After a hiatas due to the COVID pandemic, Arkansas Boys and Girls States returned to in-person experiences for select high school boys and girls from all across Arkansas this past week. The event was held from May 29-June 3 at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA).

Students from Paris High School attended both Boys State and Girls State. Those participating in Arkansas Girls State were: Anna Hart, Caroline Fields, Rachel O’Neal, and Maggie Richey. Paris high school boys participating in Arkansas Boys State were: Xavier Martin, Andrew Wells, and Jesse Wells.

According to the Arkansas Boys State website, “Arkansas Boys State is an immersive program in civics education designed for high school juniors. Since 1940, the week-long camp has transformed the lives of young men throughout our state and beyond. These young men have gone on to become incredible leaders, including President Bill Clinton, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, and Senator Tom Cotton — just to name a few.” 

The Arkansas Girls State website states that, “Arkansas Girls State is a summer program of education that has been sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary, Department of Arkansas since 1942. As of 2014, it has provided training for more than 55,000 Arkansas girls in the fundamental aspects of citizenship and practical government. The purpose of Arkansas Girls State is to educate young women of high school age in the duties, privileges, and responsibilities of American citizenship and to provide an opportunity for them to participate in the actual functioning of their government.”

The Paris delegations to both Boys and Girls States had great weeks and were elected to offices by their peers. In Girls State, Anna Hart was elected “Most Outstanding Citizen (Hutchinson City), Vice-Chairman (Hutchinson City), and Vice-Chairman (Smith County). Caroline Fields was elected as Circuit Clerk of Lewellan County. Rachel O’Neal was elected City Chairman of Kemp City, and both City Senator and County Chairman of Boozeman County. Maggie Richey was elected City Treasurer (Land City) and Federal County Clerk (Shanks County).

Boys States honors included Xavier Martin, elected to City Council (Cantrell City). Andrew Wells was elected to City Council (Rorex City) and as a State Representative. Paris HS senior Jesse Wells was elected both as a State Senator and as President Pro Tempore of the Senate.

Congratulations to the Paris delegations who participated in both Arkansas Boys State and Girls State. Both Paris delegations represented Paris and Logan County extremely well!

The Paris Board of Education held its regular monthly meeting for June last Tuesday (June 7) with a full agenda that contained a variety of administrative recommendations that ranged from facilities repair and improvements to policies approval and both student and employee personnel recommendations. The meeting was the first conducted by the board who was forced to run for re-election under the new election zoning requirements for members of school boards across Arkansas. As part of the Paris board’s agenda of business, the five members also voted to appoint board officers for the 2022-23 school and fiscal years.

At the forefront of the board’s agenda was the topic of mental health support for its students. The board considered recommendations for both online and in-person mental health support, as well as technological additions for both referrals and billing for the services. The Paris district is taking significant steps to take a leading position among school districts who are reacting to a movement and increased pressure to address mental health and school safety that has become a priority nationwide in light of the events in Uvalde, Texas, most recently. The board discussed how to improve mental health services for its students, as well as the long-term effects on safety within its schools. The district is already providing school resource officers for its schools; the actions under consideration by the board will address the mental health of students and protect student and staff safety, as well. Mental health issues have been a concern of school districts nationwide following the COVID pandemic and the subsequent quarantining of students that has taken place over the past two years.

In another highlighted action taken by the Paris Board of Education, the board approved a recommendation and bid to replace the roof at Paris Elementary School. Depending on the arrival of materials, the project to replace the PES roof could be completed this summer prior to the start of the new school year in August.

From minutes taken at the meeting, the five board members emerged from executive session and announced the election of board member Cory Wells as its President. Tracy Richey, who had served the board for several years as its President, was announced as the new Vice-President of the board. Beth Ulrich remains as the board secretary, and board member Dustin Schluterman was announced as the liaison for the board. The motion on the officers was approved by a unanimous 5-0 vote. The 5:30 p.m. meeting officially adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

The Paris Board of Education’s regular monthly meetings are usually held on the second Thursday of each month at the Paris Schools Administration Building.

It has become an annual occurrence for Paris basketball over the past four years; the naming of a new boys basketball coach for the upcoming season. Andrew Tencleve, former coach of the Cedarville Lady Pirates, was recently named as the new boys basketball coach at Paris. Tencleve will succeed Josh Ferrell who has moved on to take a position at Lincoln High School outside of Fayetteville. Tencleve becomes the fourth Eagles coach in as many years.

Recently I had the opportunity to visit with the new coach and to get his feelings on the move to Paris and the future of the team. In the 2021-22 season, the Eagles returned to the state playoffs, losing to eventual state champion Osceola. Two big pieces from that team, Jude Simmons, and Mequeill Ellingberg, have graduated. Their loss to the team represents significant size and inside presence that will not be there at the start of the 2022-23 season. The team will return three starters: senior Jesse Wells, senior Sam Muldrow, and junior Konnor Edwards. Other notable returners for the upcoming season include junior Juan Santos and junior Matthew Mainer. It will be important for other returning players to step-up as well next season. Coach Tencleve will also have to place a priority on developing player personnel from last year’s junior high team that struggled for most of their season in 2021-22.

But, summer in basketball is similar to spring in major league baseball; hope springs eternal, as they say. Everyone is optimistic this time of the year as teams participate in summer camps and workouts to develop new team chemistry with new combinations of starting line-ups, and, as seems to be the case with Paris, introduce a team to a new coach and a new system to learn before the November start to the season. This year, the Eagles and Lady Eagles basketball teams will again feature new head coaches at seasons’ start.

I spoke with new Eagles coach Andrew Tencleve by telephone last week, and I must say, I was very impressed with his remarks. Coach Tencleve indicated that he is excited to be in Paris and is looking forward to the challenge of the upcoming season. I started off our conversation by sharing with him that I was impressed with seeing his team at the end of the season that lost a lopsided game to the Lady Eagles, and then return a few days later in the district tournament and avenge the loss to Paris. I thought he made significant progress with a very young team that was showing huge potential for the next season. So, I asked Coach why he chose to leave Cedarville to coach at Paris. Coach responded by saying, “It was a combination of things, really. As far as what drew me to Paris, it is a good location for my family and myself. I grew up just down the road (attended high school at Subiacco). My high school days were most spent running around Paris with Paris guys. So, this is kind of my second home, although I did not go to school here. I was at Cedarville for 14 years. So, it (coaching stint at Cedarville) was a long time and was hard to leave that place. In that kind of time you are going to develop a lot of really close relationships. You know, ten years ago, if you were to ask me if I was going to retire there; but times kind of changed, and this opportunity arose, we took it, and we are ready to roll.”

Coach Tencleve was the boys coach at Cedarville for 12 of his 14 years there in the Pirates’ basketball program. The last two years, he guided the Lady Pirates’ program. “I enjoyed my two years of coaching girls basketball. But, with my son going to be a ninth grader this fall and getting to be of the age that he is about to start playing high school basketball, it was definitely very appealing to flip back to boys and be able to coach him while he is in high school.”

With Coach Tencleve now being the fourth head coach in as many years for the Paris boys program, I asked him what the team’s reaction and reception to him have been since he was named as the new head boys coach. Coach Tencleve commented, “Yes, it’s tough. When I got to Cedarville 14 years ago, it was the same situation there. I was at the time the fourth coach in as many years, and, you get a little “new coach fatigue” from the kids. It is really important that you are sincere with them and try to build relationships with them as quickly as you can. So far, so good. I has gone really well. We went to camp yesterday and we seem to be getting along really well. We have just got to get down to work and get better.”

After our conversation, I came away respecting Coach for the one simple reason that he places a great importance on being honest with his players as he coaches them. To this point, Coach stated, “I think one of the things that helps me connect with my players, whether it is coaching girls or boys, is that I am always honest with them. They know that I am going to be honest with them. And it is like we always talk about, I am going to tell you some things that you might not necessarily like or want to hear at times, but it is for your own good, and it is because I love you and we’re trying to turn you into the best human and best basketball player you can possibly be. Sometimes, that means some uncomfortable conversations have to happen.”

Looking ahead to the 2022-23 season, Coach reflected, “We graduated two big pieces (Simmons and Ellingberg) and that was the extent of the size we had under the basket. So, we are going to be small this year. We are going to be athletic and we are going to be able to do a lot of the things that I like to do, minus having a post presence on offense. We are going to play really, really hard. I wish our numbers were better; right now, we only have ten out, and that kind of limits what we can do in practice. But, I think they are buying in and I think that we have a chance to have a very good year. It is going to depend on how much we progress defensively and how we rebound the basketball. With our size issues, we are going to have to put a lot of work in that area (rebounding). When we went to camp yesterday, our need to work on rebounding showed early. And as we got tired, it became a huge issue.”

So, as the new season approaches next fall, all of us at RNN Sports with Andrew Tencleve and the Paris Eagles the best of luck next season. And watch for more summer sports coverage in RNN Sports as we move on summer football and volleyball coverage, all leading up to the start of the seasons beginning in August.

And one last note…thanks to everyone in Logan County who has welcomed RNN to your hometowns. You have responded in a big way with your subscriptions to Logan County’s newest weekly newspaper, and RNN is honored to bring you LOCAL coverage of both news and sports that interest all of you…thanks again for your subscriptions and readership!