The 2026 season for the Pine Bluff NAACP ACT-SO Program has officially opened.
ACT-SO, which stands for AfroAcademics, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics, held its first two contest categories on March 7 (Visual Arts) and March 14 (Humanities), according to Stuff in The Bluff.com.
Competitions will also include Music and Spoken Word on April 4, and STEM and Computer Science on April 11.
To kick off the new year, a public speaking workshop was recently held for ACT-SO participants at Indigo Blue Coffeehouse in Pine Bluff.
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The students were paired with a group from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s Emerging Scholars Leadership Institute (ESLI).
Workshop facilitators included Tim Campbell, executive director of the ESLI; Kathy Richards, associate director of Placement and Assessment; and ESLI program scholars.
Maryann Lee, chair of the NAACP ACT-SO Program and owner of Indigo Blue Coffeehouse, orchestrated the event. Robert Treadwell, president of the Pine Bluff Branch NAACP, was in also in attendance.
The workshop included dispelling the fear of public speaking, the proper use of body language, audience engagement and relatedness.
Campbell served as the lead facilitator. Describing the students as “energy partners,” he later shared his thoughts on the positive impact of working with the youth.
“Working with the Pine Bluff NAACP ACT-SO Program students and Program Chair Maryann Lee, who is doing a phenomenal job creating space to cultivate talent, confidence, and leadership in young people, was truly an honor,” Campbell said.
“ESLI was proud to support the public speaking workshop and engage with such a talented group of students. Our current ESLI scholars provided direct mentorship, shared relevant skills, and served as strong examples for the participants. Their creativity, presence, and willingness to grow truly stood out. We were also excited to host ACT-SO participants at our dining etiquette training, where they showed up, engaged fully, and represented themselves with excellence. The future is bright with programs and students like these leading the way,” Campbell said.
The session concluded with impromptu presentations from the ACT-SO participants in their selected categories and feedback from the ESLI scholars, followed by networking and lunch.
Leaders agreed that the day’s event has led to a new partnership between ACT-SO and ESLI.
To learn more about ACT-SO, visit https://vimeo.com/378283796 or https://www.pbnaacpact-so.org/, or contact Maryann Lee at (870) 718-5330 or mizmaryann@gmail.com.