COLUMBUS, Miss. (WTVA) - The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science sits on the Mississippi University for Women campus in Columbus.
Inside, the hallways of the school look like any other Mississippi public high school.
But this school, known as MSMS, is charged with teaching some of the best high school juniors and seniors lessons they might not get in a traditional high school.
MSMS Admissions Counselor Wade Leonard said, "At MSMS, students have the opportunity to take dozens and dozens of different classes. It's very similar to what you would see at many colleges. Our kids can go as high as calculus four if they should choose to do so. They can take any number of chemistry, biology or physics classes."
But it's just not about math and science here.
Other classes like art, literature and music are offered to help make these young people from all corners of the state well-rounded students.
They also get to have a lot of fun along the way.
Student Brenna Nye of Southaven said, "We have soccer, swimming, tennis and cross country. I am the soccer captain. We also have lots of clubs. You'll see things like ones at your home school but also clubs like an Indian dance team."
Also different here is the fact the 240 juniors and seniors live on campus, and classes are smaller in size.
Student Roxanne Robidoux of Tupelo said, "You have more one-on-one time with the actual teachers. If you need help, they'll give you what you need even after classes. You're also with the students all the time. You can ask them for help whenever you want to."
To get in the doors here at MSMS, students undergo a competitive application process.
Leonard said, "From the moment students fill out the application to the moment they walk across the stage during graduation, they earn everything they get from MSMS. My students earn about $12.5 million in scholarship offers each year. Newsweek and The Daily Beast recently named us one of the best high schools in America."
It's a 25 year tradition, he says, where Mississippi's most academically gifted young people are best prepared for college and beyond.
