It’s summertime, and the living is busy for students in UALR’s Donaghey Scholars Program. Students in the top scholars program use their breaks to gain practical experience, advance their careers, travel abroad, and enrich their lives.

Two Donaghey scholars – Brendon Tucker of Cabot and Nora Bouzihay of Jonesboro – will be in the nation’s capital with the Washington Center Internship Program, the largest independent, nonprofit academic internship program in the country.

Tucker, a geology and Spanish major, will work at Rock Creek National Park. Bouzihay, a biology junior, will be interning with the Federal Drug Administration.

Here are what other Donaghey scholars are up to this summer:

• Chloe Deaton, a sophomore social work major from Little Rock, will take blacksmithing and weaving classes at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina.

• Sarah Brown, a sophomore construction engineering major from Sherwood, is interning with McCarthy Building Companies in Dallas. She will work at the Combined Heat and Power Facility at the Dallas Veterans Administration hospital campus.

• Syd Behrens from Little Rock, a senior majoring in system engineering and mathematics, will be interning with Comfort Systems. The national energy engineering firm focuses on optimizing energy systems for large facilities.

• Chelsye Garrett, a senior studio art major from Jonesboro, is hiking the 95-mile West Highland Way in Scotland before traveling through Switzerland, the Netherlands, and studying abroad in France.

• Porntip Israsena, a senior international studies and Spanish major from North Little Rock, is traveling this summer to teach English at a children’s home for six weeks. She will meet with some of the families of Rwandan students at UALR in the UALR Presidential Scholars and Bridge2Rwanda programs.

• Xeniya Rudolf from Ukraine, a junior biology major, will be doing research on the biology of aging this summer with Dr. Fusheng Tang, associate professor of biology in UALR’s College of Science and Mathematics, thanks to a grant from the Science Scholars program. The research is examining cell processes linked to aging.

• Myriam Saavedra of North Little Rock, a senior majoring in art, will be taking a “Language of Jewelry” class at the Penland School of Crafts, a national center for craft education dedicated to helping people live creative lives. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, the school offers short courses and workshops in books and paper, clay, drawing, glass, iron, metals, photography, printmaking and letterpress, textiles, and wood.

• Jessica Williams of Denton, Texas, is a senior vocal performance major who is one of 10 students nationally accepted into the Summer Voice Institute’s program, “The Naked Voice for Singers and Teachers,” at Northwestern University. She will receive private lessons and dramatic coaching, as well as sit in on vocal pedagogy seminars. On June 8, she will perform in an opera scenes gala in Denton.

• Alexandro Leme of Sao Paulo, Brazil, majoring in art history, will travel to Yucatan, Mexico, as part of Dr. Laura Amrhein’s course on Mayan Art. Leme’s photography exhibition, “Small Town,” is currently on view at the Arkansas Studies Institute.

• Hope Brookins of Bryant, a senior with double major of political science and criminal justice, will be in Los Angeles interning at Sweets Indeed, an event styling company.

• Meri Calderon, a senior international studies major from North Little Rock, is studying language in Istanbul, Turkey.

• Omar Berumen, a senior from Mexico City majoring in international studies and computer science, and senior Amber Jackson, have been accepted into the McNair Program. Jackson plans to assist the social work department in collecting data for the evaluation of the Arkansas’ Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

• Memory Apata, a senior music and German studies major from Maumelle, is hosting the afternoon shows on Classical 90.5 and plans to attend a Vocal Jazz Workshop at the University of North Texas. She will also play Liesl in the Sound of Music at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse in Little Rock.

In addition to these students, several students will study abroad in France, Germany, and Spain this summer as part of their scholarship package.

The Donaghey Scholars Program is the campus-wide honors program open to all majors. With a significant financial package and unique honors curriculum, the program is a challenging and rewarding opportunity for UALR’s brightest students.