Northwest Arkansas’ school bells rang Wednesday morning as area schools began the 2009/10 school year.

Bentonville High School held their graduation ceremony at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville Saturday May 23, 2009. Bentonville has the second largest graduating class in Northwest Arkansas with 648 students. The schools’ graduates garnered $8,546,984 in scholarships, $3.5 million more than last year. Of those, $151,800 were community scholarships. Ryan Adams, Rob Ferrell, Austin McCollum, Brandon Sleeth and Colton Steen were awarded full scholarships to the U.S. Air Force Academy. Each scholarship is valued at $403,000. Bentonville students also acheived on the athletic field, winning state championships in football, girls cross country, volleyball, wrestling, boys swim/dive, girls swim/dive, girls indoor track, girls soccer, and girls outdoor track.

A gallery of photos from the Mountie Relays track meet Friday in Rogers.

On Saturday, March 14, 2009, I was at Elm Tree Elementary School in Bentonville to photograph Scout pack 121’s Pinewood Derby. I think we have all seen photos of this event and the racing didn’t excite me as much as the creativity the scouts used in creating their cars. Here are some images from the event that show more of the car designs.

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009, I had an assignment to photograph students at Lincoln Junior High in Bentonville during a meeting of the guitar club. I have to admit I am a little jealous of how well these young people can play. I have tried to play a little bit of everything – guitar, violin (fiddle), and banjo. And when I was young, took lessons for the piano and the cello. I never really did stick with any of these instruments for very long and it shows in how I play.

It is great that these students have a place to get together and jam with each other, even if it is just for 30 minutes before school. I hope they realize just how much talent they have and stick with the instrument. Here are a few more images of the players in action.