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Coordinates: 31°45′9″N 93°5′45″W 31.7525, -93.09583

Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts

• Location & Contact Information
  • Address, Directions, & Map:
    • 715 University Parkway, Natchitoches, Louisiana, United States of America
  • Telephone Numbers:
    • (318) 357-3174
    • (fax)
  • Official Website: [1]
• History & Memorable Moments

The Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts (LSMSA) is a three-year, public residential high school located in Natchitoches, Louisiana on the campus of Northwestern State University (NSU). It is a member of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology (NCSSSMST). ^[1]

LSMSA is the brainchild of State Representative Jimmy D. Long of Natchitoches and Robert A. Alost, president of the then-declining NSU. The school was conceived to offer a unique experience to the state's brightest students while supplying Natchitoches with a well-needed influx of commerce and attention. On the heels of a fleeting surplus of state funds from oil revenues following America's oil crises of the late seventies, one-term Republican Governor David Conner Treen approved the founding of the school, and as a result is largely credited for saving the fledgling community college. ^[1]

Classes were originally held on the ground floor of Prudhomme Hall, an unused dormitory on the campus of NSU while female students lived in the upper floor and male students originally lived in Bossier Hall, another dorm. Renovation of the "High School Building," (known by no other formal title, but formerly the campus of Natchitoches High School) was completed in 1984, and the ceremonial ribbon was cut by famously infamous Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards. ^[1]

"The Louisiana School," as it is commonly called, was the second state-supported residential school of its kind - the first being the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, which opened in 1980. The school was founded in the early 1980s with the first class enrolling as juniors in the fall of 1983, graduating in 1985. ^[1]

Academically, the school is similar to the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Studies focus on mathematics, science, and the humanities. Unlike other math and science high schools, it has an arts program, with instruction in music, theater, visual art, and dance. ^[1]

Student musicians may perform in the Louisiana School Chamber Ensemble, under the direction of composer/conductor Dr. Al Benner. The ensemble performs works native to Louisiana biennially in the Louisiana Composers' Consortium, of which Benner is the founder. "Impulse," the school's dance company, travels across the state performing and also holds its own concert in the Spring of each year. ^[1]

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