End of Term Message from the President – Winter 2020
Dear ASMS Community,
As the winter term comes to a close and students participate in Special Projects Week, I want to tell you how proud I am of the members who make up the ASMS community. I appreciate your hard work, your commitment to education, and the way you represent our school every day.One thing that has resounded this term is the power of teamwork. The ASMS Admissions and Outreach Department collaborated with every department on campus to host two on-campus recruitment events, ASMS Days. We had over 200 students in attendance with their families, and we currently have around 600 applicants for next school year. The community also pulled together on Giving Tuesday in December to raise over $14,000 for our students. The money raised is helping to fund new AV in the auditorium, upgraded WiFi on campus, girls dormitory renovations, and a modernized school website. I am especially proud to share that 61% of our faculty and staff gave back to the school on this day, and seven of our departments had 100% giving!Another very special part of the Winter Term included a 90th birthday party for our school founder and benefactor, Ms. Ann Bedsole. Ms. Bedsole sponsored the bill in the State Senate to establish the school, and now 30 years later, our school held a celebration honoring her not just for her years of investment in the school but for 90 years of high-impact leadership in the state of Alabama. She smiled the brightest when the students came to speak with her and wish her happy birthday at the end of the celebration.
Students, I specifically want to commend you on the excellence you have exhibited this term. Our students took first place in the Congressional App Challenge, and other students scored in the top 5% out of over 4000 teams competing in the National CyberPatriot competition. Two of our students also received awards for their service. Senior Nathan Lusco was awarded the DAR Good Citizenship Award for his service providing AV support to ASMS, and junior Alaina Kelly received the bronze President’s Volunteer Service Award for completing over 123 hours of community service in 2019.Additionally, the varsity Chess Team won 1st place overall for the Mobile-Baldwin County League, and we had two first place winners and two third place winners at the recent Betty Gunn debate invitational. Two student teams participated in the University of South Alabama’s Mathematical Puzzle Problems (MaPPs) competition placing 1st and 3rd. Last but not least, many advanced and upper level German students earned medals for their 2020 National German Exam results, including 10 gold medals for ranking in the 90th percentile nationally. We certainly have a great deal to celebrate around campus!Our community hosted several special events on campus this term as well. Students and faculty once again collaborated to host the state High School Science Bowl competition. Our ASMS band and choirs performed their annual Winter Concert, and our ASMS theater department presented Clockwork, a comedy murder mystery, on West Campus. We also had some very special visitors this past term including 92Zew’s Kelly Finley who spoke at Assembly in celebration of Black History Month. Two of our alumni came back to campus to meet and speak with our students as well — Anna Word (class of 2014) who is a cancer immunology researcher at Yale University and Amber Jackson (class of 2015) who is a Program Manager at Microsoft.We are already looking forward to an outstanding spring term and summer break as our Adventures in Math and Science camp registration is now live. Before looking ahead too far, it is important we look back on where we have come from. Our ASMS Foundation released their 2018-2019 Foundation Report boasting all-time highs for giving and fundraising. On behalf of all of us at ASMS, we say thank you for investing in both the present and future of our school.As always, I attribute the success of ASMS to our people. When you read the stories of faculty members like Angela Mollise or alumni like Sara Nayeem and Ryan Shelby, it is clear that our people are our most important asset. Thank you to each one of you for continually living out the mission of ASMS.I wish our community an exceptional Special Projects Week and restful Mardis Gras break. I look forward to seeing you upon your return to campus.
Sincerely,
Sincerely,
John Hoyle, Ph.D.President