| John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics & Science | |
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Achieve not any college, but the best colleges.
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| Location | |
| Roxbury, Massachusetts, United States | |
| Information | |
| Established | 1893 |
| Headmaster | Steve Sullivan |
| Grades | 7–12 |
| Enrollment | c. 1,300 |
| Mascot | Tiger |
| Affiliations | Boston Public Schools |
| Website | http://www.obryant.us/ |
The John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science, formerly known as Boston Technical High School (sometimes abbreviated as O'B) is a college preparatory public examination school along with Boston Latin School and Boston Latin Academy that specializes in mathematics, science, technology and engineering in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The school is currently located on 55 Malcolm X Boulevard in the neighborhood of Roxbury, Massachusetts. With a student body of 1,300 7th–12th graders, this school is part of the Boston Public Schools.
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Now over one hundred years old, the O'Bryant began as the Mechanic Arts High School in 1893. Until the early 1970s, it was an all-boys school. In 1944, the school became Boston Technical High School. The original building containing the various shops, woodworking, machine shop, forge shop and drafting rooms was built around 1900 and was located on the corner of Dalton and Belvidere Streets in the Back Bay. The Hilton Hotel is located there today. In 1909 the five-story class room, chemist and physics labs building was completed on Scotia Street adjacent to the older building. Later, the school moved to the building that originally housed Roxbury Memorial High School (1930 to 1960) at 205 Townsend Street in Roxbury, Massachusetts. That school building is now the home of Boston Latin Academy. Boston Technical High School remained there until 1987 when it relocated to a new building at 55 New Dudley Street (Now Malcolm X Boulevard.) In 1989, Boston Technical High School and Mario Umana Technical High School merged but still kept the name of Boston Technical High School. In 1992, the school was renamed after Boston's eminent education leader, John D. O'Bryant.
This school is a science and math specialized institution and it is one of the examination schools in the greater Boston Area. It is a relatively new exam school that offers many advanced placement courses in math and science and it's a school with many excellent students. It is the most diverse of the three exam schools and it's one of the hosts of the JROTC club. Through partnerships with MIT, Northeastern University, Microsoft, STEP Inspire, and other area businesses and institutions, the O'Bryant looks to lead science, technology, engineering, and math instruction and programming for the city of Boston.
Admission to O'Bryant is determined by a combination of a student's score on the Independent School Entrance Examination and the student's recent grades, and is limited to residents of Boston proper. Although the O'Bryant runs from the 7th through the 12th grade, it only admits students into the 7th, 9th & 10th grade. Unlike the other two Boston examination schools, the day is composed of six periods instead of seven and there is no requirement to take a course of Latin. There is a requirement three years of the same language (Mandarin-Chinese, Spanish, and French) for all students who enter at seventh, ninth, and tenth grades. Unlike other public schools there is also a requirement of six years of mathematics, including a requirement to pass pre-calculus.
Gateway to the LMA, is a successful program of New York that prepares low-income and minority students for high-level careers in medicine, science, and engineering run by the Assistant Principle Ms.Bettie Nolan. The gateway program involves extra instructional periods, after-school tutorial, smaller classrooms, more intermediate classes and internships with science-based institution. Applications are open to eight graders and they start it when they enter ninth-grade. The students of the program must take the classes/courses that it offers until they graduate high school. To be accepted to the program, it is quite similar to the original New York's Gateway criteria; Students must complete an essay consisting of three question, have regular attendance, generally have grades above 80 on a 100-point scale (Equivalent to above B-). The term "LMA" is an abbreviation for Longwood Medical Area.It is a very competitive program that takes only the students in which they think are going to be able to handle the pressure.
The school is home to a state-of-the-art solar energy system created by students at the school in June, 2004. The 2 kW photovoltaic (PV) array, installed on the southeastern wall of the school, uses semiconductor technology to convert sunlight into pollution-free electricity. The solar equipment was donated by the MIT Space Systems Laboratory through a grant from NASA. The O'Bryant School also received support on curriculum development from the MIT Edgerton Center. Heliotronics of Hingham, MA provided a Solar Learning Lab, which gives students real-time system data on power production, efficiency, and weather conditions for analysis.
In the year 2006, the O'Bryant ranked #3 in the entire state for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) 10th Grade Mathematics. Over 98% of the students who took the test received "Advanced" or "Proficient" on the 10th grade MCAS exam, taken in the spring of 2006. The O'Bryant also ranked #8 in the entire state for the MCAS in reading & literature. Over 95% of the students who took the test received 'Advanced" or "Proficient" on the 10th grade MCAS exams, taken in the spring of 2006.
Based on excellent performance on the 2006 MCAS, a total of 899 students in the Boston Public Schools have qualified for the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship, which provides four years of free tuition to any state university or college in Massachusetts. To qualify for the scholarship, students had to score in the Advanced category (Level 4) on either the English Language Arts or Math sections of the MCAS exams and in at least Proficient (Level 3) on the other. Also, the students' scores had to rank in the top 25% of the district. In order to maintain the scholarship, students must complete their college program in four years or less and maintain a 3.0 grade point average.
The O'Bryant School was awarded the Siemens Award for Advanced Placement in 2003 by the Siemens Foundation. The O'Bryant offers an abundance of Advanced Placement classes such as Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Calculus, Statistics, English Literature and Composition, English Language and Composition, U.S. History, European History, U.S. Government & Politics and Spanish. In 2008 they added AP Environmental Science and Microeconomics.
All students must maintain a 2.67 GPA (B-) or higher in order to partake in any extracurricular activities. The extra curricular activities include fall, winter and spring sports. With its ties to colleges such as MIT, Harvard University, Microsoft & Northeastern University; the students at the O'Bryant school are offered with many programs that revolves around science, technology, math and engineering.
The mascot for all teams at the O'Bryant is the Tiger. Teams at the O'Bryant include Baseball, Basketball, Cheer leading, Football, Hockey, Rowing, Soccer, Softball, Swimming, Tennis, Track & Field, and Volleyball. The School's colors are blue and white.
There are a full range of clubs and programs that the school offers. Clubs include Chess, Drama, Dance, Step, Asian Culture Club, Haitian Culture Club, African International Club, Volunteering Club, and a junior chapter of the NSBE, Student Council, Talented and Gifted (TAG), National Honor Society, a Debate Team, a Math Team, Invent Team, Environmental Club, Robot Science, and a robotics team, Bio-Medical Health Club, forensics, Greentimes, Drama Club, Art Club,Key Club,Yearbook(middle and high school students)and Anime club. All students are welcomed to join any club in the school. BOYS indoor track city champs 5 years running. GIRLS indoor track city champs 14 years running. Coach Ortega is the 2008 scholastic coach of the year.
The School Newspaper, the O'B Edition, is the monthly school news paper, made possible by the journalism classes taken at the school. The newspaper covers community news, student opinion, entertainment news, an advice column and a sport section. The year book team, publishes the year book named The Technician until the year 1992, when Boston Technical High School changed its name to John D. O'Bryant School.
John D. O'Bryant was born in Boston on July 15, 1931. He attended and graduated from the Boston public schools and went on to earning both his bachelor's and master's degrees at Boston University. Mr. O’Bryant served in the United States Army and then became a teacher and guidance councilor from 1955 to 1969, the same year he was selected to be the vice president of Northeastern University. Mr. O’Bryant was the first African American ever to serve as vice president. He kept that position until his sudden death in 1992. Mr. O'Bryant was a tireless advocate for the children of Boston, taking the time to meet with students young and encourage them to set high goals and pursue a college education for a successful life.
*Graduate – Achievement – Graduation Year
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