Transmountain Early College High School, commonly referred to as TMECHS, is the

Early College High School The Early College High School Initiative in the United States allows students to receive a high school diploma and an associate degree, or up to two years of college credit, by taking a mixture of high school and college classes. This differs from ...

for the

El Paso Independent School District The El Paso Independent School District (or EPISD) is the largest school district serving El Paso, Texas (USA). Originally organized in 1883, it is currently the largest district in the Texas Education Agency's Educational Service Center (ESC) ...

. TMECHS participates in the STEM School program, and through collaboration with

EPCC EPCC, formerly the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre, is a supercomputing centre based at the University of Edinburgh. Since its foundation in 1990, its stated mission has been to ''accelerate the effective exploitation of novel computing th ...

, allows students to take courses at its Transmountain Campus and receive an

Associate degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

before their high school graduation. It has also collaborated with the

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

to allow its advanced students to attend UTEP courses in their senior year upon the early completion of their associate degree. All TMECHS students graduate under the Texa
Distinguished Achievement Plan
which requires that they conduct original research under the guidance of professionals in their field. Its students are representative of all geographic areas of the city. A lottery and interview process are used to select the 125 student freshman class each year since 2008.

Accelerated Graduation Plan

The TMECHS administration have designed and successfully implemented a program to allow advanced TMECHS students to complete their associate degrees by the end of their Junior year, and to attend UTEP courses their senior year. The first 27 of these early graduates have successfully completed their EPCC degrees and moved on to 4 year universities. An arrangement was established by the school district to provide bus transportation for TMECHS students to and from UTEP by sharing the bus route already in place for the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

program students of Coronado High School.

Student spaceflight experiment

STS-134 STS-134 ( ISS assembly flight ULF6) was the penultimate mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the 25th and last spaceflight of . This flight delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier to the International ...

, the

Space Shuttle Endeavour Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-105) is a retired orbiter from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the fifth and final operational Shuttle built. It embarked on its first mission, STS-49, in May 1992 and its 25th and ...

launched with the science experiment "Effect of Microgravity on Biofilm Formation by E. coli on Polystyrene Particles" designed by TMECHS Juniors Jarisma Rodriguez and Michelle Holguin, as part of the NCESSE Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. STS-134 was the final mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour and the penultimate mission of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...

Admission

To qualify for admission, students must: * Pass the 8th grade

TAKS The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) was the fourth Texas state standardized test previously used in primary education, grade 3-8 and secondary education, grade 9-11 to assess students' attainment of reading (activity), reading, wr ...

on the first attempt. * Maintain at least a 70% average in Middle School. * Send in an application. * Conduct an interview.

Sports

TMECHS does not offer school-sponsored competitive sports. However, it does offer

intramural sports Intramural sports are recreational sports organized within a particular institution, usually an educational institution, or a set geographic region. The term, which is chiefly North American, derives from the Latin words ''intra muros'' meaning " ...

including American football, volleyball, soccer, and basketball.

Music

TMECHS offers band, orchestra, piano, and guitar as electives, and does participate in district-sponsored musical competitions such as Solo & Ensemble or All-Region competitions on an individual basis.

Clubs

* Glee Club * Robotics * Student Government * Yearbook * UIL * Mock Trial * Academic Decathlon * National Honor Society * Community Service * Super SAC * Announcement Crew * Talent Show Crew * High Q *

Mu Alpha Theta Mu Alpha Theta () is the United States mathematics honor society for high school and two-year college students. In June 2015, it served over 108,000 student members in over 2,200 chapters in the United States and in 20 foreign countries. Its main ...

* Karaoke Lunch * Film Club * TMECHS eSports Club * Chess Club

Available Degree Plans

This is a comprehensive list of the associate degree plans available for TMECHS students.

Associate of Science

* Architecture * Biology * Biological Sciences-Pre Dentistry * Biological Sciences-Pre Medicine, * Biological Sciences-Pre Pharmacy * Biological Sciences-Pre Veterinary * Chemistry * General Studies * Geological Sciences * Mathematics * Physics

Associate of Arts

* Computer Science * Civil Engineering * Computer Engineering * Electrical/Electronic Engineering * Industrial/Mechanical/Metallurgical/Materials Engineering * Teacher Preparation

References

External links

*
GreatSchools.org Review
{{authority control El Paso Independent School District high schools High schools in El Paso, Texas Early College High Schools University-affiliated schools in the United States Charter schools in Texas University of Texas at El Paso