Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School of Austin, Texas

The Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School of Austin is a specialized high school for students interested in liberal arts, science, and/or mathematics. As an advanced program magnet school, it admits select high school students from across the Austin Independent School District (AISD).

History

The Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA) of Austin was created in 2002 from the merger of two separate magnet programs: the Science Academy at Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) High School, founded in 1984 and opened in 1985, and the Liberal Arts Academy, founded at Johnston High School (only five miles away) in 1987.

Directors of the Science Academy at LBJ High School:
*Dr. John Friedrick (1984-1989)
*Suzanne Sinkin (1989-1994)
*Mary Long (1994 - June 1997)
*Carol Hovland (August 1996 - February 1997)
*Daniel Gohl (February 1997 - February 2002)
*Dr. Betty Stapp (Feb. 2002 - August 2002)

Director of the Liberal Arts Academy at Lanier High School:
*Dr. Paula Tyler (1987-2002)

Directors of the Liberal Arts and Science Academy at LBJ High School:
*Dr. Betty Stapp (August 2002- June 2004)
*Dr. Gregory Foley (August 2004- September 2006)
*Rene Sanchez (September 2006 - August 2007)

Principal of the Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School:
*Rene Sanchez (August 2007 - Closed)

As of the 2006-2007 school year LBJ received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support implementation of an educational enrichment program called First Things First. Under the grant, no advanced program can be part of the same school and a push to separate LASA began. The two schools, LBJ and LASA, continue to be housed on the same campus but keep separate faculty, staff, and records for standardized tests, grade point averages,and class ranking. During the 2007-2008 school year there is a single yearbook, band, choir, theatre, art, and all students within the two schools are able to take part in all sports. As a result of the split, both schools are required to have separate principals, and Rene Sanchez, who was the interim director of the LASA program, was selected to be principal of the Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School.

Campus

The LBJ campus is located in northeast Austin. The school was built in 1974 and is currently going through various renovations. It is three stories tall, with the academic halls being designated by 3 different colored borders: purple, yellow, and white. The purple and white halls are a mixture of math and humanities, while the yellow halls are mostly science classes. One notable feature of the school is the fine arts hall, a wide open space lined with lockers designated for band students only. There is also a new state of the art theatre, which finished construction late in the 2006-2007 school year. The Theatre was named the Don T. Haynes III Performing Arts Center, after LBJ's band director of 33 years. The outside of the campus is maintained by a volunteer group of students and parents. The most well known feature of the LBJ campus is "The Texas," a large, granite statue in the shape of the state's outline. The statue, a gift from the class of 1978, sits outside the front of the school. In 2002 a group of seniors started a Reagan-LBJ tradition by wrapping the Texas in saran wrap to protect it from vandal. To this day the night before the annual Reagan-LBJ football game, seniors wrap the Texas in saran wrap and spend the night keeping it and other parts of the campus safe from vandalism by students of their rival Reagan High School.

tudents

As of 2005-2006 the student population of LBJ High was 1632. The academy is made up of roughly 850 students.
*Magnet students comprise 53% of the students at LBJ.
*95% of LASA students are accepted to four year colleges.
*The average academy SAT score is 1250 of 1600.
*the academy averages 20 National Merit students a year

The demographics of LASA are:
*53% White
*24% Hispanic
*13.8% Asian
*8% African American
*.5% Native American

*34% of LASA students are low socioeconomic standings
*LASA has the closest demographic mix to that of Austin at large compared to other AISD high schools

Faculty

Because of the difficulty of LASA's curriculum, teachers are often similar to their students in that they too are the best that the district has to offer. The faculty also are known for being experts in their respective fields. Because teachers are so well educated in their craft, their purpose in the school is intellectual first and teacher second. This often leads to the teaching of classes where research is emphasized over classroom education.

Average years teaching: 12

Average class sizes:
*English: 26
*Foreign language: 28
*Math: 22
*Science: 25
*Social Studies: 28

Student to teacher ratio: 15 to 1

Traditions

LASA's traditions are as diverse as the people who make them. Our traditions vary depending on the class, club, or time of year the campus is observed. For the academy, one can begin with the Magnet Showcase in January, in which all of the magnet classes, as well as many clubs and sports teams stay after school one night to show what LASA has to offer. There is often a friendly rivalry among classes and clubs over who can attract the most attention. In early April, Coffeehouse occurs. The event, which originated at Johnston and was brought over by English teacher Matt Kelly, is a talent show where students perform music, drama, poetry and prose. There is also Car Bash which is held before the big rivalry football game, students pay $1 for an unlimited number of hits for 30 seconds or $5 for unlimited hits for 5 minutes to smash a donated car with a sledgehammer. The Car Bash is hosted by LASA's Robotics team lead by Anthony Bertucci. The car is often spray painted either with the rival's name or with random teachers' names. Through out the year there are Communal Lunches. Frequently held on the first or last Friday of a grading period, Communal Lunch is a gigantic pot luck lunch and stress reliever as students are seen bringing pogo sticks, guitars, and blowing bubbles to the lunch. The last tradition of the year is the Senior Salute. The Salute, sponsored by the Parents and Friends of the Liberal Arts and Science Academy, is the new senior recognition ceremony that replaced the Science Academy Senior Banquet. Its main purpose is the recognition of the LASA Senior class and is where students are awarded their magnet certificate. The event is filled with multimedia presentations, readings, music, skits, student speeches, and in the end an academy senior class photo. There is also a smaller interclass gathering on the last day of school: the LASA picnic, usually held at Zilker Park, it usually student organized with students arranging transportation and times, it's bring your own lunch, and then joining other students at Barton Springs Pool, time for talking and yearbooks, and just general camaraderie.

ports

The sports that academy students are most likely to participate in are: ultimate, golf, lacrosse, swimming, and tennis.The school offers, as a whole, 14 sports.These are:

*Baseball *Basketball *Cheerleading *Football *Golf *Lacrosse *Soccer

*Softball *Swimming *Tennis *Track *Ultimate *Volleyball *Wrestling

Clubs and Student Organizations

LBJ offers 61 clubs and student organizations, including:

*African American Culture *Afrocentric Book *Alley Cat Players *Art *Asian Club *Astronomy * [http://www.lbjband.com Band] *Biking *Cambio *Chemistry *Chess *Club Gen *Creative Writing *Dodgeball *Dungeons and Dragons *Fencing *Fiction to Film *First Ladies (drill team) *Future Business Leaders of America *Future Teachers of America *Gay Straight Alliance *German * [http://web.mac.com/lbjglacrosse/LBJ_Girls_Lacrosse/Welcome.html Girls Lacrosse] *Grill Masters Association

*Ham Radio *J Phi J (boys step team) *Japan *Japanese Lit *Jew Crew *Juggling *KJAG *Knitting *Latin *Library Student Advisory Team *Madrigal Choir *Magic the Gathering *Marine Science *Math Team *Model UN *Monopoly/Dominoes * [http://nhs.lbjhs.net National Honor Society] * [http://oxfamlbj.oxfamut.org Oxfam LBJ] *Peer Assistance Leadership (PAL) *Physics *Poetry Slam *Pokémon

*Quiz Bowl * [http://www.lasarobotics.org Robotics] *Russian Literature *Science Olympiad [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Olympiad] *Scrabble *Shakespeare *SMILE (Students Making an Impact on Lives Everywhere) *Snack Club *Spades *Speech & Debate *Student African American Brotherhood (SAAB) *Student Council *STAC (Student Technology Administrative Council) *Swing Dancing *Taiko *Theta Phi Lyte (girls step team) *Ultimate *Winterguard: Static Motion *Xtreme Martial Arts *Yoga *Youth & Government

Aiming at fostering collaboration among the leaders of strong organizations at LBJ and helping to create stronger leaders at LBJ, the LBJ Student Leadership Consortium (LC) was founded in the 2005-2006 year by student leaders of: Student Council, National Honor Society, PALs, STAC, Band, SMILE, the Liberator, LASA Robotics, African American Culture Club, and Student African American Brotherhood (SAAB).

Curriculum

In order to receive magnet endorsement LASA students must complete a minimum of 15 magnet classes. They must also complete the Distinguished Achievement Plan or DAP which involves a minimum three years of one language (many students having finished their language will begin another). These classes are college prep level, and all students must complete four years of English, four years of social studies, four years of math, and three years of science. Students must take two "Signature Courses" in both their Freshman and Sophomore years. These Signature Courses are semester-long two-period blocks designed to make well-rounded students. Freshmen must take Science and Technology or SciTech and Electronic Magazine or E-Zine; Sophomores take Planet Earth and Humanities.

LASA offers a wide range of electives in all core subjects ranging from The Hitchhikers Guide to Sci-Fi, Amateur Radio (students may apply for a HAM radio license while taking the course) and the state's only Modern Physics course. The math classes at LASA range from Magnet Algebra I to Multivariable Calculus and Number Theory. Roughly 75% of the LASA senior class graduates having taken calculus.The sciences are quite extensive, with its classes ranging from Topics Biology (covering cellular & molecular biology) to pathophysiology, astronomy, and multi-informational engineering. The computer science program at LASA is home to the Student Technology Administrative Council (STAC), a rigorous program designed to train students with moderate computer skill at the freshman level to be professional network engineers by the time they graduate. This is accomplished through practical work-environment experiences, given thorough training on the computer networks that classrooms actually function on, rather than the traditional experimental and theoretical classroom approach. STAC was established in 1995 through a joint effort of students and teachers, and operated as a student run organization through 2002.

LBJ offers five languages: French, German, Latin, Japanese, and Spanish. Every fall the language clubs will come together and play broomball with the French, German, Latin and Japanese clubs teaming up to take on the massive Spanish club.

There are two levels of curriculum in our core courses - Magnet and Topics. The term Topics originally described the difference between the two levels of math offered by the Science Academy. If a student took Topics math, then they were on track to take BC Calculus before they graduated. Other Science Academy students were on track to finish with AB Calculus. Now, Topics courses are differentiated from Magnet courses by their breadth and depth of the material covered by the curriculum. Another way to differentiate the two curricula is to think of courses in college. Topics courses are, for example, math for math majors or English for English majors and Magnet courses are Math for English majors and English for math majors.

LASA offers 27 Advanced Placement courses; many students begin taking them their sophomore year with either Computer Science or a language.

LBJ's 27 Advanced Placements courses:

*AP English III *AP English IV *AP Calculus AB *AP Calculus BC *AP Statistics *AP Physics B *AP Physics C *AP Biology *AP Environmental Science

*AP Chemistry *AP US History *AP Government *AP Macroeconomics *AP European History *AP Psychology *AP French IV *AP French V *AP German IV

*AP Latin IV *AP Latin V *AP Spanish IV *AP Spanish V *AP Computer Science A *AP Computer Science B *AP Studio Art *AP Art 2D *AP Art 3D

Although the program's curriculum is heavily based in academics, LASA is home to an extremely creative community. The Liberator, the school newspaper, was named the best student newspaper in the South by TIME Magazine,and has been recognized regularly at the state and national level. The recently created Literary Magazine (not to be confused with E-Zine), The Composer, was created when the two academies merged and every spring is well sought after. The theatre program is highly celebrated with its fall play and spring musical. But it is the LBJ Jaguar Band that brings the most attention to the school with its tradition of high performance. The 265 member band has performed all over the world.

The LASA requires that students graduate under the Distinguished Achievement Plan (DAP) as defined by the State of Texas. The DAP requires additional years of foreign language study, mathematics, and the completion of at least four "Advanced Measures."The following are considered Advanced Measures:
*An Advanced Placement test score of at least 3 or higher
*Completion of a dual credit course with a grade of 3.0 or higher
*A PSAT score that qualifies the student to be a National Merit Finalist, semi-finalist, or commended, a National Hispanic Scholar, or a National Achievement Scholar finalist or semi-finalist
*An original research project, judged by a panel of professionals or directed by a mentor and reported to an appropriate audience (Up to two of these projects can be applied toward completion of Advanced Measures)

ciTech

SciTech is hands-on science and engineering, which will prepare students to perform in industry and university work environments with industry level evaluation. Students are given a mechanical engineering challenge that they will have to complete. The course is based in general on a "four step" design process: conceptualization, design, layout/construction, and evaluation. One of the Highlights of SciTech is Kickoff Day when the semester's challenge is announced, former students are often heard asking the current students "What is the challenge this semester?" Or later after kick off, taunting them with, "my challenge was harder than yours", or equally terrorizing, "Man, yours is the hardest I have ever seen!" The exact challenge parameters and the course itself is the "best kept" secret at the academy until Kickoff.

Planet Earth

Planet Earth examines the relationship between life and the physical planet throughout geologic history. The objectives range from recognizing cause and effect relationships to collecting and analyzing data for a long-term research project and then presenting the results. The students participate in two large projects during planet earth: The KT Debate and the Biodiversity Project. The KT Debate covers the various theories discussing the extinction of dinosaurs and the possibility that an asteroid wiped them out, providing the prompt: "The US government will allow fifty billion dollars to an organization that provides scientific evidence for or against defense from asteroids and other extraterrestrials." The debate takes place over a week with students taking the role of senators, lobbyists, reporters and witnesses. The Biodiversity Project consists of students designing and completing a field study in which the relationship between the physical environment and the biodiversity of the Austin area is analyzed. Students working in pairs, trios, or solo select an organism and city park to study.

eZine

eZine was created in the 2005-2006 school year in order to give the Liberal Arts Students a chance to deviate from the overwhelming science and math courses. Students learn various skills necessary for creating a magazine, such as Adobe software, interviewing skills, and other journalism skills. Students apply their knowledge to writing several types of articles for the magazine and designing the magazine. The official eZine website can be found at http://www.lasaezine.org.

Humanities

Beginning with the 2007-2008 school year, an additional signature elective was added to the curriculum, know as Humanities or Great Ideas. The class was designed to encompass the Liberal Arts, in an attempt to make the curriculum less focused on Math and Science. The material that is learned in the class is very similar to what would normally be in an English class; plays and literature are used in place of textbooks, and students are also educated in Philosophy and art. After Humanities was added as a signature elective, the aspect of signature electives at LASA was reshaped to accommodate the functionality of four signature electives. As of the 2007-2008 school year, Freshmen are required to take both Sci-Tech and E-Zine, while it is mandatory for Sophomores to take Planet Earth and Humanities. Only one Signature elective can be taken by a student per semester, and the length of class time alloted to a signature elective course is twice that of another class per week.

ee also

* LBJ High School - LASA and LBJ students share the same campus, newspaper, annual, band, theatre, orchestra, choir, and many other curricular or extracurriclar programs

References

[ cite web|url=http://www.austin.isd.tenet.edu/schools/details.phtml?id=007 |title=Liberal Arts and Science Academy |accessdate=2007-11-21 |publisher=Austin Independent School District ] [ cite web|url=http://www.icsrc.org/ncsssmst06/Conf06Presentations_final.pdf |title=NCSSSMST.org Professional Conference Concurrent Sessions March 17-18 2006 San Antonio |accessdate=2008-07-07 |publisher=NCSSSMST ]

External links

*http://www.austinschools.org/campus/lasa/ (main LASA HS web site)
*http://www.austin.isd.tenet.edu/schools/details.phtml?id=007 (AISD LASA site)
*http://www.lasarobotics.org (LASA Robotics team web site)
*http://www.lbjhs.net (main LBJ HS web site)
*http://www.lasaonline.org (site of PFLASA, Parents and Friends of LASA)