Currently, the U.S. is not stacking up in educating students in STEM disciplines. "America lags in providing top-level schooling in STEM fields…, and this may jeopardize future economic growth, job creation, and international competitiveness" (Smarick, 2013, p. 12). International assessments of student performance, including the Program…

Seventeen state-sponsored residential math and science schools have been created across the country to direct talented teens toward STEM careers. Admission is selective, based on competitive grades, standardized test scores, and references. Most of the schools also require preadmission interviews. However, selection interviews may be challenged as…

Diverse learners are capable of becoming talented professionals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)--but they need opportunities to develop. "Just as in generations past, there are talented students from every demographic and from every part of the country who with hard work and with the proper opportunities will form the…

In conjunction with an NSF-funded mentoring program that partners University of Utah engineering professors and their undergraduate and graduate students with high school students from several Salt Lake City high schools that have a high percentage of low income and ethnic minority students, the Academy for Math, Engineering, and Science (AMES)…

The National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science, and Technology (NCSSSMST) has long been concerned with assisting member schools in meeting the needs of the under-represented populations in their communities. This article presents a condensed report that summarizes a major project that has continued relevance…

The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA), located in Aurora Illinois, is a public, three-year residential high school for students who are academically talented in mathematics and/or science. The mission statement of IMSA is to "ignite and nurture creative, ethical, scientific minds that advance the human condition." This corresponds…

In life, each person is offered opportunities, one after the other, until life ceases. For the author, one of those opportunities was to attend the Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center (KAMSC), an NCSSSMST school. While attending KAMSC as a member of its inaugural class required a bit of imagination regarding the opportunity at hand, and…

High school is, in many ways, an experience many would rather not relive, even in memory. As the author reflects on her experiences at the Kalamazoo Area Math and Science Center (KAMSC), she is struck by how positive her memories are. For her and many of her classmates, their educational experiences up to that point had not been especially…