A summer get-together for currently accepted and prospective students of the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science (MSMS) will be held Saturday at Greenwood Leflore Hospital.
The event will be held in Conference Rooms A, B and C from 1 to 4 p.m. Parents of incoming students and anyone interested in the prestigious state school is invited to attend.
“Fourteen students from the Delta have been accepted into the program for next year,” said Emily Butler O’Bryant of Greenwood, parent adviser and regional representative for MSMS.
“What we’re doing is to give them a summer get-together for students and parents to get to know one another.”
Three of the 14 admitted to spend their junior and senior years at MSMS were from Greenwood High School: Kymbria Thomas, Kailah Ware and Khytavia Fleming.
Others include two from Ruleville Central High School, two from Holmes County Central High School, three from East Side High School in Cleveland, one from Cleveland High School, one from Winona High School, one from Lee Academy in Clarksdale and one from Washington Academy in Greenville.
Admission is competitive, and any Mississippi resident who is currently a high school sophomore, whether from a private or public school or home-schooled, may apply for admission. Details are on the school’s website at www.themsms.org.
Spike Harris, coordinator for admissions, will be on hand Saturday to talk to interested parents and students about the school’s Summer Enrichment Programs and to talk with entering students about what to expect once they enter the campus.
O’Bryant said parents and students will be coming from the southern coastal region of the state and the central region as well.
“Parents can talk about things like carpooling to get their kids back and forth from home to school,” O’Bryant said.
As regional coordinator, she holds multiple workshops across the Delta every year helping interested students prepare for application to MSMS.
The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science is located on the Mississippi University for Women campus in Columbus. It is available to highly qualified students for their junior and senior years of high school. Students live in residence halls and experience an academically rigorous curriculum.
Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, the website says, “exists to meet the individual needs of gifted and talented students.”
The school is a member of the National Consortium for Secondary STEM Schools and focuses especially on science, technology, engineering and mathematics while also offering a range of challenging classes in humanities and other areas.
Attendance at the school does not guarantee admission to college or scholarships, but attendees generally matriculate to college, with 60 percent attending Mississippi institutions of higher learning and others attending colleges and universities around the country. The class of 2016 received $21 million in scholarships to various schools.
For more information, contact O’Bryant at 299-1742.
• Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
