Maine School of Science and Mathematics
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The Maine School of Science and Mathematics is a Magnet school in Limestone, Maine, or as students have said, "The frigid North." Students from all over the state of Maine as well as some from other states and countries are enrolled in MSSM. Students at MSSM are offered a variety of courses that would not be offered at the schools in which they were previously enrolled.
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[edit] Application
In order to apply to the MSSM students must complete: a) an application b) a few essays c) the SAT or PSAT, and d) an interview. Applicants generally come from Maine but do not always. Students from Maine are required to pay only for room and board (between $4000 and $5000 per year as of 2006-2007), whereas students from outside of the state of Maine are required to pay tuition as well as room and board (between $18,000 and $22,000 per year as of 2006-2007).
[edit] Courses
Four departments at the MSSM include Mathematics, Science, Humanities, and Computer Science and Computing Technologies. Each contains its own faculty, both full-time and adjunct, with some teachers crossing over departmental boundaries when needed. The faculty is an eclectic group drawn from within Maine as well as across the country. They include award-winning educators having taught overseas, public school, private school, gifted and talented, magnet school, and business or industry backgrounds.
Courses at MSSM include topics ranging from sociology to mystery literature, though the real focuses are, of course, math and science. Numerous courses offered are Advanced Placement. Foreign language courses are also offered and include Spanish, French, Latin, and Mandarin Chinese. Courses are taught all day long, as opposed to being just in the morning and early afternoon like most high schools, and the schedule of the school also mimics that of most colleges.
Math courses at MSSM include Advanced Math, Precalculus, Calculus, Linear algebra, Statistics, Differential equations and recently, Real analysis. Science courses include Physics, Chemistry and Biology - all of which have honor's and advanced placement levels - as well as Astronomy, Anatomy and physiology, and Psychology.
A math team is available at MSSM. Generally, 30-45 students are on the math team in a given year.
Computer Science courses available are Introduction to Programming and Algorithms, Data Structures, Comparative Programming Languages, Web Design and Implementation, Directed Studies, and Computer Science Seminar with more being added each year. The computer science seminar students who research in Computers and Human Interaction (CHI) coauthoring with their instructor have presented refereed papers to professional conferences in New York City, NY, Washington, D.C., Barcelona, Spain, and Honolulu, HI. Over a four year period, students from the Computer Science Seminar course, have submitted six papers to international conferences with all being accepted for presentation through a double blind review process.
Although not all courses at MSSM are Advanced Placement courses, students can request an AP test for any subject for which they feel able to test out. In the past, students have tested out of up to two years of college courses in a given subject.
[edit] Teachers
Teachers at MSSM are usually educated well enough to work in colleges. Also not all teachers at the MSSM work full-time; for example, one course may meet only once a week, and the teacher of that course may have another job outside of MSSM. When asked what he thought of the teachers at MSSM one student replied, simply, "They're good." Teachers at the MSSM collectively come from backgrounds in industry, higher education, as well as secondary education. Many have garnered awards and recognition on the state, national, and international level.
The teachers at MSSM often go beyond what would be expected, to ensure their students are able to get the help they need, academically or otherwise. It is not uncommon to see a teacher in the dormitory on a Saturday night and some of them can even be found talking to students over instant messenger. On field trips, many teachers help the Residential Intern staff (similar to the college Resident assistant) by acting as chaperones and/or drivers.
[edit] J-Terms
Another characteristic of MSSM unlike other high schools is the "J-Term", which is short for "January term." In J-Terms students are able to engage in several academic activities, such as internships, trips, and classes. In the 2006-2007 school year, one offering is a trip to Sri Lanka.
Until the current school year (2006-2007), MSSM offered a "May-Term" instead of a "J-Term." It took place at the end of May, after the end of the second semester and before graduation. These courses are requirements for graduation from MSSM - all students must complete one per year of attendance. Past trip locations have included the Galapagos Islands, Ireland, China and Costa Rica.
