Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy

The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, or IMSA, is a three-year, residential, public high school of approximately 640 students (comprised of sophomores, juniors, and seniors). IMSA is located in Aurora, Illinois, about 35 miles due west of Chicago, Illinois.

Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Logo of IMSA
Location
Aurora , Illinois USA
Information
Type	Public magnet
Motto	A Pioneering Educational Community
Established	1985
Founder	Leon Lederman
President	Stephanie Pace Marshall
Principal	Eric McLaren
Faculty	55
Grades	10–12
Enrollment	640
Campus	Closed residential
Color(s)	Columbia blue and silver
Mascot	Titans
Newspaper	The ACRONYM
Yearbook	Gallimaufry
Website	www.imsa.edu

Overview

IMSA, which is modeled on the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, focuses primarily on mathematics, science, and technology, though virtually all other academic subjects are studied. The credit system bears out this emphasis on mathematics and science, as half of all credits for graduating seniors are required in math or science.

IMSA is a residential magnet high school, similar to a boarding school, which accepts students from across the state. It is also a public school, and students are not charged tuition, though a facilities fee ranging from the low hundreds to two and a half thousand dollars is charged on a sliding scale basis, and many special programs at IMSA require additional fees. The bulk of the school's money is provided by the State of Illinois.

The amount spent per student every year is frequently estimated at $26,000, but this number is misleading as it includes money spent on IMSA's many outreach programs. A more realistic estimate is about $20,000 per student. Since the school is funded by the State of Illinois, it does not accept students from other states or from abroad. Matriculating students are required to prove their residency in the state of Illinois.

IMSA is a founding member of the NCSSSMST, and its founding president, Stephanie Pace Marshall, was also the founding president of the NCSSSMST.

Dr. Marshall has announced that she will be retiring on June 30, 2007. Although her tenure as the IMSA President will end, Dr. Marshall will still remain actively seized in many facets of the Academy. She has been recently named "President Emeritus" by the IMSA Board of Directors and will continue to use her influence to advocate for the Academy. She will attain this status as of July 1, 2007.

The Board of Directors is currently working to choose a candidate for the position of President. Currently, the choice lies between Dr. Glenn "Max" McGee and Dr. Rita Padmore. A formal decision is expected from the Board in mid to late May and the new President will take office immediately following Dr. Marshall's retirement.

History

Nobel laureate Leon Lederman, director emeritus of nearby Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, was among the first to propose the school in 1982, and together with Governor Jim Thompson led the effort for its creation. (Thompson has noted with pride that he chose to build IMSA instead of competing for the ill-fated supercollider project.) The school was established by the Illinois General Assembly in 1985, and first opened to students in 1986. The Academy is housed in a building originally constructed in 1978 as the north campus of West Aurora High School, with seven outlying dormitories built after IMSA took over the campus. IMSA's first class graduated in 1989, with the commencement speech delivered by Lederman. IMSA is one of the few high schools to possess a .edu second-level domain.

The current and only president of the school is former Batavia Superintendent Stephanie Pace Marshall, winner of the Lincoln Laureate Award, who was involved with the project from the start and helped write IMSA's original legislation. Marshall has, however, recently announced her forthcoming retirement, which will take effect on June 30, 2007. Marshall serves on the board of several non-profit and for-profit institutions, including nearby Tellabs. The current principal, the day-to-day operator of the school, is Eric McLaren, who began his IMSA career as a Resident Counselor and has filled many administrative roles during his tenure.

Although the school received a budget cut in FY 2002, its budget has increased recently, largely due to the support of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and House Minority Leader Tom Cross.

Admission

Prospective students, who are usually freshmen in high school but in some cases can be students in eighth grade, must fill out an extensive application to gain admission to IMSA. This application can now be completed online and can be found here.

The applications consists of an official transcript from the student's last 2 1/2 years of school, scores on the SAT I, several long and short essays totaling roughly four to five pages, three teacher recommendations in science, mathematics, and English, and a list of awards and extra-curricular activities. Since it draws students from across the state, it is sometimes considered a magnet school. Though IMSA does not disclose the numbers, there are generally over 2,000 applicants for 240 places. The average score on the SAT for incoming sophomores (which is taken while the students are freshmen) on the 'old' SAT is usually between 1100 and 1300. This compares to an exiting average score of around 1400.

In order to draw greater numbers of applications and "transform teaching and learning," IMSA has an extensive outreach network run by The Center@IMSA. Some students who are invited to attend IMSA are admitted on the condition that they successfully complete a three-week, intensive preparation course (EXCEL) over the summer. IMSA has a fairly low retention rate; incoming sophomore classes number roughly 240, but graduating classes are only about 200. The reasons for this may include the difficulty of the IMSA curriculum, home-sickness, or disciplinary expulsion, as well as the fact that no transfer students are admitted to replenish the ranks of departed students.

Academics

Students at IMSA take rigorous college preparatory courses, with all classes being taught at the honors level, though IMSA philosophically spurns the Advanced Placement curriculum. Each student must fulfill a set of specific credits in order to graduate. This set of credits is broken down by academic subject. Each semester-long class counts for 0.5 credits, unless it meets with greater-than-normal frequency.

In addition to the academic program, IMSA also offers nearly 50 clubs ranging from political groups and religious clubs to volunteer organizations [1].

IMSA bills itself as an "educational laboratory", and as such is frequently trying out new and experimental pedagogical techniques. These range from how classes are laid out to what is taught and even to who takes them; in the early 1990s IMSA received national attention for an exploratory study on whether girls learned physics better in single-sex or co-ed environments. IMSA's main math sequence, entitled "Mathematical Investigations" and in development by IMSA faculty since 1991, was published in handbook form in 2005 and is beginning to be adopted by other school districts in the state of Illinois, such as Community Unit School District 303 in St. Charles (at St. Charles East & St. Charles North). IMSA's core science curriculum has been through a number of ground-up restructurings. Its current implementation divided the old scientific inquiry into four classes: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Inquiry.

"Mod" scheduling

The class day at IMSA runs from 7:30 to 4:15 and has been divided into twenty 20-minute modules, or "mods", since 1996. Each module is separated by a five-minute passing period (plus a half hour in the middle for lunch). Classes can meet for anywhere from two mods (45 minutes) to four mods (95 minutes), permitting the faculty some flexibility between meeting frequently for shorter periods (e.g. for foreign language classes), or less frequently for longer periods (useful in lab science classes).

Virtually all students have some free periods scattered throughout the day, as well as occasional class cancellations. However, because of the residential nature of the school, there is no need to require students to sit in a study hall; they can just return to their rooms (or go to the library, the computer lab, etc.). However, IMSA is not what is usually called an "open campus," as students are not permitted to leave the school grounds without permission.

Frequency and length of classes

IMSA students only attend class for four days per week, with Wednesdays reserved for research and co-curricular activity. Each student has two schedules to keep track of: one for Monday/Thursday, and one for Tuesday/Friday. A given class may meet all four days, but need not meet for the same amount of time each day. Some classes meet only two days a week. The pattern for each class is usually reduced to a pair of numbers: a 3-2 class meets for 3 mods on Monday and Thursday, and only 2 on Tuesday and Friday, while a 0-4 meets only on Tuesday and Friday, for 4 mods each day. As a result, there is considerable variation as to how many classroom minutes each course has per week:

Class schedules

Configuration	Minutes per week
3-0 class (or 0-3)	140 (2h20m)
2-2 class	180 (3h)
4-0 class (or 0-4)	190 (3h10m)
3-2 class (or 2-3)	230 (3h50m)
5-0 class (or 0-5)	240 (4h)
4-4 class	380 (6h20m)

Course requirements

IMSA students have a fairly rigid set of requirements at a departmental level, but within each department (especially in math and the sciences), they have many options for meeting each requirement. The class requirements are as follows, along with the typical meetings times of courses in that department (for clarity the symmetric alternatives are omitted---e.g. "3-2" below means "either 3-2 or 2-3"):

• Math: 3-2 for six semesters, though a small number of upperclass math electives are 3-0.
• Science: 4-4 for two (sophomore) semesters, then four semesters of electives. Most electives are 4-0, but some are 5-0, and some are 3-2.
• Foreign language: 3-2 for four semesters.
• English: 3-3-2 for two (sophomore) semesters(new as of the 2006-2007 school year one day a week without English), then 3-0 for four semesters.
• History and social science: 3-3-2 for two (sophomore) semesters (same as sophomore English), then 3-0 for three semesters.
• Wellness: 3-2 for one (sophomore) semester, then 3-0 for one semester.
• Fine arts: 2-2 or 4-0 for one semester.

There is also a two semester additional requirement that can be filled by either math or science electives. Once these requirements are complete, students are free to take electives in any area. Most students take a full six semesters of foreign language, for instance, and despite its nominal status as a "math and science academy", IMSA offers a variety of electives in English and History as well.

Other Academic Programs

Intersession

During the week before the second semester, students are required to participate in Intersession, a week during which students are given a choice among dozens of enrichment sessions and off-campus trips. Most students choose to participate in two small or one large on-campus course(s), while some travel abroad on a faculty-sponsored trip to countries including France, Spain, and Russia, and others perform a week of mentorship. Classes range from "Build Your Own Computer" to a planned trip to study Lighthouse keeping at Washington State. Alumni often teach Intersession courses and lead overseas trips along with faculty members.

Student Inquiry and Research

Most Wednesdays are "I Days" (for "inquiry") and are usually reserved for research in the Mentorship and Inquiry programs. [2] These programs give students the opportunity to develop their own scientific research and/or to work with scientists, primarily from around the Chicago area. All IMSA students are encouraged to participate in this program, and several every year publish their research results in academic conferences and journals.

Usually, only upperclassmen in grades 11-12 participate in these programs. Sophomores go to Navigation (first semester) or other required activities (second semester) from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM, where they are helped with adjusting to residential life and other affective issues; they then have the rest of the day off.

Student life

Residence Halls

There are 7 residence halls on campus. Each hall is comprised of four wings housing up to 24 students each. 3 of the halls are all-male and 3 are all-female; the 7th contains two all-male wings and two all-female wings. All rooms have their own attached bathroom and standard dormitory furniture for two students. Furniture includes a desk, wardrobe, bed frame, mattress, and desk lamps for each student. Two pairs of rooms in each wing ("quads") have connecting doors that the residents can petition to have opened. One room in one of the quads is built to be more accessible to disabled students, with a different room layout and larger bathroom.

Each wing also has a lounge area with a kitchenette and television. Many wings have accumulated a variety of other living equipment, from games to recliners.

Awards

IMSA consistently ranks at the top of the nation in standardized test scores (of roughly 200 students in the senior class, about 50 are National Merit Semifinalists), as well as in the prestigious Siemens-Westinghouse and Intel Science competitions. The class of 2005 produced six semifinalists each for Siemens and Intel. There was also one finalist for the Siemens competition, and three finalists in the Intel competition. In addition, two of the finalists in the Intel placed in the top ten; one student stood second overall, while another won sixth place. The class of 2006 continued the success, with five students being named semifinalists in both the Intel and Siemens competitions.

Six mathematics teachers have been honored with the Edyth May Sliffe Award: Titu Andreescu (1994), Ronald Vavrinek (1995), Micah Fogel (2001), Steven Condie (2002), Michael Keyton (2003), and Don Porzio (2004). [3] Asteroid 21441 Stevencondie is named after Dr. Condie.[4]

Study Hours and Work Service

Study hours are a two-hour block set aside from 7 pm to 9 pm on Monday through Thursday for all sophomores. Study hours are almost always waived for the second semester of sophomore year.

In addition, as a graduation requirement, each student at IMSA is expected to complete a mandatory amount of academically unrelated service work for the school (3 hours a week for juniors and seniors and 1 hour a week for sophomores). Like the federally-funded college work-study program, a variety of jobs are available, both skilled and unskilled. The program serves two purposes: to expose the residential students to work experience and to assist the school's state-controlled budget by providing free laborers.

"Programming" or Residential Education

To encourage responsibility among students, the school provides monthly educational sessions about ethical issues. The sessions, also known as "programming", vary in topics, ranging from such issues as drugs and sex to ethical leadership. These once mandatory sessions typically last for about two hours, and may involve discussions within each wing as facilitated by a residential counselor, or presentations in the auditorium.

Notable alumni

• Dominic Armato '93, voice actor
• Steve Chen '96, co-founder of YouTube (non-graduate)
• Dan Frakes '89, technology author
• Rob McCool '91, author of NCSA HTTPd web server and early Netscape employee
• Ramez Naam '90, software developer, author
• Yu Pan '95, first employee of YouTube and one of first employees of PayPal
• Sam Yagan '95, co-founder of Sparknotes and TheSpark.com
• B. Scott Gaudi '91, co-developer of Gravitational Microlensing as a method of discovering extrasolar planets

Trivia

• Current principal Eric McLaren grew up in Aurora, and attended high school in what is today IMSA's main academic building. In addition "The Lord" McLaren has served a myriad of positions at the Academy, from RC to Principal.

• On several occasions, in 1986, 1987, and 1990, dorm construction delays forced the Academy to set aside temporary housing in the main academic building for the first several months of the school year.

• Students who applied and were accepted while in eighth grade—thus skipping their freshman year—have been nicknamed "shmen" since the early days of the school. However, in 1988-89, the nickname originated as reference to the entire sophomore class. Because the Academy began with admission of only the class of 1989, adding only the class of 1990 the following year, those two groups identified themselves as "seniors" and "juniors" for their entire three-year stay. When the class of 1991 arrived, they were the Academy's first underclassmen, and were obligingly called "shmen". (These identities were so strongly perceived that, at 1991's graduation ceremony, each speech consistently referred to the class of 1991 as "the sophomores".)

• In addition, there are many different types of 'shmen':
  • Pseudo Shmen- Student who skips a grade other than ninth
  • Double Shmen- Student who comes to IMSA out of the 7th grade (Very rare) (Can also be extended to triple shmen etc...)
  • Super Shmen- Student who skips a grade, in addition to ninth grade, which is not eighth (this would create a Double shmen)
• These types of Shmen can be combined on many ways, such as
  • Super Pseudo Shmen- Student who skips two, non consecutive, non ninth, grades.
  • Double Pseudo Shmen- Student who skips two consecutive, non ninth grades.

• The school mascot, "Titans", was chosen during the school's first year. A poll was taken among the students, who selected "Rebels" as their first choice and "Eagles" as their second; "Bulldogs" was also favored, but "Lasers" was universally scorned. The Academy staff, citing concerns of gang-related associations, rejected "Rebels" and selected "Titans" instead-- despite "Titans" having received only 22% of the student vote.

• IMSA has a long tradition of using acronyms whenever possible. The IMSA library is known as the "IRC", the A/V department is "ITL/TVPL", math courses are either "MI", "BC", or "AB". In 1988, the school newspaper was named "The Acronym" as a deliberate comment on this phenomenon; the name was itself an acronym ("The Academy's Choice Reading: One Newspaper for You and Me").

• On December 1, 2006, IMSA had its third "snow day", despite the fact that students live on campus. This was announced at six in the morning by written notice on the chalk boards of all the residential halls and print-outs on the wing doors. A few of the students kept the print-outs as memorabilia of this rare event.

• On Newsweek's annual list of "Best High Schools in America", IMSA is consistently set aside with approximately 20 other schools as the "Public Elite", due to the far beyond average exiting SAT and ACT scores. IMSA consistently shares the list with just two other Illinois schools: University Laboratory High School in Urbana, IL, and Northside College Preparatory High School in Chicago, IL.

See also

• North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
• Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities
• University Laboratory High School

External links

• IMSA's website
• IMSA's School Profile (2006)
• Microsoft Terraserver satellite photo of school campus