Maine School of Science and Mathematics
Mission Appropriate Student
You may be an MSSMer if you are...
An Enthusiastic Learner:
You love to learn. Whether in the classroom, on your own or with a group of friends, you possess a passion for the pursuit of knowledge, a deeper understanding of the world around you, and, by virtue of this, a more intimate understanding and knowledge of yourself.
Honest and Respectful:
You fervently believe in the value of honesty in everything you say and do, while recognizing and appreciating the existence of other perspectives. You respect the ideas of others, and you actively support a safe environment that fosters the open exchange of competing beliefs.
Independent yet Community-Minded:
You are confident in your own thoughts, but you accept your peers as they are and see them as individual contributors, each in their own way, to your shared community. You eagerly engage in team activities that strengthen inter-personal relationships and that contribute to a culture of mutual support and respect among your peers.
How MSSM Students think of themselves.....
Students at MSSM frequently quip, when asked about their peers, that “these are my people.” Put another way, MSSMers share a dogged loyalty to each other, whereby they jealously guard each other's ability to be unique and independent. They are individual contributors to an extended-school family who share in community events, like wing nights, ski trips, game shows, trips with RI’s, etc., and projects, including problem sets and presentations, and, at their core, share the same underlying goal: the pursuit of truth and knowledge.
Relationships, which are essential to the academic and social pursuit at MSSM, between students, teachers and staff create gateways for new opportunities in student driven research. Students go out of their way to advance their knowledge through research courses, individual tutorials, grant funding applications and experiential and inquiry-based learning, not out of obligation, but the love of education and the thrill that comes from learning something new.
Attribution
This definition was established in a community-wide process in the Spring of 2020, involving the active engagement of the students, alumni, faculty, staff and the Board of Trustees of the Maine School of Science and Mathematics.