The Senior High Ladycats had their first 2025 season practice this morning, and it was full of energy and enthusiasm. The team's theme for the year is Look Who's Cookin. After every practice, a player will be selected who has shown the most energy, effort, and who has communicated the most throughout the practice. Today's Ladycat who COOKED was Kate Wilson. She gets the team apron to decorate with a quote or words of advice for the others.
Today was an exciting first day.

Today was the first dress up practice of the season for the Jr. Volleyball team. The girls dressed like they were in the tropics! They were also challenged to think about what their “why” was. Your WHY is the reason you play. It’s what drives your effort, passion, and joy. • What do you love most about volleyball? • What motivates you to keep showing up? Bring one or two items to glue to the poster (photo, verse, symbol, word) Be ready to share your WHY with your teammates. They brought items and told their team what their why was and then glued them to the our poster.

SH football had a great time on our team trip today to Magic Springs after our first practice of the year! We have some great kids! Thanks to our community who always donates generously to our fundraiser, we were able to cover every kids ticket! Great day of fun and fellowship! Back on the field at 7:15 tomorrow!d

The Back to School Bash was this past weekend and was open to every family in Polk County. The event included free school supplies, a No Sale Yard Sale, and a free lunch. Several school personnel served at this event and over 800 kids and adults attended. This is the third year that Mena Public Schools with the leadership of Shanda Craig has served our community with this event.

The Senior High Ladycats wrapped up summer team camps today at Greenwood. The girls showed tons of improvement throughout the camps, and now get to fine-tune the areas of weakness during practice these next two weeks. Our first match is at Van Buren on August 21st.

The Mena High School Band began summer practice on Monday at 8:00am. They will continue every weekday through Tuesday, August 12th.

The Senior High Ladycats had a great day 2 at Benton. The varsity beat Greenbrier, Clarksville, and Mountain Home. They split sets with Benton.
The JV showed tremendous improvement in several areas today and has grown over the last two weeks. However, they fell short in each set.
The Ladycats are back in action on Friday at Lakeside's team camp.

This week, members of the Mena Public Schools administrative team are attending the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators conference to gear up for a great school year ahead!



🎉 Congratulations to Mrs. Ashcraft for winning a door prize!



🤖 Dr. Smith also took the stage to present innovative ways AI can support school administrators in streamlining daily tasks and improving efficiency.



We are proud to represent Mena and continue learning new strategies to better serve our students, staff, and community! #MenaProud #LeadershipInLearning #AIinEducation

Crews will be resurfacing the Mena Middle School and Mena High School parking lots over the next several days. Please refrain from using these lots until the project is complete... Thank you...

Teams from DeQueen, Mansfield, Mt. Ida, Dierks & Foreman were at Bob Carver Bearcat Stadium on Thursday for the Mena Team Camp. The 2025-2026 football season is one month away. Check the complete schedule at the link below. https://www.menaschools.org/o/athletics/athletics?filter_ids=19617

A group of Mena faculty are attending the Arkansas School Behavior Conference in Benton today.

Senior High Cheer got Superior Ribbons on the last day of NCA Camp at Waldron. Emmi Hensley Lily Kate Doughty Chloe Cossey Rayleigh Goodnight All made the NCA All-American Team

🎉 The Mena Junior Varsity Cheer Squad had an incredible week at cheer camp in Waldron! 🐾📣 These hardworking athletes brought the energy, spirit, and skills — and it paid off! They earned: 🏆 Superior Rating in Band Chant 🏆 Superior Rating in Game Day Cheer 🏆 Herkie Team Award 🏆 Technical Excellence Award for Pyramid Stunts We’re so proud of their dedication and teamwork! Way to represent, Mena JV Cheer! ❤️🖤 #BearcatPride #MenaCheer #JVStrong #CheerCamp2025

Ladycat Volleyball participated in a camp at Ouachita Baptist University on Friday.
Mena will be at the Benton Camp on Tuesday, July 29th.

The Jr. Ladycats hit the court today at the Clarksville Team Camp and gave it everything they had! 💪🏐
Varsity came out strong with wins over Greenwood, Atkins, and Dover, split with Conway Christian, and took some tough losses to Clarksville and Mansfield.
JV showed grit too—grabbing wins against Atkins and Mansfield, and battling hard in matches against Conway Christian, Clarksville, Dover, and Russellville.
We saw growth in every single game, and we’re so proud of how these girls continue to compete and improve! 👏
Next stop: Dover next week
Let’s go, Ladycats!

Day 2 at Henderson State Volleyball Teamcamp for the Senior High Ladycats went extremely well. Both teams went undefeated this morning in pool play and then competed in bracket play this afternoon. The Varsity Ladycats won their bracket, and the JV Ladycats lost in the semifinals. The Ladycats next team camp is at Ouachita Baptist on Friday.

Congratulations to 2025 Mena High School graduate Elijah Smith on scoring a 36 super score on his ACT.

New employee orientation was held on Wednesday in the Mena High School Library. The district wide open house is Thursday, August 7th. The first day of school is Wednesday, August 13th.

Bearcat Basketball hosted a team camp on Wednesday in the Union Bank Center.

You can read about the 2025 Mena Bearcats in the latest edition of Hooten's Arkansas Football. You won't find this cover but you will find the magazine at James' Super Save Foods and the Mena Wal Mart Supercenter.
https://www.facebook.com/HootensArkansasFootball