{"id":10310,"date":"2019-05-24T19:25:48","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T19:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=10310"},"modified":"2019-05-24T19:25:55","modified_gmt":"2019-05-24T19:25:55","slug":"math-science-academy-generates-youngest-graduates-at-utrgv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=10310","title":{"rendered":"Math & Science Academy Generates Youngest Graduates at UTRGV"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The youngest graduates at UTRGV Spring Commencement ceremonies were area high school students enrolled in the university\u2019s Math and Science Academy. Seventy-nine MSA students walked across the stage Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11, in Brownsville and Edinburg to accept their high school diplomas, along with two years of college credits they earned in the MSA program. Fifty-one of the 79 MSA grads will continue their education at UTRGV. (UTRGV Photo by David Pike)<\/p><\/div>\n

by Letty Fernandez<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>The youngest graduates at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Spring Commencement ceremonies were high school students enrolled in the university\u2019s Math and Science Academy.<\/p>\n

Seventy-nine MSA students walked across the stage Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11, in Brownsville and Edinburg to accept their high school diplomas, along with two years of college credits they earned in the award-winning MSA program.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo years ago, each student left their high school and took a chance with us,\u201d said Dr. Wilma Smetter, principal of the UTRGV Math and Science Academy. \u201cDuring their two years at UTRGV MSA, they seized advantage of the many opportunities provided by UTRGV, such as university research, participation in international academic conferences, and international science and engineering competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cUTRGV MSA is, more than anything, about transforming potential into achievement, and we are extremely proud of all our graduates,\u201d Smetter said.<\/p>\n

Fifty-one of the 79 MSA grads will continue their education at UTRGV. Others will transfer to several state universities, including UT Austin, UTSA, UT Dallas, Texas A&M and TCU. Two students are headed to Ivy Leagues schools \u2013 Columbia and Princeton universities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I haven\u2019t yet transitioned to Princeton, I know that MSA has provided me with valuable college experience unavailable at any other high school. Speaking with and interacting with professors is an invaluable skill I know I will need to succeed at Princeton,\u00a0\u201csaid Siegfried Gawenda\u00a0of Brownsville.<\/p>\n

Students accepted into the MSA program take classes from UTRGV\u00a0faculty alongside UTRGV\u00a0students. They gain the university experience during high school,\u00a0but receive more supervision and guidance than traditional university students.\u00a0Students take classes at the Brownsville and Edinburg campuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttending MSA taught me to value the time I have and how to manage it. MSA also provided me an environment in which my educational pursuits could be nurtured and grown to the fullest extent of my abilities,\u201d said Criztian Jepsen\u00a0of Wylie.\u00a0\u201cAll of this will help me at\u00a0Columbia, the university I will attend this fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Registration is underway for the fall semester. To learn more about the Math and Science Academy, visit\u00a0www.utrgv.edu\/msa<\/a>\u00a0or email\u00a0msa@utrgv.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Letty Fernandez RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS \u2013\u00a0The youngest graduates at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Spring Commencement ceremonies were high school students enrolled in the university\u2019s Math and Science Academy. Seventy-nine MSA students walked across the stage Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11, in Brownsville and Edinburg to accept their high […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10312,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10310\/revisions\/10312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}