Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics

Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics
City

Oklahoma City, OK

Established

1990

Type

Public Boarding School

Grades

11–12

Maximum Enrollment

144 students

The Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics (OSSM) is a two-year, public residential high school located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Established by the Oklahoma legislature, the school was designed to educate academically gifted high school juniors and seniors in advanced mathematics and science. OSSM opened doors to its inaugural class in 1990. It is a member of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology.

General

Of approximately three hundred applicants each year, 125 are selected for interviews and about 75 high school sophomores from across the state are admitted. The application process consists of nine short essays, submission of high school transcripts and standardized test scores (such as the ACT), recommendations from teachers and counselors, personal questionnaires of the student, a statement from the student's parents, and an on-campus interview.[1][2]

Students are accepted from all over the state of Oklahoma, and students from each of Oklahoma's 77 counties have been selected to attend.[3] Because students hail from across the state, all are required to live on campus during the week, though students living nearby often return home on weekends. Classes are held five days a week, with the earliest classes starting at 8am and the latest ending at 5:30pm. Some classes, such as astronomy lab, are held at night. Most students have breaks throughout the day depending on their individual, college-style schedule. Students are not allowed in the dorm during their breaks in the academic day, but are to stay academically engaged during these periods. Required physical education classes are held in the afternoon with each student participating in 45 minutes of supervised physical activity twice a week. Fine arts classes (two semesters are required for graduation) are also held in the evenings. On alternate Saturday mornings, students are required to take a three-hour test in math, physics, literature, history, or a national standardized test (ACT, SAT, or PSAT). One weekend a month is called an open weekend, with the students allowed to either go home or stay in the dorms, and the other Saturday is an extended weekend with everyone required to go home with an extra day of rest.

To study at OSSM, students have to give up some luxuries of the outside world, such as cell phones, in-room television, DVDs, and video games; students are also not allowed to keep appliances in their rooms. Two hours of study are required each weeknight from 8-10pm, with students on academic probation (resulting from unsatisfactory grades) required to study for an additional hour each night, beginning at 7pm. Lights out is at 11pm every night of the week. OSSM fulfills its educational mission at no charge to its students; tuition, books and other class materials, as well as room and board, are all provided by the State of Oklahoma.[4]

One hundred percent of OSSM graduates are college-bound, and approximately 60% of OSSM graduates choose to remain in-state for college. Of the 1,211 (as of May 2011) graduates since the school's inception, 323 students have been named National Merit Scholars, and an additional 167 students have been selected as National Merit Commended Scholars.[3] Graduates also show exemplary performance in other national scholarship programs, with 227 graduates selected as Robert C. Byrd Scholars, and 124 students nominated for the Presidential Scholars Program, of whom thirteen were named semifinalists and five selected as Presidential Scholars.[3] Graduates excel in statewide scholarship programs, with 553 students receiving Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Scholarships and 92 students named Academic All-Staters by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence.[3] Twice, in 1998 and again in 2000, the school had the highest ACT composite scores of any high school in the nation.[5] OSSM is also listed as one of the best public high schools by the Washington Post, in a list of top-performing schools with elite students.[6]

Academics

OSSM's graduation requirements include four semesters of History, four semesters of Literature, two years of the same foreign language (unless this was completed at the student's previous high school), one semester of computer science, four semesters of mathematics including math through Calculus II, three semesters of physics including physics through Electricity and Magnetism, two semesters of chemistry, two semesters of biology, four semesters of physical education, two semesters of fine arts, and two semesters of science, math, or computer science electives.[7] OSSM regularly offers the following classes:[7]

Biology: Vertebrate Zoology, Invertebrate Zoology, Botany, Genetics, Anatomy and Physiology, Endocrinology, Embryology, Microbiology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Biochemistry.

Chemistry: General Chemistry I, General Chemistry II, Organic Chemistry I, Organic Chemistry II, and Biochemistry.

Computer Science: Introduction to Computer Science, Object Oriented Programming with Java, Data Structures I, Data Structures II, Computer Architecture, and Operating Systems.

Foreign Languages: Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Latin, and Spanish.

Geoscience: Exploration Geoscience, Geoscience Seminar

Humanities: American Literature, World Literature, American History, East Asian History, Arab Civilization, and Western Civilization

Physics: General Physics, Mechanics, Electricity and Magnetism, Thermal Physics Waves and Optics, Astronomy, Introduction to Modern Physics, Modern Physics II, and Electronic Circuits.

Mathematics: Pre-Calculus II, Pre-Calculus III, Calculus I, Calculus II, Multivariate Calculus, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, and Probability and Statistics.

Elective Courses: Abstract Algebra (Mathematics), Chemical Thermodynamics (Chemistry), Real Analysis (Mathematics), Foundations of Mathematics (Mathematics), and other classes have also been offered.

Fine Arts: Jazz Band, Beginning Guitar, Intermediate Guitar, Choir, Printmaking, Drawing, Mixed Media, Ballroom Dance and Studio Dance.

Additionally, students may arrange to take directed studies with faculty members. Many OSSM students choose to participate in the mentorship program in their senior year, in which they perform research with a mentor (who may be an OSSM faculty member, or an off campus expert).

Class Scheduling and Course Structure

OSSM uses a college style schedule for classes, in which classes generally have three hours of lecture per week for each course, divided into either one hour each on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday or one and one half hours each on Tuesday and Thursday, in addition to any laboratory component the class may have. Labs for Physics, Chemistry, and Biology classes generally meet in the afternoon for two to three hours one day a week. Some upper level classes in these fields however, such as Genetics, Chemical Thermodynamics, and Modern Physics II do not have a lab component.

Mathematics classes at and below Calculus II are accompanied by a one and one half hour 'math lab' each week. These are essentially sessions that give students a chance to work problems and ask questions. General Chemistry I and II are each accompanied by a one hour chemistry practicum which may be similar to the math lab or used as an extra hour of lecture, at the professor's discretion.

Foreign Language classes are offered in two 45-minute sections that meet Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Physical Education is divided into four 45-minute blocks per week. Fine arts classes meet for 1 hour and 15 minutes each week. A student may enroll in multiple fine arts classes if they choose, provided they are in good academic standing. Roughly every other Saturday morning, students are required to take a three hour examination in either History, Literature, or Mathematics.

Campus

OSSM is located on sprawling thirty-two acres at the corner of 10th Avenue and Lincoln Boulevard near downtown Oklahoma City, near the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Its main academic building, Lincoln School, was built in 1903, and used as an elementary school in Oklahoma City Public Schools until the 1980s. The building was renamed the Manning Academic Center (MAC) following the retirement of OSSM's first president, Edna Manning. The MAC houses the computer lab, the campus auditorium, nineteen classrooms, six labs, a student lounge, a sun-bathed study area, basement, and faculty and administrative offices. The Dan Little Residence Hall, with a capacity of 144 students and six faculty families, was completed in 1998, located at the center of campus, complete with a basement containing billiards, game tables, and a TV for students to use during their nightly free time. The basement is also a reinforced storm shelter and is large enough to house the entire school population. The Gymnasium, opened in March 1999, provides a full-size basketball court, a weight room, and a dance floor, among other amenities. The Samson Science and Discovery Center was completed in 2001 and houses three chemistry (complete with hoods for chemical reactions) labs, four physics labs, one computer lab, and one demonstration/lecture room as well as many personal research labs. In Fall 2003, the Senator Bernice Shedrick Library opened, with a capacity of 50,000 books and 10 computers for student use.[8]

Demographics

Dormitory Expansion

In April 2010, OSSM broke ground on a new dormitory expansion designed to double the maximum student population, increasing it from 144 to 288.[9] As of fall 2011 this expansion has not been completed.[10]

OSSM Administration and Staff

Administration

Staff

Faculty of OSSM Main Campus

Regional Centers

OSSM currently has 14 branches in local areas of Oklahoma. These branches are located on CareerTech campuses, affiliated with the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education. The primary focus in these regional centers are the Calculus BC and Physics C: Mechanics AP Exams.

OSSM regional centers are located in:

OSSM Regional Center Faculty

References

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-school-of-science-and-mathematics-has-new-president/article/3727350 http://www.normantranscript.com/columns/x1746087353/Frank-Wang-is-Oklahoma-s-top-nerd-and-proud-of-it/print

External links

Regional Centers

Coordinates: 35°28′48″N 97°30′19″W / 35.48000°N 97.50528°W / 35.48000; -97.50528

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