At Utah County Academy of Sciences (UCAS), we set high expectations for our students. Everyone is welcome, but only students willing to work hard will enjoy our school. We don’t have a band. Or athletic teams. It can be daunting for an incoming freshman to approach our high rigor expectations, but we also pride ourselves on firm, fair and friendly support.
Like the other early college public charter schools — AMES, NUAMES, Success Academy, Itineris and InTech — affiliated with one of Utah’s public universities, we help bridge the financial, logistical and cultural barriers to higher education. Our students want a mature environment with other students eager to participate in class and take their coursework seriously; they form spontaneous study groups and volunteer to provide and receive after-school tutoring.
As important and heartwarming as those successes throughout the school year are, our graduates tell us whether we have succeeded. Through our partnership with UVU and the high expectations we hold each other to, between 80 and 85% of our students graduate with both a high school diploma and two years of college.
One student from the UCAS 2010 class said, “The biggest lesson that I learned from UCAS is that I can do hard things. UCAS challenged me academically. In many ways it was more difficult than college because I had to develop positive studying habits and critical thinking skills.” She said the support of family and friends from UCAS are what helped her to be successful. She is now working in a hospital where she is the only one who speaks Spanish. Here coworkers are surprised to hear that she learned to speak in her two years of UCAS Spanish class.
UCAS graduate Joseph Melville told me, “I learned what it was like to work and thrive in a group of driven, dedicated and somewhat eccentric students. We were all very different in our interests and personalities, but I’ve never seen a group of hundreds of people, before or since, that meshed like we did. We just accepted, encouraged and watched out for each other. We felt like we could be ourselves, and better yet, that we brought more to the group by embracing what made us different. I also learned how to take responsibility for my education, and life as a whole really.”
Many UCAS students come here for more than the academics — they come to UCAS because they know they will have the freedom to be themselves. They can thrive because UCAS students work together and help everyone succeed. Many of our students say, “I found my people” at UCAS.
We want that opportunity for all students, whether they choose to come to UCAS or not. Everyone should “find their people” at a school that fits them. There are as many different students as there are subjects in school. As we celebrate National School Choice Week, we encourage parents to help their students reach the peak of their potential by finding the right place for them.