CHS Honor Graduate Luncheon 2023

It was an exciting day for over 200 seniors at Cabot High School. The 2023 Cabot High School Honor Graduate Luncheon was held at the Veterans Park Event Center on Wednesday, April 19th. Currently, close to 230 CHS students will graduate with honors.

Along with earning a GPA of 3.5 or higher, there are specific course requirements that must be met in order to be an honor graduate. A student must also be enrolled at Cabot High School for two of the last three semesters beginning with the second semester of the junior year.

Jamie Freeman, a 2013 graduate of Cabot High School served as the guest speaker. During her time at Cabot, she fell in love with chemistry: the lecture content and the chemical demonstrations of Mrs. Tharp and Mrs. Usery. This love led her to the University of Central Arkansas to major in chemistry.

A first-generation collee graduate, Ms. Freeman earned her ACS Certified B.S. in Chemistry from UCA in 2017 with a minor in Mathematics. Upon graduation, she took a three-year-hiatus before enrolling in the graduate program at UALR in Fall 2020. In that time, she worked as the Lab Coordinator in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at UCA where she prepped chemicals and solutions for teaching labs, hired and trained undergraduate teaching assistants, and occasionally taught freshman chemistry labs.  Through this role, Ms. Freeman developed a passion for teaching chemistry labs and being involved in the establishment of best chemical health and laboratory safety practices.  

In Fall 2020, Ms. Freeman assumed the position of Chemical Hygiene Officer (CHO) within the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at UCA. In this role, she works closely with faculty and students to establish new lab safety initiatives and policies within her department, coordinates chemical waste, and provides lab safety training for chemistry research students and departmental student workers. Currently, she serves as chair of the departmental safety committee and is a member of the University Safety and EHS committees on the UCA campus. With that, Ms. Freeman is a CHO by day and a graduate student by night. 
 
Upon completion of her M.S. in Chemistry in Fall 2023, she will begin teaching freshman chemistry lectures within the Chemistry Department at UCA with the ultimate goal of developing a laboratory safety course for sophomore and junior level chemistry students.

Thank you Ms. Freeman for being an amazing role model to our students. Also, a big thank you to our hosts, the Cabot Chamber of Commerce and Veterans Park Event Center. Thank you to Dairy Queen for providing lunch, as well as the volunteers for helping serve and clean up.