 3rd place!
Tycen Baber 3rd place
Auden Woods 3rd place
We had three boys reach the State Championship match but sadly all three fell short.
Braxton Barker 2nd place
Tripp Hensley 2nd place
Guice Anderson 2nd place
As a team the boys finished 4th out of 23 schools, quite the accomplishment!
Great job to all our young ladies & young men!

Mena High School Senior Chloe Hooper officially signed her letter of intent to play volleyball at John Brown University on Friday at the Union Bank Center!

We are so proud of Chloe’s hard work, dedication, and commitment both on and off the court. This is an incredible achievement and a testament to the countless hours she’s put into her sport.

Join us in congratulating Chloe as she takes this exciting next step in her volleyball career!

MHS Theatre students performed "The Odyssey" for 9th Literacy Classes on Friday!

At Holly Harshman Elementary School, the Library celebrated a week of Valentine Mystery Books! Students had the opportunity to choose a wrapped book to check out—without knowing the title, author, or genre inside. This fun surprise encouraged many readers to step outside their comfort zones and possibly discover a new favorite author or genre.

Mrs. Cox challenged students to read at least one chapter and give their mystery book a fair chance. We’re so proud of our students for embracing the adventure and trying something new. Who knows? Their next favorite book might have been hidden inside that wrapping!

Mena Middle School has been participating in the Reading Fair for the past two days at the Dequeen/Mena Co-Op. They came home with a lot of bling.
Reading Fair winners for the middle school:
6th grade:
Kashlynn -1st place fiction technology
Malikai and Nikko -3rd place fiction tech
Zoey and partner -1st Fiction board
Gwen and Willow-2nd place Fiction board
7th grade:
Azellia and Meggy - 1st place fiction board
Hadara-2nd place fiction board
Ailyah and Ashton -2nd place Fiction board
Cisley and Addelyn - First place Fiction board
8th grade:
Brady and Easton-First place fiction technology
Darcie -1st place fiction board
Makaylee and Lorelai -3rd place fiction board

The Mena Bearcat boys basketball Seniors each dedicate their jersey to one Mena Public Schools faculty member each year during their senior night. This dedication of their jersey is a show of appreciation for all of the hard work and dedication our staff has for our students and shows the impact educators have on students throughout their time as a student.

Eli Swall selected Mr. Rodney Dominguez, of Mena High School.

Jackson Thompson Selected Mrs. Amy Scott from Holly Harshman Elementry.

Hayden Mrugula Selected Mrs. Christal Titsworth, of Mena High School.

Tyler Cox Selected Mrs. Amber Labertew of Mena High School.

Congratulations to Mena High School’s Vaughn Vacca for making the Arkansas All-State Concert Band. This is the highest honor that a student can receive for band. Vaughn will participate in the All-State Music Conference next week in Hot Springs.

It’s been a fun two days in 4th/5th grade GT! Students have learned and tested Bernoulli’s Principles with ping pong balls, hair dryers, balloons, and bubbles. As well as observe and test how the air molecules change when heated with trash bags and toasters! I love seeing the excitement on their faces!

There’s nothing better than finding your next favorite book—especially when it comes highly recommended by a friend! That’s what makes We Recommend Wednesday so much fun at LD! 📚✨
This week, we’re shining the spotlight on our First Grade Battle of the Books team and what they think is a must read!❤️ 📚
The teams top pick? Click Clack Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin!
They shared, “ We love Click Clack Moo because the animals were so funny and we couldn’t wait to find out what happened at the end!”
If you’re ready for giggles and great stories, swing by the LD Library to check out this great story—and while you’re there, you just might discover your next favorite book too!

3rd grader, Chase Henry, made the 100 point club! We are so proud of him!

Congratulations to these two Mena High School students who earned a spot on the All State Choir
!
Bailey Benner- soprano 2, 12th chair!!!
Anna Burt- alto 1, 43rd Chair!!!

Both of these girls are so talented and worked very hard to able to reach this achievement!

Mena Bearcats competed at the 4A South Regional Tournament today and did awesome!
We had 10 young men punch their ticket to the State Tournament and we finished Regional Runner-Up!
So incredibly proud of these boys and now we turn our sights to State!
Jobs not finished!
Braxton Barker 🥇
Tycen Baber 🥇
Wyatt Head 🥈
Auden Woods 🥉
Tripp Hensley 🥇
Chance Hughes 🥉
Andrew Threlkeld 🥉
Jace Hankammer 🥈
Hollis Anderson 🥉
Guice Anderson 🥇

📚 Battle of the Books 2026 📚 Congratulations to our First and Second Grade students who were selected to represent our school on this year’s Louise Durham Battle of the Books teams! 🎉 Battle of the Books is a reading competition where teams of students answer questions based on a pre-selected list of books they’ve read. Sponsored by the DeQueen–Mena Educational Co-Op, this program promotes reading comprehension, teamwork, and a love for literature. During the competition, teams face off by answering trivia-style questions about the books’ characters, themes, and events. It’s a fun and engaging way to build literacy skills and foster a strong sense of community around reading. Our first and second grade teams will compete against other area schools this March, and we couldn’t be more proud of their dedication and hard work! 📖✨ 📚 Way to go, readers! We are so excited about all the books you’ve read and can’t wait to cheer you on! ❤️

The 2026 Mena High School King of Hearts was crowned at a pep rally on Thursday.
This year's court included.Adam Hughes, Max Rocha, Grayson Farringer, Tripp Hensley, Guice Anderson, Ryder House, Levi Neufeld, Tucker Stricklin, Jackson Thompson, and Beck Vacca
The 2026 Prince Charming is RYDER HOUSE !
The 2026 King of Hearts is BECK VACCA !