By Stephen Hemelt
L’Observateur

VACHERIE — Some St. James Parish students might not understand there is a big world outside their familiar neighborhoods, so school district officials are working to expose parents to the programs that connect students to their potential.

Pam Bourgeois, director of the Science and Math Academy and Gifted Center in Vacherie, said that is the theory behind the location’s burgeoning parent resource center and upcoming family day.

If you have a child who wants to be a physics engineer, where is a program that has that and what is it like? Can you send your child there?

Bourgeois said those questions and similar ones could be answered at the center, which is located at the school’s campus, 3125 Valcour Aime St. in Vacherie.

“We’re going to have some things in the parent resource center, where parents can come to learn about the curriculum and kind of refresh,” Bourgeois said. “If you need to help your child with calculus, we can help with some things you can do to refresh.”

The Science and Math Academy serves students in grades seventh through 12th from Lutcher High School and St. James High School. It is a choice site, and students can choose to come there to advance in their curriculum. For instance, Bourgeois said, a qualifying seventh grade student could take high school-level Algebra 1 at the Academy.

“We have students starting as young as tenth grade taking college-level classes,” Bourgeois said. “We actually had a student graduate last year with 60 college credits. It was very awesome.”

The Gifted Center serves students who are “gifted” or “nearly gifted” from grades third through eighth in a self-contained environment, Bourgeois said.

SMA students come to the Academy for part of the day and go back to their home-based school to take other classes. Gifted students attend all day.

To involve the students’ families and the community in the school’s objective, staff remembers are using a recently obtained River Parishes Education Foundation Grant.

Teachers Lee Granier and Michelle Hills won the $750 grant, which will be used to increase parental involvement through the parent resource center by offering materials and resources for their use.

Parents can learn about shifts in testing, graduation requirements, course selection and making the transition to college. A tutoring center, where students work one-on-one with their peers, is also part of the project.

St. James Superintendent Dr. Lonnie Luce said the teachers took the initiative to write the grant, and their success helps engage district parents.

“Engaged parents expect more from their children and schools and get more from their children,” Luce said.   

The Science and Math Academy and Gifted Center is opening its doors for family night from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Monday to parents, family members and students who attend to learn more about what the location offers. Also, any gifted student in grades second through sixth not attending the school, as well as their parents, can visit to learn about the opportunities the program presents. 

Bourgeois said the grant does not represent a huge amount of money, but adds her teachers can do a lot with a little.

“The majority of the money will go to the consumables that will be used during that family night Jan. 5,” she said. “There will be snacks and some hands-on science and math that night.

“We’re hoping that we can write the grant again to perhaps extend it, because to get it started, it is costing a little bit. In the future, we can spend the money more towards video components of the parent resource center. It will be used more for books, tutorials and pamphlets to hand out to give parents information.”