Type Public, charter Grades 9-12 Website www.ames-slc.org Mascot Archer Founded 2003 | Principal Brett Wilson Enrollment 475 Phone +1 801-278-9460 Number of students 475 Color Silver, black, and red | |
Address 5715 S 1300 E, Murray, UT 84121, USA | ||
The Academy for Math, Engineering, & Science (AMES) is a charter high school serving grades 9-12 in Murray, a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah.
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Founding
AMES was founded in 2003 as part of a state initiative known as the New Century High Schools. It is intended to be an alternative to the traditional type of high school, and as such AMES limits its enrollment to keep a "small school" environment. Total enrollment is capped at about 475 students.
The school opened with start-up funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of their Early College High School Initiative. It receives ongoing financial support from the state of Utah as well as various corporate donors and charitable foundations.
University affiliation
AMES is partnered with the University of Utah. Students attending AMES are able to take University of Utah courses, taught in AMES classrooms by university professors, at the same time that they are completing their normal high school graduation requirements. University courses currently taught at AMES include calculus, physics, chemistry, college algebra, writing and humanities.
AMES is a free (publicly funded) high school and the university classes which students take while at AMES are also provided free of the normal university tuition charge. Enrollment is open to all students living anywhere in the Salt Lake Valley. Each year, new students are selected based on a random lottery from the applications received. Previous grades and test scores are not considered in the admissions process.
Relationship with Cottonwood
AMES is located in the same building that houses Cottonwood High School but it is not actually part of Cottonwood High. Although the two schools are separate entities, they do have a class sharing agreement which allows AMES students to take Cottonwood classes not offered by AMES. These classes include music, drama, driver's ed, sports, and more. The agreement does not allow Cottonwood students to take AMES classes, with the exception of Arabic.