Most students looking forward to their junior year are contemplating working on APUSH, taking the SAT, and applying for college; sophomore Isaac Bancroft is going off to college instead.
Next year, Bancroft will attend the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science. TAMS is a two-year program for high school students who are gifted in math and science. Located at the University of North Texas at Denton, the academy does not have any high school courses, such as Biology, Chemistry, Algebra and World History; all the classes at TAMS are college level, meaning that they are worth college credits. TAMS students stay in the campus dorms, but they are separated from other North Texas students.
Bancroft is looking forward to experiencing the unique way TAMS students learn and the new environment. He has visited TAMS a few times and he really enjoys the atmosphere of the school, which only makes him more excited.
“I am really excited to go to TAMS,” he said. “I think it is going to really advance my education.”
Students who apply to TAMS must take the SAT and go through a process similar to college admission. Once there, they take college-level classes and participate in extra-curricular activities similar to those at a regular high school.
During Bancroft’s visits to TAMS , he explored the school to see what it is all about.
“I was impressed with the campus and the atmosphere of their program,” Bancroft said.
Bancroft was encouraged by both his parents to apply for the program, which only accepts about 120 students each year. Although he had their support, it was his choice to apply.
“When Isaac was little we knew that he had the mind for an upper level math,” his father, Mike Bancroft, said, “and I think that TAMS is the next big step.”
Science teacher Margaret Bancroft, his mother, was told about the program by a counselor at O’Donnell Middle School and from a former Kerr student, Rachel Cheuk, who was accepted to TAMS in 2004. Cheuk also encouraged Bancroft to apply and also gave some advice for a person in Bancroft’s situation.
“Explore the campus and campus activities. Just because you’re at TAMS doesn’t mean you’re limited to TAMS clubs.” Cheuk said, in an e-mail, “There are also more similarities than differences between Kerr and TAMS.”
Both Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft say they are proud that Bancroft will join TAMS.
Bancroft will miss the friends he had made in Kerr, but he is also looking forward to making new friends at TAMS too.
“I’m going to miss my friends at Kerr, but I am going to visit about once a month,” Bancroft said. “I think I can still maintain my friendship with them.”
Bancroft will have a summer orientation at TAMS, but he doesn’t know exactly when he will be leaving. He will be leaving a Kerr student and enter TAMS a college student.
