A recent Facebook post by a friend and former advisor for the Louisiana School for Math, Sciences and the Arts in Natchitoches caught my attention for its eloquence and poignant memories.
Donald Barker of Natchitoches, a former director of student services at Northwestern State University, was an academic and placement counselor when LSMSA opened its doors to high school juniors on the former Natchitoches Central High School campus in September of 1983. It was the first school of its kind in the country. The first graduating class in 1985 was 40 years ago.
“Just over 42 years ago,” Barker, an LSU graduate, wrote in his post, “my professional life was dramatically changed. A group of 207 students from all over Louisiana came to Natchitoches to participate in an experimental form of education.”
The brainchild of Dr. Robert Alost, then the Dean of Education at Northwestern State University, and state Rep. Jimmy Long (D-Natchitoches), LSMSA was modeled after other schools in the country like the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Alost visited some 15 schools that either served solely the academically gifted or solely the artistically talented. As the first director of the school, Alost wanted to accommodate both. Thanks, in large part to Long and the state legislature, the idea for the school became a reality.
As a state-funded high school, tuition is free, but families are responsible for a fee to cover living expenses like housing and meals. Financial assistance is available, and inability to pay does not prevent qualified students from attending.
Barker wrote how those first students in this pioneering project experienced “a wide range of emotions,” including fear, anxiety and anger.
“One by one, some of them went home,” he wrote, noting he’s not sure why the vast majority chose to stay.
“I would guess that some of them could not go home,” he wrote. “But for most of them, slowly, but surely, they became convinced that they were being offered an extraordinary opportunity to learn as fast as they possibly could.”
The classes – with a maximum 15 students per class – were held on the first floor of the girl’s dorm (with a boy’s dorm a short distance away) on the NSU campus. A 12th grade was added the second year, and students eventually came as early as age 13, in some cases, and from all socioeconomic backgrounds.
“And it wasn’t just learning in the classroom; spending 16 or more hours a day with other students that wanted something more from their high school education,” wrote Barker. Those students, he said, wanted to do something special with their lives, and they encouraged and supported one another.
“They were competing against themselves to develop goals, pursue those goals, and achieve those goals, one class, one test, one day at a time.”
From the initial class of 207, a little more than 170 earned diplomas.
“But they accomplished so much more,” Barker noted. “They began to believe in themselves as learners.”
Remember, this was a school designed to “foster critical thinking and creativity.”
That first class, Barker said, “established for those who followed a climate for learning, both academically and socially, that continues with current director, Dr. Steve Horton, and the 42nd class scheduled to graduate in the spring.
“It was the greatest honor of my professional life,” wrote Barker, “to be there to witness the graduation of the classes of 1985, 1986 and 1987. Every one of them, persistent and courageous.”
There are so many success stories from the school, he told me Monday.
Too many for this space. But one example is Stephen Voss, who grew up on the West Bank in New Orleans — a first-generation college student, he got his PhD from Harvard and is now a professor of political science at the University of Kentucky.
Another is Marc Caplan of Alexandria, who got his PhD from New York University in 2003 and has served at numerous universities here and abroad and is currently the Brownstone Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth.
And there is a woman who, before attending LSMSA, was a high school dropout. She told Barker her life plan before attending the school was to leave home, find a boyfriend and get pregnant. She went on to get her PhD.
“This type of education in Louisiana has made a huge difference,” said Barker. “It’s a beautiful concept.
“I think,” he added, “it’s one of the greatest education stories of this era in Louisiana history. It’s just amazing what that idea has become.”