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On Wednesday, Jan. 26, the sounds of conversation and curiosity filled the Reaud Honors executive event space as hopeful high school aged students and their parents packed in for the largest Texas Academy Preview Day to date.

The Â鶹ÊÓƵ Texas Academy is an early entrance honors program for local high school juniors and seniors. All students accepted into the unique program receive full-tuition scholarships for up to 15 credit hours per semester while pursuing an academic track in engineering, pre-med/pre-dental, business, pre-nursing or multidisciplinary. Students also can participate in campus intramural sports, marching band and any of the 150 student organizations across the university. 

Tilisa Thibodeaux, dean of the Reaud Honors College and Â鶹ÊÓƵ Texas Academy program, said that Preview Day gives the local community an opportunity to learn more about the academy, student opportunities and everything offered at Â鶹ÊÓƵ.

“Our Texas Academy students have amazing experiences here at Â鶹ÊÓƵ. They are learning about academics, curriculum, service leadership and everything that’s involved with being an academy student at Â鶹ÊÓƵ in an accelerated gifted and talented program. Our focus for Preview Day is to highlight all of those amazing things that exist here.”

The program has always had a residential component allowing academy students to live on campus in residence halls while taking classes, but recently announced a new non-residential pathway for students that live within a 30-mile radius of Â鶹ÊÓƵ –– a program enhancement that Thibodeaux calls a complete game-changer.  

“What’s really amazing about the non-residential program is that although those students are not living here on campus, they can still get that closeness that our Cardinals feel here on campus through our community meetings, advising appointments and events,” Thibodeaux said. “We’re scaling up in the Texas Academy program, but we also are ensuring that the close-knit feel remains in-tact and we will not lose that community experience.”

Local high school students interested in the program are able to attend the upcoming Preview Day on Feb. 7 on the Â鶹ÊÓƵ campus or virtually on Feb. 17. Registration is open for both events and Thibodeaux said “Applications are flying in, and we are excited about what is to come for the Texas Academy program here at Â鶹ÊÓƵ.”

To learn more about the Texas Academy or to register for an upcoming Preview Day, visit lamar.edu/texasacademy.