Vol. 40, No. 20
CONTACT: JIM MORRIS |
May 24, 2006
530 Top Students Selected
Scholars Academy and Fine Arts Academy
to Be Held in Columbia and Springfield
More than 500 gifted and talented high school students have been selected to attend the Missouri Scholars Academy and the Missouri Fine Arts Academy, the state’s three-week summer school programs for gifted and talented students. The three-week academies will be held from June 11-July 1 in Columbia and Springfield.
The Scholars Academy, now in its 22nd year, is being held at the University of Missouri-Columbia. It serves 330 academically gifted "rising juniors" (students who will be in the eleventh grade next fall).
The Fine Arts Academy is being held on the campus of Missouri State University. Established in 1996, MFA serves 200 juniors- and seniors-to-be who have demonstrated talent in one or more areas of the fine arts.
Both academies are residential programs. The students live on campus during the entire three-week program and take part in a wide array of academic, cultural, personal-development and special-interest extracurricular activities. Students do not earn grades or credit in either program.
Every Missouri high school, public and private, is eligible to nominate at least one student to participate in each of the academies. The Missouri Legislature appropriates funds to support both academies, so there is no cost to the students. Both academies are sponsored by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, in cooperation with the host universities.
The primary goal of the academies is to help gifted students achieve their full potential and motivate them to make full use of their talents and abilities. "The summer academies feature challenging curricula taught by outstanding teachers," said Commissioner of Education D. Kent King. "The academies provide a positive, challenging and ‘life-changing’ experience for high school students, both academically and socially."