On the weekend of April 17th, nine North Carolina School for Science and Mathematics students braved a 10-hour journey across the Southeastern United States to stay three days at MSMS. Though they became close friends with many students at the school, their main purpose was to assess the state of academic and residential life and exchange ideas on how each school could learn and improve off of each other’s practices.

The students from North Carolina arrived Sunday evening when they moved into their new dorm rooms and met students from their sister school for the first time.

NCSSM student Reid Herrera observed a striking difference between the social lives of MSMS and NCSSM students, “At NCSSM, we identify ourselves by our residence hall, and those are usually our primary friend groups. At MSMS, I didn’t feel the same sense of bonds built based on the residential life. At NCSSM, our social scene was built around our residence halls, where at MSMS it felt like it was centered around other things.”

On Monday, the North Carolina students got the opportunity to sit through a typical school day at MSMS and observe classes taught to see how the academics were similar and different between the two schools.

Rowan Jaynes, another student at NCSSM, commented on the style of academics at MSMS, “From the one day we went to classes, MSMS academics seemed very similar to NCSSM’s. One thing I did notice, however, is that NCSSM seems to focus more on student collaboration than MSMS.”

The day was rounded off with a question and answer session in Nissan Auditorium between four MSMS and four NCSSM students who compared the similarities between the two schools based on questions submitted via email and social media. The panel discussed topics ranging from academics to cars on campus and residential life with the event livestreamed to people across the country.

Tuesday was the students’ last day in Columbus so they were treated with a cultural and historical tour of the city. They also experienced the Tales from the Crypt performances in Friendship Cemetery. At the end of the day, the North Carolina students, MSMS emissaries, and several administrators enjoyed lunch at Huck’s Place in downtown Columbus.

Overall, the students from North Carolina saw that the two schools were very similar. “NCSSM and MSMS are very similar in many ways, and after our trip I hope that we can continue to explore and develop these commonalities and grow our communities to include each other,” Herrera said.

Jaynes added, “The limited varsity sports, room and board fees, and small graduating class sizes were a few of the things that surprised me about MSMS. All I want is to have my jeep at school. I’m so jealous.”