Four years ago, the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts welcomed its first cohort of sophomores to campus. The pilot Early Entrance program provided a pathway for a small group of students on an accelerated academic path to begin their ASMSA experience a year earlier than they could have in the past.
ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice often describes ASMSA’s students as populating two different but equally important groups — transitional and transformational.
Transitional students are those who often come from school districts where they have had more advanced learning opportunities before coming to ASMSA. Their educational background enables them to immediately begin focusing on ASMSA’s rigorous coursework. These were the students who qualified for the initial Early Entrance program.
Transformational students often have faced gaps in learning opportunities — whether they are based on family income, limited available courses or lack of academic counseling among other reasons. They may be some of the best, brightest and most motivated students; however, they lack the solid foundation.
To help address those opportunity gaps for the transformational students, ASMSA introduced the HELIX Prep Academy this year. Based on a previous summer program called Helping Elevate Low-Income Students to Excellence that was sponsored by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, HELIX Prep Academy is designed to bring a small group of transformational students to campus as sophomores and prepare them to excel in their junior year and beyond. The first cohort includes 18 students from across the state.
