 At NCSSM, we believe that learning is not just hands-on, but minds-on. Growing as a human being is part of the total experience. It's not just about SAT scores or, you know, percentages. It's about a whole different style of education. These kids aren't just here for academics. They're here for each other and their communities and what they can do to make a difference in this world. In 1980, Governor Jim Hunt, former Governor and Duke University President Terry Sanford and scholar John Ely, along with many others, saw a need in North Carolina for a new kind of school, a two-year residential high school with a special emphasis on science and math education. I thought this school could identify and bring in some of the brightest students in our state, by the way, many of whom were not challenged. Some of them weren't even doing very well in their regular high school. Give them the best teachers. Give them the experience of working in labs until well into the night if they wanted to, excellent laboratories. Let them work with other bright students so that they would encourage each other and challenge each other. My expectations were that we would take some of our brightest students to start with, but then take them just as far as they could go. I came in after the initial steps had been done by Governor Hunt and his staff. During that time, they first of all established the school by legislation, which was not easy. And they found the site, this old Durham landmark of the Watts Hospital. So the initial challenge was to look at these buildings and hire an architect and develop a master plan. And then to see how much of that we could actually accomplish in terms of residential quarters, classrooms, some essential administrative rooms. 450 students and faculty and staff, probably 25 or 30 that first year. From the very beginning, the school's rigorous academic standards encouraged students to take responsibility for their own learning and assert their independence. Student experiences are, I'm going to teach you something and then you're going to repeat it back to me. And I'm going to ask you, do you know what Newton thought about this or do you know what Descartes thought about this? They spend all of their time learning what other people did. What we really try to do is put them in the position of thinking about what they think about it, not what Newton thought about it or what Descartes thought about it. What do you think about it? The faculty and instructors here, they're really awesome. And if you have any questions, they're always there. Like after school, they're here. A lot of teachers here until six or seven taking their time off and trying to help you out. My instructors here really made physics interesting to learn. And it was actually fun to study with people because it was interesting to see how these equations work together and see how everyday life was explained by physics. Students from all 13 of North Carolina's congressional districts help create a unique and diverse environment for learning that is essential to the success of the school. Back home in Shelby, there's not many different cultures or races. So coming here was like really awakening. It's really different living with a bunch of girls on a hall because that's just interesting in itself. But yeah, we're really close and I like being able to go like on the weekends we go shop into the movies together. It's a hall and it's really fun. But still, the kids know that their parents are not there. And just think about when you were 15 or 16. Gee, my mom and dad are not here to tell me what to do. I might just try something. But I think the residential life helps them mature and develop their independence. Being here on your own, it forces you to learn how to think for yourself. There's no parents telling you what time you need to be in your room or what time you need to go to bed or to do your homework. So it just really forces you to take care of yourself. In addition to the students living on campus, the School of Science and Math has been committed to providing educational opportunities statewide. Since 1992, the school's distance learning program has served thousands of students from all geographic areas of North Carolina. Outreach programs such as summer ventures ensure that the reach of the school extends far beyond its walls. The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics serves as a hub for eight cyber campuses. They provide multimedia technologies and conference capabilities for these schools to have access to high-level teaching and learning in science, math and technology. And it's a great way for schools and teachers in low-wealth areas of the state to reach out and have access. I always saw the School of Science and Mathematics not just as a school endurum for bright students who come to it. That it is. But as a place to sort of reach out to and to impact all of the public schools in North Carolina, nearly 2,000 of them. Today, NCSSM is expanding the impact of its residential program by using many innovative technologies to deliver its rigorous curriculum in an immersive virtual environment via NCSSM online. Teacher professional development is another important part of our outreach mission, providing educators with content and skills to better meet the educational challenges facing North Carolina. If we look at the 21st century as we talk to parents, math and science are absolutely critical to our being able to compete in this world economy. Just about everything that we do is related ultimately to some sort of mathematical proposition and to get a really good understanding to vote intelligently on things like reducing global warming or is it real or not, you need to have a strong background in mathematics and science. When they get into the workforce, there is no longer just, you know, competing with the kid across town for a job. They're competing globally for jobs that are high tech. We must prepare our students and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics taste that to heart. NCSSM continues to be an example of excellence, enhancing and contributing to the quality of public education statewide. Not only has this creative learning environment become a model for schools across the nation, but as a constituent of the University of North Carolina, the school continues to look to a future of transforming learners and developing tomorrow's leaders. I think the real challenge to us is built upon the momentum that we've established. We need to look at how we deliver instruction. We need to look at the scientific community for new and emerging opportunities that are going to take place in the next five to ten years. I think the School of Science and Mathematics has always been a trendsetter from its earliest stages in 1980 when it was the first public residential high school for science, math, and now a new area that we're looking at as well, technology. And I think places like Science and Math are a great place to start with young folks who understand, number one, the environmental challenges we face, number two, how important it is to have those alternatives that propel us into the 21st century and beyond. Students who won the Siemens Westinghouse Award for their cancer research, they're likely going to carry that interest in cancer research with them into college, with them into their graduate work, with them into their research work, whether they're working for a health-related company or whether they remain in academia. And the number of students that we bump into who later have now gone on to get their PhD and research and other things is a testimony to the outstanding job that's done at School of Science and Math. It's a tribute to the citizens of North Carolina to have had the courage to have established the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. And after 25 years, it's worked and worked well. When you take a school like the School of Science and Math it was an idea 25 years ago where we're going to give children an opportunity to compete and understand this fast-growing world of math and science and develop that type of a brain talent in North Carolina. You know, that's real. Nothing's better than being real. I just don't look at anything the same anymore and I like it like that. And I'm going to cure cancer one day, and I know it, I'm going to cure cancer and that kind of confidences what NCSSM has instilled in me. I'll definitely remember the people. I've made some friends here that I'm sure I'll be friends with when I'm like 50 years old.