Prospective students from around the state wanting to quench their curiosity came to campus last week for the MSMS 2019 Fall Preview Day,

The afternoon events started with registration and entertainment in Nissan Auditorium. The entertainment included senior Ryley Fallon reading some of her literary pieces, Voices in Harmony (MSMS’s acapella group) singing, senior Cameron Thomas performing his script from Tales from the Crypt and Mu Alpha Theta Presidents Vayd Ramkumar and Dennis Lee presenting math concepts.

Later on, a student panel consisting of five emissaries (Alisa Burch, JoJo Kaler, Alden Wiygul, Cameron Thomas and Rachel Zheng) talked about MSMS and answered any questions from the audience. The questions varied from topics such as clubs and cafeteria food to making new friends and difficulty of school work.

While the student panel was taking place, parents were given tours of the campus. They worked their way through Hooper Academic Building, Fant Memorial Library, Stark Recreation Center, Goen Residence Hall and Shackleford Academic Building. On these tours, parents learned about the unique academic opportunities students could become involved in, work service and wellness. By the end of the tour, many parents were intrigued by the idea that their child will be challenged.

“[MSMS] is going to challenge my son where he’s not being challenged right now. I think he’ll like having to use his brain a little bit more,” one parent said.

Finally, students got their turn to see what life at MSMS is really like. Emissary Tierah Macon thought the students left MSMS “excited and enlightened.”

“Many of the students were shocked about study hours and the wide range of courses that we [MSMS] have that aren’t necessarily STEM-based,” Macon said. “I think all of them left excited and a little nervous about applying to MSMS.”

Emissaries Josiah “JoJo” Kaler and Ada Fulgham definitely noticed a change in atmosphere from the beginning of the tour to the end.

“At the beginning of the tour, they hesitated to ask questions, and the questions they did ask were mostly academic-related,” Kaler said.

“I’m so glad I brought him [JoJo] along because he really got the students interested in actually asking questions and interacting because he mentioned DnD, and a lot of them got more relaxed with talking to us,” Fulgham said.

As for the students, their reasons for coming to Fall Preview Day and what they thought of MSMS varied.

“I would really like to come to this school,” one student said. “This [preview day] really helped me understand and really push to try my best to come to this school.”

“I like that they [MSMS] do more than just focus on strictly education,” another student said. “They have lots of clubs and other extracurricular opportunities for the kids at their school.”

Although the students’ thoughts may be different on certain aspects of MSMS, their reasons for applying all narrowed down to one: “an opportunity for excellence.”