Design Your Future at NCSSM: Viewbook 2025

Design your future at NCSSM. ONE SCHOOL. MANY OPTIONS. LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES.

NCSSM-Durham NCSSM-Morganton NCSSM Online Summer Ventures Summer Accelerator NCSSM Connect

One school.

Many options.

Limitless possibilities.

North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics educates academically talented students to become state, national, and global leaders in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. As the nation’s first public, residential STEM high school, we advance public education in North Carolina through a challenging Residential program – offered both in Morganton and in Durham – driven by instructional excellence and the excitement of discovery.

Students also have the option to take NCSSM courses remotely while remaining enrolled at their home high school through NCSSM Online. The Residential and Online programs require you to apply and be accepted during your second year of high school, and you participate in them during your junior and senior years.

Additionally, NCSSM has programs like Summer Ventures in Science and Mathematics, Summer Accelerator, and NCSSM Connect courses to supplement your high school experience.

NCSSM offers limitless possibilities. Students can apply to the Morganton and/or Durham Residential programs, NCSSM Online, and Summer Ventures with one application: cfnc.org

Residential program Live on an NCSSM campus for your junior and senior years of high school > Morganton and/or Durham, NC > Tuition-free and no charge for room

and meals

NCSSM Online Supplemental, two-year honors program for juniors and seniors; stay enrolled at your local high school > Virtual evening courses > Tuition-free

Summer Ventures Engage in STEM research and get hands-on experience at a UNC System university for four weeks the summer before your junior or senior year > Hosted on UNC System campuses > No cost

Find the best program for you.

NCSSM Connect NC public high school students at partner schools can supplement their local curriculum with honors-level and AP courses from NCSSM > Virtual courses during the school day > Tuition-free

Summer Accelerator One- to three-week summer courses on STEM topics, for rising 5th- through 12th-graders from anywhere in the world > Durham, Morganton, and virtual > Fee-based; scholarships are available.

All programs except Summer Accelerator require students to be North Carolina residents.

RESIDENTIAL PROGRAM A WORLD-CLASS PUBLIC EDUCATION NO CHARGE FOR TUITION, ROOM & MEALS For more than 40 years, NCSSM has opened doors and created opportunities for promising students across North Carolina like you. As part of the University of North Carolina System, we’re a public, two-year residential high school where talented juniors and seniors live on campus in a supportive, close-knit learning community to capitalize on their potential, grow as leaders, and discover limitless possibilities.

Accept the greater challenge NCSSM students are thinkers, makers, and doers. Your classes will challenge and excite you. Your faculty, experienced teachers with advanced degrees, will encourage you to take the initiative to explore your burning questions. Our curriculum includes hands-on learning experiences and opportunities to apply your knowledge beyond the classroom through research, projects, and mentorships.

Home away from home Students live in residence halls on campus, fostering independence with support from full-time Community Coordinators. The residence hall is more than where you sleep – it’s a gathering place for late-night study sessions or movie marathons with a shared sense of community.

FIND COMMUNITY & LIFELONG FRIENDS Educational travel opportunities Varsity athletics Student-led clubs & organizations Extensive art, music, and theater classes

TWO DISTINCT CAMPUSES TO EXPLORE YOUR INTERESTS &

NCSSM-DURHAM In 1980, NCSSM opened in Durham on the grounds of the former Watts Hospital with a class of 150 juniors. Today, 680 students call the Durham campus home each academic year, living in close-knit residence halls, eating meals with friends in the campus dining hall, exercising in the Physical Education Center (known to students as the PEC), and studying and relaxing beneath century-old oaks on the campus lawns. The metro location allows you access to realworld research and mentorship experiences in Research Triangle Park and at four nearby universities: Duke, NC Central, NC State, and UNC-Chapel Hill.

“NCSSM WASN'T JUST A GOOD DECISION – IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE. THROUGH THE GOAL OF LOOKING FOR ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES AND A GREATER CHALLENGE, I WAS ABLE TO FIND A VIBRANT COMMUNITY AMONGST ALL OF MY PEERS, AND IT CULTIVATED THE ENVIRONMENT OF HAVING A FAMILY AND HOME WHILE BEING CESAR CAMPOS NCSSM-DURHAM ’25 SO FAR FROM HOME.”

Take a virtual campus tour @ncssmdurham @ncssm_durham

TALENTS

“I'VE FOUND MYSELF SURROUNDED BY NCSSM-MORGANTON LIKE-MINDED PEERS, ENCOURAGING INSTRUCTORS, In 2022, NCSSM-Morganton welcomed its first class of AND ENDLESS 150 high school juniors to a state-of-the-art campus OPPORTUNITIES designed to advance and transform STEM education in THAT FOSTER western North Carolina. Now the campus is home to 300 students from throughout the state. Students live together INTELLECTUAL in a residence hall that features gathering spaces for social AND PERSONAL and academic groups and offers idyllic views of the South GROWTH. THE Mountains. Collaboration and wellness are featured WHOLESOME prominently across the campus in the open-concept library, MEMORIES THAT data science and computer science hubs, maker space and I'VE MADE ARE fabrication lab, hammock garden, and a brand-new Student ONES THAT I'LL Wellness and Activities Center.

KEEP FOREVER.” The Morganton campus features data science throughout its coursework. You will learn to use data in an ethical way and organize information and design creative solutions to real-world problems. In addition, you’ll have the unique opportunity to engage in applied learning experiences with local institutions and industries, including university research, applied health care, local government, and emerging technologies.

ALEX QU NCSSM-MORGANTON ’26

Take a virtual campus tour @NCSSM.Morganton @ncssm_morganton @ncssm-morganton

NCSSM ONLINE The best of both worlds You can remain enrolled in your current high school and live at home while taking challenging courses online from NCSSM, tuition-free. We offer a supplemental, two-year honors program that provides the NCSSM experience across the state to students in their home communities via weekly evening webinars and asynchronous work.

Take advanced, college-preparatory courses like Honors Molecular Genetics, Honors Cryptography, and/or Honors Energy and Sustainability.

NCSSM Online students can take on leadership roles, participate in volunteer opportunities and summer research programs with fellow Online students and those from other NCSSM programs – and even go to the NCSSM prom. You’ll graduate from your home high school and also travel to Durham for an NCSSM recognition ceremony with your Online peers.

“MY TIME IN NCSSM ONLINE HAS GIVEN ME ACCESS TO AMAZING RESOURCES, THE BEST TEACHERS AND CLASSMATES, AND KNOWLEDGE AND OPPORTUNITY THAT I WILL CONTINUE TO APPLY TO MY LIFE IN COLLEGE.” LUCY PELTZ NCSSM ONLINE ’25

ncssm.edu/online View course catalog: ncssm.edu/online-coursecat

SUMMER VENTURES IN SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS For rising 11th- and 12th-graders Explore science, technology, engineering, and mathematics during a tuition-free, four-week residential research program on the campus of Appalachian State University, East Carolina “BEFORE SVSM University, UNC Charlotte, or UNC Wilmington. Summer I FELT THAT Ventures offers many options to follow your intellectual DOING ‘REAL’ curiosity. You’ll study with university faculty and expert teachers SCIENCE WAS in your areas of interest, engaging in hands-on activities UNATTAINABLE in labs and in the field. You’ll be trained BECAUSE I HAD on the skills to conduct, document, and NEVER ACTUALLY SEEN IT DONE. present research on a STEM topic and NOW, I KNOW THAT SCIENTIFIC broaden your understanding of the role of scientific inquiry in addressing realRESEARCH IS HAPPENING ALL world challenges.

AROUND ME AND THAT I CAN Students might work in locations such as a medical research lab or exercise science lab, conduct fieldwork in archeological sites and river ecosystems, learn machine learning or data science research techniques to solve a problem of their choice, or build research lab techniques in nanoparticles or neuroscience.

ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE IN IT.”

ncssm.edu/summerventures summerventures@ncssm.edu

SUMMER VENTURES PARTICIPANT

SUMMER ACCELERATOR For rising 5th- through 12th-graders Accelerator (rising 7th-12th) offers a fun, intellectually engaging residential week on NCSSM’s Morganton or Durham campus where you can explore a variety of STEM and humanities topics. Outside the classroom, the residential life staff leads exciting extracurricular activities and field trips, such as game nights, trips to baseball games, outdoor movies, and hikes.

Accelerator for upper grades (rising 10th-12th) begins with a two-week virtual component completed at your own pace before the residential week.

Sample courses include: > The Amazing Brain: Structure,

Function, and Physiology > Exploratory Dissections and

Comparative Anatomy > Biotechnology

Early Accelerator (rising 5th-6th) offers younger students exciting ways to explore STEM topics through interactive and hands-on activities. These non-residential, day programs are held on our Durham and Morganton campuses.

Accelerator is open to students from inside and outside North Carolina. While there is a fee to attend, scholarships are available. ncssm.edu/accelerator ncssm.edu/early-accelerator

NCSSM CONNECT Take NCSSM courses at your home school NCSSM provides live, synchronous distance education courses during the school day to students across North Carolina through partnerships with local public high schools. Students can take honors- and AP-level courses online, tuition-free. You’ll personalize your learning by sharing real-life experiences and perspectives. Our NCSSM Connect program allows smaller rural schools to offer advanced coursework that may otherwise be unavailable. Offerings include Honors Aerospace Engineering, AP Computer Science Principles, Honors Physics, and advanced math courses.

To find out whether your school is a partner, check with local high school.

Schools interested in partnering with NCSSM should contact connect@ncssm.edu

summer@ncssm.edu @ncssmconnect @ncssm_connect

Design your future.

From community-based groups to affinity spaces, academic competition teams to fine arts ensembles, NCSSM has a student organization for everyone. Together, NCSSM students shape their great potential into a promising future for themselves and North Carolina. For many, it's a lifechanging experience that takes them to places they couldn't have imagined.

Student life reflects the uniqueness and enthusiasm of our student body. NCSSM brings together people from throughout the state with many different stories – different rural, urban, and suburban origins, economic circumstances, goals, interests, hobbies, and sensibilities – and allows them the opportunity to learn from and value each other.

To us, creating a sense of community is more than words – it guides the work that we do. We believe a community is stronger, more creative, and more innovative when we welcome everyone and all work together.

At NCSSM, you’ll be challenged and supported to test your boundaries, learn to live and work with others away from home, and gain a better sense of who you are and how to navigate the many options life presents.

Number of NC’s 100 Counties Represented (2025-26) RESIDENTIAL 89 ONLINE 57 RESIDENTIAL & ONLINE 92

NC Residency Requirement All applicants to the Residential and/or Online programs must establish permanent legal residency in the state of North Carolina by December 1 of the applicant’s second year of high school.

Applicants will need to clear residency through the Residency Determination Service (RDS), www.ncresidency.org,

by January 30 for consideration for enrollment at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics.

Applicants who undergo any appeals process must complete all appeals by February 28. There are no exceptions to this deadline.

Application timeline APPLY AT NCSSM.EDU/ADMISSIONS October 15

Application opens for Residential, Online, and Summer Ventures programs

December 1

Deadline for establishing residency in the state of North Carolina

January 5

Application deadline for Residential, Online, and Summer Ventures programs

February 28

Transcripts, evaluations and supplemental documents due

Early April

Status notifications released

To apply for Summer Accelerator, visit ncssm.edu/summer To request information about NCSSM Connect, visit ncssm.edu/connect

FOLLOW US @NCSSMAdmissions @ncssm

VISIT US Schedule a tour of one or both campuses online: ncssm.edu/admissions