Missouri Scholars Academy

Missouri Scholars Academy, or MSA, is a three-week residential summer program held on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia, Missouri for 330 of Missouri's top rising high school juniors.

The Academy started in 1985, and has been held every year since. Each year has had a different set of two colors to uniquely identify its participants. Many of the colors have acquired informal nicknames, often inspired by comments made by director Ted Tarkow.

Participating scholars attend a "major" and "minor" class for three hours and one hour per day, respectively, during the program. These classes are usually college level or experimental, and meant to stimulate gifted students. Past MSAs have featured unique classes dealing with Japanese language and culture, Intelligence & Counterintelligence, Game Theory, Time travel, Infinity, Terrorism & Counterterrorism, Education, Philosophy, Biology, Physics, The Constitution, current events, spelunking, creative writing, and art.

Participating scholars have in years past stayed in assigned rooms at the Mark Twain Residence Hall. Due to Mark Twain renovations, the academy was held in Wolpers and Johnston halls in 2012, and Hawthorn and Galena halls in 2013. In 2014, Scholars were moved back into Mark Twain after renovations were completed the previous fall. Scholars are separated by gender to different floors and given a room mate. Students are not allowed on floors of the opposite gender. A Residential Assistant is also assigned to monitor and work with Scholars (14-18 Scholars per Residential Assistant). Meetings occur every night between Residential Assistants and Scholars to discuss upcoming events, rules reminders, and general questions scholars may have.

Another vital part of the Missouri Scholars Academy is Personal and Social Dynamics, or 'PSD'. PSD takes place for one hour with the "minor" class, and focuses on helping scholars build social skills, forge friendships with others, and express themselves artistically, verbally, and emotionally.

In addition to classes, scholars attend numerous informational, educational, social, and entertainment programs, including swing dance lessons, current events debates, college fairs, seminars, performances, and motivational speakers. There are usually three dances per academy, a street dance, square dance, and an alumni dance.

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