Lt. Gov. Mark Darr visited ASMSA on Oct. 6. Lt. Gov. Darr has been visiting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics programs across the state. ASMSA is one of 13 public, residential high schools in the country focusing on STEM.
Below is an article by The Sentinel-Record reporter Jenn Ballard who accompanied Darr and his staff on the tour of ASMSA.
By Jenn Ballard, The Sentinel Record
Arkansas Lt. Gov. Mark Darr visited the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts Thursday to learn more about the school’s development with the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics program.
Mia Anderson, ASMSA’s public relations specialist, said Darr visited the school because “we are the leader in STEM education in the state.”
“We’ve been trying to find out more about this STEM initiative, and we’ve heard this school is very advanced. We wanted to learn a bit more about it,” Darr said.
Darr was given a guided tour of 13 classes in the math, science, English and arts departments by Janet Hugo, ASMSA director, and Brian Monson, science department chair.
Sarah Beth Lowe, communications director for Darr, said Hugo “did a great job of giving us a tour and meeting with the lieutenant governor and with the students that were there from Paris, Ark., to Mayflower, to Little Rock.”
She said the STEM Works initiative was launched by Gov. Mike Beebe about a month ago to build the education of high schools and universities in the science, technology, engineering and math fields to meet the escalating demands of the job market.
“The lieutenant governor has been traveling the state, visiting charter schools, public schools, private schools to meet with the students and educators,” Lowe said.
“We’re trying to go class to class to see what different mechanisms they’re using for math and science studies and how we can better encourage our youth to focus in these areas and stay focused through post-secondary education.”
The program is based on schools that have demonstrated effective tactics to educate students in those areas, and Lowe said ASMSA is a “prime example” of such a school.
“The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts has been around since 1993, and they set the standards here in the state,” she said. “They’re a tremendous school with wonderful lab facilities, teachers from all over the state who come down and those students are very gifted in math and science.”
Lowe said visiting ASMSA will benefit the STEM initiative because it could lead as an example of how the school encourages its students to pursue those fields.
“Since they have been around for almost 20 years doing math and science studies, what ways are they using this to encourage their students?” Lowe asked.
“How are they educating them better, and what are those methods we can take down to the public schools and rural communities and communities all over the state?”
While visiting each classroom, Hugo shared information with Darr about the school and highlighted the science labs.
“When we interview kids for admissions, we’ll say, ‘Tell us about the labs you’ve done,’ and they’ll be like ‘We haven’t done any labs’ or ‘We looked at onions’ skin cells,’” Hugo said. “They come here, and you’ll see today, it’s just lab, lab, lab, lab, lab, because this is part of our curriculum.”
Monson said the class schedules are designed to have longer classes for students on certain days to accommodate their time in the lab.
Hugo said each student must complete two years at the school to graduate from it, and one of the reasons students opt to attend the school is because of its scholarship opportunities.
“Last year’s class was offered $15 million in scholarships,” she said.
“It was a small class of 86 that graduated, so do the math. They get accepted everywhere. Sixty-five percent stay in state, typically. The rest go to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, Yale, Stanford; they’re all over the place. They typically get accepted to almost anywhere they apply.”
Hugo said ASMSA students “give up a lot” to attend the school.
“They don’t have the freedom of being able to jump in their cars and going wherever they want,” she said. Students can travel home on the weekends, with the exception of two weekends each year. Each student must sign in and sign out when entering or exiting the facility.
Monson said Darr visiting the school was beneficial because it provides recognition for ASMSA.
“One of the biggest problems we have is that a lot of people just don’t even know we exist,” Monson said. “Anytime we can get someone here to see what we’re doing, it helps with that aspect.
“Even people here in town, I tell them where I work, and they’re like ‘I didn’t even know we had that.’”