This is a day long coming.....
http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriot...000.xml&coll=1
SciTech High draws students from suburbs to city
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
BY JOHN LUCIEW
Of The Patriot-News
Like many high school seniors, Chau Minh Nguyen drives to school.
Unlike most, Nguyen drives from his parents' home in Mechanicsburg, bypasses the local high school and commutes to downtown Harrisburg, where he attends the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology High School.
Since the opening of SciTech High on Market Street last fall, the science-heavy school has done something unheard of. It has prompted students from outside the city to leave their suburban schools and transfer to the once-troubled Harrisburg School District.
They are students such as Micah Cook, a ninth-grader who left the Susquehanna Twp. School District, where his father is a popular coach, to carve out a niche at SciTech.
"I just didn't feel like going to high school at Susquehanna," said Cook, who has two popular brothers at Susquehanna. "This has been great. I've found a home here."
Troy Coney, a senior, left Central Dauphin East High School for SciTech, hoping to benefit from the smaller, 300-student setting and personalized attention from teachers.
"I wanted a close-knit environment and a small teacher-to-student ratio," he said.
SciTech officials said there are about 10 students who transferred to SciTech from outside the city. So far, these students and their families have been spared from paying Harrisburg's $9,000-a-year tuition for nondistrict students by tapping grants and scholarships.
About 20 other SciTech students hail from private or parochial schools. They live in the city but had been reluctant to attend city schools until now.
Sophomore Sarah Canfield transferred from Trinity High School, and James Wilson Craighead came from Bishop McDevitt.
Both said they are more comfortable at SciTech and their parents like saving on tuition by taking advantage of the city schools.
"I'm learning a lot," said Canfield, who cited Spanish and geometry as her favorite subjects.
Most of the influx from other schools has occurred without aggressive marketing, said SciTech Assistant Director Meg Burton.
"It's word of mouth," she said.
Nguyen said he based his decision to switch on what he had heard about SciTech's technology-rich classrooms and the promise of a smooth transition to the planned Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, an affiliated college to open in the fall.
"I saw all of the programs that SciTech was going to offer," said Nguyen, who is considering attending Harrisburg University to study pharmacy.
"My parents said, 'If you want to go, we'll support you,'" he said.
Those who have attended other high schools said the situation is markedly different at SciTech.
Students are given more freedom to pursue subjects and topics on their own, they said. There's an emphasis on applying knowledge, rather than regurgitating information. And projects, rather than tests, rule the day.
"I hate tests, so it works for me," Canfield said.
Above all, there's no way to duplicate the feel of a high school loaded with state-of-the-art labs, staffed with a hand-picked faculty and attended by 300 carefully selected students.
"I'm able to get more in- depth here," Coney said. "It's really preparing me for college."
Every SciTech student gets his or her own laptop computer, on which virtually all schoolwork is done.
At SciTech, there's no public address system. When messages go out or when students must report to the office, administrators simply send an e-mail. Grades and homework assignments are handled the same way.
"The first time they said, 'Take out your notebooks,' I took out a piece of paper," Craighead said. "They said, 'No, your laptop notebook.'"
Next year, SciTech officials expect to double the number of out-of-district students to about 20. That segment of the student body is to never go above 15 percent of the school population, Burton said.
SciTech representatives are making the rounds at private and parochial schools in the city to let parents and students know about the program and that there's an alternative to paying tuition.
"A lot of kids are finding that they like the smaller environment and the expectation that you have to want to go to college to be here," Principal Lisa Waller said.
JOHN LUCIEW: 255-8171 or jluciew@patriot- news.com