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The Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS) is a two-year residential early college entrance program serving approximately 400 students at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. It is a member of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology.

Each year TAMS admits approximately 200 new students gifted in mathematics and science following their 10th grade year of high school. These students are entered into full-time college studies alongside traditional college students and proceed to earn two years of college credit that is transferable in some situations while at the same time completing curriculum to qualify for a high school diploma. Typical TAMS students receive both a high school diploma and more than 60 college credits, allowing them to enter university with enough credit to qualify as a junior.

TAMS encourages a strong sense of community and esprit de corps among its students. Class rings, for example, are presented from second-year students to first-year students in a ceremony early in the school year. All students live together in McConnell Hall, a separate dormitory building from the main university population. A limited number of classes are open only to TAMS students.

Community service is encouraged and required for induction into the National Honor Society and to receive the Gold Cord at graduation. There are currently twenty-five official clubs and numerous unofficial clubs.

Academics

The core subjects required for graduation with a TAMS diploma are biology, chemistry, physics (mechanics and electromagnetism), mathematics (including at least Precalculus through Calculus II), English literature, American history, and political science.

In addition, a seminar course must be attended regularly. The seminar includes presentations by speakers presumably of interest to the students, covering topics such as research opportunities and etiquette.

All core courses must be taken at TAMS/UNT during the Fall and Spring semesters. All courses, including electives, must be taken in standard format — that is, none can be taken on-line or by correspondence. The minimum cumulative GPA required for graduation is 3.0. Students who fail to keep up their grades are disallowed from returning to the Academy the following semester.

The number of elective courses that a student may take in a given semester is dependent upon his or her GPA.

Tuition and fees

TAMS students are responsible for paying for room and board in McConnell Hall and a TAMS "program charge" (which amounted to $1,300 during the 2005-2006 academic year). Tuition and all other fees are paid for by the TAMS program. Textbooks are lent to the student for free for the duration of the relevant course.

Scholarships and awards

Approximately 80% of TAMS graduates have pursued careers in mathematics and science. Many of the recent graduates are still in school. The total amount of scholarship money offered to TAMS graduates annually is generally eight to nine million dollars, two to three million of which is accepted.

TAMS students often spend the summer between their junior and senior years (the first and second year at TAMS, respectively) participating in research programs at UNT and other universities. TAMS offers a scholarship for summer research of up to $4,000. Numerous awards have been presented to TAMS students, many from the Siemens Westinghouse Science and Technology Competition and the Intel Science Talent Search Competition.

Student life

The attitudes of regular UNT students toward TAMS students vary from acceptance to animosity. Some UNT students at times show disapproval of the young TAMS students, while others actively seek friendship with them. TAMS students often take pride in their academic standing, once even creating a shirt reading "Ruining the Curve since 1987." On the other hand, TAMS students actively participate in the UNT community through activities such as community service projects and tutoring.

The TAMS course load usually puts stress on the student body, especially during the third semester of their time at the academy. At this time students must both take the first of the required Physics courses, which is often a challenge for even the most talented of students, and complete college applications. Some TAMS students leave the program for academic (students are expected to maintain at least a 3.0 grade-point average), disciplinary, or personal reasons. The class of 2006, for example, diminished from 206 students to 160 over the course of its junior year.

TAMS has a very active community, with numerous clubs ranging from Mu Alpha Theta to Academy Players (theatre). There are also many community service activities available for the students to participate in.

Each year TAMS seniors lead the clubs in providing hall-wide activities. Academy Players puts on an average of two to three plays per semester. FBLA, Speech and Debate, and Mu Alpha Theta provide opportunities for competition, while other clubs such as Dull Roar (music), TAMS Medical Society, and JETS (engineering) provide subject-specific activities.

Housed in its own residence hall, TAMS is also allowed to participate as its own entity (the McConnell Hall Association) in the UNT Residential Hall Association. In addition, each year one student is voted on to represent TAMS in the UNT Student Government Association. On the other hand, although TAMS students live on the UNT campus, they may still participate in traditional high school dances such as prom and homecoming, which are organized by the student council. In addition to maintaining TAMS tradition, the Student Council delegates on disagreements between the student body and TAMS administration.

McConnell Hall is divided by floor based on gender. Visitation between genders can occur at any time in public rooms (Mac Cafe and Smitty for example) and only during certain times in student rooms. Visitation is goverened by "admin" and can be revoked at any time. Visitation by people (including UNT students) not living in McConnell Hall is allowed before curfew, and guests must sign in, leave a form of identification, and be escorted through the dorm.

Disciplinary system

TAMS has a very specific system of discipline and a student-run organization (the Judicial Board or "J-Board") to dispute common and minor issues with the system. Many rules, including a curfew, are imposed to protect the students. Some areas of Denton and Dallas are restricted at night, while others are completely off-limits at any time.

Members of the TAMS administration are commonly collectively termed the "admin". Students often complain about the administration's overwhelming power. For example, it has been pointed out that there exist loopholes in TAMS policies which would give any resident assistant the power to throw a student out of TAMS.

The TAMS administration has the ability to document a student who has broken a rule found in the student handbook. Each documentation is worth a certain amount of points. The points go on record and are accumulated by the student over his or her career at TAMS. Restrictions such as not being allowed to walk the stage at graduation are imposed at various point levels, and if 100 points are accumulated, the administration may choose to dismiss the student from the academy.

Pranks and traditions

In the past, an ongoing tradition at TAMS was for the senior class each year to steal the sign in front of McConnell Hall, the dormitory housing TAMS students. Each time this happened the sign was replaced by the TAMS or UNT administration, but several times the new sign was misspelled or mislabeled. The most famous erroneous sign was one which read "Texas Academy of Mahematice and Science", but there was also one that said "Texas Academy of Arts and Sciences".

Stealing the sign, although certainly illegal, is a relatively tame recent prank. Since the Academy was founded, the rule book has slowly but continuously grown, as each new class discovered new diversions that met with the disapproval of the administration and were subsequently forbidden. Anecdotally, illegal pranks also seem to have declined greatly. Early years saw numerous visits from the FBI and Secret Service due to various technological shenanigans, TAMS has been a major hub of data piracy, and dropping broken CRT monitors from windows or rapelling out of the building after curfew are clearly dangerous, so there are reasons for this increase in rules. Many other pranks, such as vadding through the tunnels beneath McConnell, filling bathtubs with ramen, or sealing RAs into their rooms with the tamper-evident stickers used to seal shut TAMS windows, have been much more harmless.

References

External links

Gifted education | High schools in Texas | National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology schools | University of North Texas

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science".

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