A Colorado STEM Program with Fort Worth Roots: High School High Scholar

by Jacob Sanchez, Fort Worth Report
July 13, 2024

Amanda Toledo Barrios’ freshman biology teacher at Paschal High School handed her a pamphlet.

“You should apply to this,” he said.

The pamphlet detailed a science, technology, engineering, and math program called High School High Scholar, or HS². Students spend five weeks of their summers before sophomore, junior, and senior years in Colorado, where they learn about universities and STEM careers, take college classes, and enjoy the great outdoors.

After school, Toledo Barrios passed the HS² pamphlet to her parents.

“You’ve never been alone,” she says they told her, “especially out of state for so long.”

“I’ll apply to it,” Toledo Barrios said. “I probably won’t even get in.”

Fort Worth roots

HS² is geared toward first-generation college students and students from low-income families from Fort Worth, program director Annie Oppenheim said. Students from New Orleans, New York City, and Denver also qualify.

HS² has roots in Fort Worth. Mollie and Garland Lasater, a Fort Worth philanthropic couple, established a scholarship fund for the program.

Every summer, the program admits 25 new students. Annually, 75 students participate.

For many students, acceptance into HS² comes with many firsts, Oppenheim said. First trip on an airplane. First time away from parents for an extended period. First time leaving their state and, sometimes, even their hometown.

“For a lot of them, it’s also different in this way that initially feels scary, but seeing them work through that fear and that feeling that ‘different’ might equal ‘bad or hard’ and seeing them ease into the experience that’s so different is a really, really beautiful thing to witness,” Oppenheim said.

Participants are exposed to a new world of opportunities and connections. They take hands-on courses in biology, computer science, and artificial intelligence.

Students also get a headstart on their classes for the following school year. If calculus is on their class roster, HS² solidifies the fundamentals of the high-level math class.

Aside from academics, students spend time outside in nature. They hike trails around their school. They even hop into a kayak and scull the nearby waters.