Missouri Scholars Academy
Missouri Scholars Academy, or MSA, is a three-week residential summer program held on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia, Missouri for 330 of Missouri's high school juniors. It should not be confused with the Missouri Student Association, with which it shares an acronym. MSA is a member of the National Conference of Governor's Schools.
History
The Academy started in 1985, and has been held every year since. Each year has had a different set of two colors to uniquely identify its participants.
Classes
Participating scholars attend a "major" and "minor" class for three hours and one hour and a half hours per day, respectively, during the program. These classes are usually college level or experimental. Past MSAs have featured unique classes dealing with Japanese language and culture, Intelligence & Counterintelligence, Game Theory, Time travel, Infinity, Terrorism & Counterterrorism, Education, Philosophy, Biology, Physics, The Constitution, Censorship, current events, spelunking, creative writing, and art.
Residency
Participating scholars have in years past stayed in assigned rooms at the Mark Twain Residence Hall. Due to Mark Twain renovations, the academy was held in Wolpers and Johnston halls in 2012, and Hawthorn and Galena halls in 2013. In 2014, Scholars were moved back into Mark Twain after renovations were completed the previous fall. Scholars are separated by gender to different floors and given a room mate. Students are not allowed on floors of the opposite gender. Residential Assistants are also assigned to monitor and work with 16-22 scholars each. Meetings occur every night between Residential Assistants and Scholars to discuss upcoming events, rules reminders, and general questions scholars may have.
Procedures
The Name Tag
For safety reasons, scholars are required to wear their name tag at all times when they are not on their floor of the residence hall. Name tags must be displayed on the upper torso.