Two programs for some of Missouri’s brightest high school students have given thousands of them special opportunities. It’s been 21 years since the first Missouri Scholars Academy gathered about 300 incoming high school seniors in Columbia for a special three-week summer session for some of the state’s best and brightest.This year is the 10th anniversary for the Fine Arts Academy in Springfield. The number of students who’ve been part of these academies is approaching 10,000. Deputy Education Commissioner Bert Schulte says it’s an important program for keeping many of Missouri’s brightest students in Missouri. He says state budget problems have become problems for the academies, but Schulte says academy adminsitrators have been able to make adjustments so the programs have not been noticeably hurt. It’s not just the students who are challenged by the programs of the academies. Schulte says the faculties each year, without exception, provide raving reviews of the experiences they have shared with the students.
