José Martí MAST 6-12 Academy
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José Martí MAST 6-12 Academy (often shortened as José Martí MAST, JMMA, or JMMA 6-12), is a
magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. Normally, a student will attend an elementary school, and this also determines the middle school and high school they attend unless they mo ...
incorporating grades 6 through 12 in
Hialeah, Florida Hialeah ( ; ) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. With a population of 223,109 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in Florida. It is the second largest city by population in Miami-Da ...
. Established in 1987 as José Martí Middle School, it expanded into a middle and high school in 2011, re-establishing itself as a
magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. Normally, a student will attend an elementary school, and this also determines the middle school and high school they attend unless they mo ...
.


History


As a middle school (1987–2011)

The school was established in 1987 as José Martí Middle School, by José Enriquez Sr., the school's first principal. Eventually, Enriquez's son became the principal of the school. Prior to its transition to a magnet school, José Martí Middle experienced troubling events such as the intentional setting of a fire in 1999. In November 2010, the school earned over $6,000 by saving energy, which they used to help tutor students.


As a magnet school (since 2011)

After the superintendent of M-DCPS opened a MAST in Homestead, he decided to "franchise"
MAST Academy Maritime and Science Technology Academy, commonly referred to as MAST Academy, or MAST, is a public high school on Virginia Key in Miami, Florida. MAST Academy is a magnet school under the governance of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The sch ...
. Following this, José Martí was converted to a magnet high school in August 2011, with 6th through 9th grades present in the 2011–12 school year. In November 2011, an incident involving pepper spray being sprayed in a stairwell caused 20 students to go to a hospital for non-life-threatening concerns. That November, the school also became one of three schools—the other two being EA and Hialeah Middle—to be enrolled into the Afterschool Nutrition Program. In May 2012, the school received a grant from the
National Wildlife Federation The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is the largest private, nonprofit conservation education and advocacy organization in the United States, with over six million members and supporters, and 51 state and territorial affiliated organizations (i ...
, which was used to initialize the planting of the school's native
arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...
. In May 2013, the
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visited MAST. In 2013–14, the middle and high schools were both fully converted into a magnet school. The school has maintained a relatively small population since this transition, in order to offer its students a richer one-on-one learning experience. In April 2014, ''The Miami Laker'' wrote, "the founding class for José Martí MAST Academy contains 50 students scheduled to graduate in 2015." During that school year, the school's Green Club hosted an
Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org (formerly Earth Day Network) includin ...
celebration which involved planting trees, mulching grass, and collecting trash. Maintenance of an
aquaponics Aquaponics is a food production system that couples aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as fish, crayfish, snails or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) whereby the nutrient-rich aquaculture water is fed to h ...
lab also began. The lab and the arboretum are used for research. The school was selected and featured by the local
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station's "Brag About Your School" Initiative in 2014. During that school year, a Silver Knight mascot was introduced. The school was also granted an
AP Capstone AP Capstone, officially known as the Advanced Placement Capstone Diploma Program, is a two-year program for high school students in the United States, developed by the College Board. It consists of two courses: the AP Seminar and AP Research. St ...
program, set to begin during the 2015–16 school year. The Green Club at the school has planted and maintained a native arboretum, which includes 38 species of trees, shrubs, and grasses. The Fairchild Challenge is also a component of the school's Green Club. On occasion, QR codes and digital devices have been utilized for research in the arboretum.
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is an botanic garden with extensive collections of rare tropical plants including Arecaceae, palms, cycads, flowering trees, and vines. It is located in the city of Coral Gables, Florida, Coral Gables, Miami-D ...
also partnered with the school in order to conduct the Million Orchid Project. The project is meant to re-establish the ''
Cyrtopodium ''Cyrtopodium'', often abbreviated Cyrt in horticulture, is a genus of more than 40 species of epiphytic and terrestrial orchids found from Florida and Mexico through Argentina. ''Cyrtopodium'' is the only genus in the monotypic subtribe Cyrtopo ...
punctatum'', commonly known as the Florida Cowhorn orchid. In 2017, ''NBC Miami'' reported that a botany class continued working on the Million Orchid Project, and wrote, "the kids are learning real science, aided by technology. They use iPads with
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to keep track of and share data with each other. It's invaluable experience for the students."


Academics

As the MAST (Mathematics and Science Technology) name implies, the school centers its focus around mathematics and science classes, or STEM classes. Martí MAST integrates and combines its middle and high schools into one building. The high school has three academies for its students to choose from: the Life Science Academy, the Physical Science Academy, and Mathematics/Computer Science. The school connects with its students through social media outlets such as
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,
Edmodo Edmodo was an educational technology platform for K–12 schools and teachers. Launched in 2008, it enabled teachers to share content, distribute quizzes and assignments, and manage communication with students, colleagues, and parents. The serv ...
, and teachers' personal websites. The school collaborates with several organizations, universities, and partners, such as
Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...
,
Zoo Miami The Miami-Dade Zoological Park and Gardens, also known as Zoo Miami, is a zoological park and garden in Miami and is the largest zoo in Florida. Originally established in 1948 at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Zoo Miami relocated in 1980 as Mia ...
, and the LARC Technical Institute. As a "No Excuses University" school, visiting
Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...
as part of a joint FIU and
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initiative. Since the 2001–02 school year, José Martí Middle was consistent in scoring a "C" grade, achieving the grade 8 out of 12 years. It became a "B" school under Lorenzo Ladaga's administration in the 2002–03 school year. It became an "A" school in 2005–06 under Principal Jose Bueno. Since transitioning into MAST Academy, the school has never ever achieved a school grade lower than an "A".


Extracurricular activities


Clubs

The school offers a wide range of clubs, including science, mathematics, nature, and art-related clubs. Although not officially listed as a club, the school's aquaponics lab has also been used for research. The effect of
tilapia Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically mos ...
waste on the fertilization of plants has been one research topic in the lab. The following is a full list of the extracurricular clubs offered for students at the school.


Athletics

In the 2014–15 school year, the school introduced middle school athletics. Among the sports offered are:


Awards and honors

In the 2012–13 school year and again in 2013–14, MAST was named a Merit School of Excellence. This award placed Jose Martí MAST in the top 1% of magnet schools in the country. In 2013, seven Jose Martí MAST students placed 1st to 3rd in several categories for the Youth Crime Watch of Miami-Dade County Poster and Essay Contests. Several of the school's students were recognized through the same competition in 2015. Also in 2013, student Yenny Dieguez was given the Innovative Engineering Second Award by the National Society of Professional Engineers at the State Science and Engineering Fair. He also placed second at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona. In 2013–14, several students earned perfect scores on the statewide FCAT exam. During the 2014–15 school year, two of the school's middle schools were selected by
Local 10 WPLG (channel 10) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with ABC. The station is owned by Berkshire Hathaway as its sole broadcast property. WPLG's studios are located on West Hallandale Beach Boulevard in Pembroke ...
as finalists in their Eco-Hero Contest. Students at the school were selected as the contest's winner in 2015 and 2022.


Rankings

JMMA has ranked within '' U.S. News & World Report''s top 100 best high schools in the United States list on multiple occasions. ''USN&WR'' also gave the school a score of 85.4 on their College Readiness Index. JMMA ranked 19th out of 2,323 schools in a 2017 ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' study of "America's Most Challenging High Schools". Additionally, JMMA was the highest-ranking
South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...
school on the list.


Notable people associated with Martí MAST

* Tombi Bell, physical education teacher, former WNBA player


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marti MAST 6-12 Academy, Jose 1987 establishments in Florida Educational institutions established in 1987 Education in Hialeah, Florida Magnet schools in Florida Miami-Dade County Public Schools high schools Miami-Dade County Public Schools schools Middle schools in Miami-Dade County, Florida Public middle schools in Florida