Science study is school focus

OREM — The social hierarchy of a high school that has no jocks, band geeks or thespians is yet to be determined.

Beginning this fall, the Utah County Academy of Sciences will open to sophomores and juniors.

The following year, school administrators will add another class, making it a complete senior high school with about 350 students who love math, science, engineering and computer technology.

The school, however, will have slim options for extracurricular activities, clubs or sports.

The money saved from activities will be spent in college tuition.

When students graduate from UCAS, they will have earned about 60 credit hours from Utah Valley State College. Many of those college credits will be earned in science classes.

"They'll be halfway toward their bachelor's," UCAS principal Clark Baron said.

Although some would say the school is devoid of the extras that make high school memorable — Friday night games, cheerleading practice or the school play — administrators believe there is school spirit at the new school.

For a recent open house, future students decorated the building with signs saying such things as "UCAS + UVSC = the perfect education" and "UCAS: Utah's Coolest Academic School."

UCAS is housed in an annex of the old Vineyard Elementary, 940 W. 800 South, now owned by UVSC. The college will lease the space to the high school for about $70,000 a year.

The Utah Board of Regents, the governor-appointed panel that oversees Utah's public colleges and universities, has limited tuition costs to about $85 per credit hour, but it will be free to students. State tax dollars will cover the expense, Baron said.

Sophomores will spend the day in the UCAS building. Adjunct faculty will teach college courses, many of them stretched over an academic year. The experience will be similar to the rigor of college "without the speed," Baron said.

Juniors will have four classes in the UCAS building — at least two will be college courses. They will walk across the street to UVSC's main buildings for two more classes.

"Most of the classes we looked at are three credits, so it's six hours," Baron said.

Seniors will spend the majority of their time at UVSC, except for one class in the UCAS building.