Students and parents may not know there are other options besides attending a traditional high school, especially if they are particularly interested in the sciences. NUAMES (Northern Utah Academy of Math, Engineering and Science) is a charter school that offers classes specifically geared toward STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) along with the regular required curriculum.

“It’s been a school for 20 years,” said Nate Taggart, administrative director of business operations. “At the time, Gov. (Mike) Leavitt wanted to make sure schools had a STEM emphasis that would give them a pathway to higher education.”

The Board of Education President went about establishing a partnership with Weber State University and put together Weber/Davis/ Ogden campuses, he said. “It started small and there has been a partnership ever since.”

Kids can take regular classes and are eligible for college classes, said Taggart. “They can graduate with an associate degree. About half of our students graduated from WSU with an associate degree. They have a great start. It’s a great benefit.”

It’s a great culture, he said. “It’s rigorous but it’s a supportive environment.”

NUAMES has a platinum STEM school designation, Taggart said. “There is silver, gold and the platinum designation is the highest.”

It’s a safe environment where students feel comfortable, he said. “It’s a place where it’s cool to be smart and listen in class and do what the teacher asks you to do.”

Taggart said they have had exceptional outcomes on test scores. “We’re always at the top in the state both in ACT and end of level testing. We’ve had an amazing number of students get scholarships. There were $7 million in scholarships offered last year.”

Students are being accepted by schools that are hard to get into like Harvard and MIT, he said. “There’s at least one student that gets a perfect score on the ACT. We’re starting to see kids come back who are successful in the medical or engineering professions. I feel we give the students a good base to go forward from.”

It’s a 10th - 12th grade public funded charter school, said Taggart. “There is no cost to those who attend. We make an effort to keep fees minimal.”

There are amazing teachers here, he said. “Some are from industry and have experience teaching and know how to make an impact on kids. Most have master’s degrees. A lot of concurrent enrollment classes are taught.”

Engineering, basic computer programming and aerospace engineering are popular classes, said Taggart. “We have a variety of computer science classes, game development to programming.”

There are also the typical courses such as science and math, all the core classes, he said. “Students also have the opportunity to take all of the classes WSU has to offer. Concurrent enrollment is only $5 a credit. Students can also receive a NUAMES scholarship. They have to have a certain GPA and ACT score to qualify for that. If they’re eligible they can easily get an associate degree and not pay anything to go to WSU.”

Ava Egan is a senior at the school. “I want to go into interior design,” she said. “I plan to major in business at WSU then get a master’s degree in business with a minor in interior design. I’ll graduate with an associate degree before graduating from high school.”

There aren’t the traditional extracurricular offerings at NUAMES like sports, dance, etc. “I’m a cheerleader at Northridge High,” said Egan. “They’ve been so supportive of me participating at my other school. I go to my first period there (Northridge) on campus. When they heard about my cheer they said ‘wow you’re going places.’”

Egan said she feels like she gets the full experience. “I get the best of both worlds. I do cheer there and go here so I have friends in both places. It’s helped my high school experience.”