On Sunday, Feb 7, 2016, Executive Director Dr. Germain McConnell, Academic Director Kelly Brown, computer sciences instructor Josh Crowson and physics instructor and engineering curriculum advisor  Jed Leggett will journey to Durham, N.C. to see the Super Bowl. Afterward, they plan on ushering in a new future for MSMS by visiting the North Carolina School for Science and Math (NCSSM) and observing the school’s curriculum and research before moving onto the South Carolina governor’s school. In particular, they focused on the school’s engineering program.

Crowson, the MSMS computer science teacher, said he plans on looking at the computer science program in particular to make improvements on his own classes. “As a computer science teacher, I’m really interested in trying to improve what I do. Their course catalogues are really impressive with the classes they offer,” Crowson said. Computer science will undoubtedly expand to be incorporated into the emerging engineering curriculum at MSMS.

This new MSMS engineering program has already begun to take form according to McConnell. The computer science program, the robotics lab, and an engineering club, are all the first steps in ushering in this new curriculum but more will be needed.

McConnell said, “We really need to get some ideas from our sister schools, those schools that are more like us, instead of just the traditional schools. The difficult thing is that we only have students for two years with some of their home schools having robotics and other programs whereas other students haven’t been exposed to anything. We’re going to have to meet the needs of all our students at different levels.”

The trip to N.C. will give the faculty and administration how other residential, gifted schools have developed their own engineering programs. Currently NCSSM has multiple advanced engineering classes offered for their students. “I want our students here with the bright minds that we have to have a better idea about what they’re getting themselves into,” said McConnell.

Beyond the new curriculum, other programs will be sought out to improve MSMS’s standing in the community by developing faculty outreach to train the teachers at traditional high schools, improve MSMS’s own faculty and staff, and lead the way with student outreach such as the Science Carnival. These outreach initiatives are meant to help the community and to inspire the gifted students who may not be attending MSMS. In addition, these things will also benefit students attending the MSMS.

Finally, the trip to NCSSM will also help develop the research program at MSMS, primarily through expanding the number of students who participate in research and the number of students who are published before they graduate high school. In addition, working with MSU faculty and graduate students to teach students about research may come in the future.

Although most of these plans are in their preliminary stages, the administration has planned for  MSMS students in the future to have new opportunities in engineering and research, extending the school’s reach into the community and beyond.