On Tuesday, Aug.2, The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science (MSMS) hosted a local “Super Night”, a community outreach event designed to welcome prospective students and parents so they could learn more about the social and academic opportunities of the school.

The event started in Hooper Auditorium with LeighAlison Jones, the Coordinator for Admissions, discussing some of the school’s Niche.com rankings.

“This year we were actually just voted again the number six school in the nation for the second year in a row,” Jones said. “We were also voted number one faculty for the third year in a row. That’s a pretty big deal.”

As one of the factors in the Niche.com school rankings, Jones covered several out-of-classroom experiences in which students can participate, starting with research and mentorship opportunities. She asked seniors Tiwaniya Tyler and Alden Wygul to share their experiences, respectively.

“I did biomedical engineering research at Mississippi State last semester,” Tyler said. “There’s a lot of traumatic brain injury in the United States, and we wanted to create helmets to protect soldiers overseas.”

Wygul contrasted Tyler’s research experience with her own experience in mentorship.

“Mentorship is a lot more relaxed than research,” Wiygul said. “I’m not a big math and science person, so I did my mentorship with a lawyer, Corky Smith, here in Columbus. I got to learn about the law profession and more about what I want to do when I grow up.”

Jones further focused  on research and student-led projects by having senior Cameron Thomas speak about his involvement in the Tales from the Crypt project.

“We have many history courses here, but, of course, Tales is the coolest,“ Thomas said. “I never would’ve thought I would come and do research on a random person. You’d think that this person would be just like you or me, but you get to look through their eyes and see the larger picture of the past.”

Moving on from the scholastic aspects of MSMS, Jones assured families about the trained and welcoming staff assisting in residential life and spoke about clubs, sports, and application information before bringing the Super Night to a close.

While the event covered several points about school life, some audience members were impressed by topics not on the PowerPoint.

“The friendliness of the staff is what stood out to me the most,” one of the prospective juniors, Micah Dees stated to The Vision.

The administrators found it to be a successful night as well.

“We were very happy with the turnout for our Columbus Super Night. We have not held an event here for the past few years,” said Sheila Westbrook, the Associate Director for Advancement.  “We want to get the information about MSMS to all corners of Mississippi so that all students know about this outstanding opportunity.”

The rest of the MSMS Super Night schedule can be found here, including dates, locations and times: LINK

Also contributing: Aastha Banga, Clare Seo