The Maine School of Science and Mathematics (MSSM) is a public residential

magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Limestone, Maine Limestone is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,526 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The town is best known for being the home of the Loring Commerce Centre (formerly Lori ...

, United States. MSSM serves students from all over the state of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

, as well as youth from other states and

international student International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...

s. It is a public high school for students in grades 9–12, and its summer program is for boys and girls from grades 5–9. MSSM is an all-residential

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

with a total capacity of 156 students. The school is a member of the National Consortium of Secondary STEM Schools (NCSSS).

History

After the announcement that

Loring Air Force Base Loring Air Force Base was a United States Air Force installation in northeastern Maine, near Limestone and Caribou in Aroostook County. It was one of the largest bases of the U.S. Air Force's Strategic Air Command during its existence, and was t ...

would be closed, funding from the

Defense Reauthorization Bill Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

provided for the creation of the Maine School of Science and Mathematics at the site of Limestone High School, which was going to lose many of its students upon the closure of the base. The town's elementary school was eventually converted into dormitories for the school, as they are located on the same property. MSSM continues to share the former Limestone High School building with the local Limestone Community School. Each school occupies approximately half of the building. Due to their small size and physical proximity, the two schools also share most of their sports teams. In 2014, the school acquired a new dormitory, dubbed "Limestone Manor", in the center of town. The building housed a nursing home until the business relocated in 2013. As of 2014, the Limestone Manor, a male-only dormitory, houses close to 30 students. Chartered and funded by the

Maine Legislature The Maine Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. It is a bicameral body composed of the lower house Maine House of Representatives and the upper house Maine Senate. The Legislature convenes at the State House in Aug ...

, MSSM opened with a pioneer class in 1995. At that time, it was only the eleventh statewide residential magnet school specializing in mathematics and science education in the United States and the only school of its kind in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. Both remain true today. It is the only magnet school currently operating in Maine.

National ranking

In 2013, '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked MSSM 13th on its list of "America's Best High Schools," a ranking of

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

high schools in the United States. In 2017, it was ranked 19th; and in 2019, it was ranked second. In 2022, it was ranked 2,355th.

References

External links

Official MSSM Website

MSSM Parents Association Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maine School Of Science And Mathematics Public high schools in Maine Magnet schools in Maine Schools in Aroostook County, Maine Boarding schools in Maine Limestone, Maine Public boarding schools in the United States

History

National ranking

References

Further reading

External links