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Here in Alabama, we love our winners– be they college sports teams, Huntsville landing the Space Command headquarters (again), or our Miss America contestants. We are truly blessed to live in a state where we have so much to be proud of and compete so well on the national stage. This spring, as the state legislative session convenes, I believe it’s important that our elected leaders remember our educational winners as well, as they thoughtfully allocate funding for high-quality education to Alabama’s children. As the former Chief of Staff of Airbus’ U.S. Manufacturing Site and as a former high school educator, I am uniquely positioned to understand both the supply and demand sides of Alabama’s workforce. In my estimation, an unsung hero supplying top talent to our state is the Alabama School for Math and Science. ASMS provides an exceptional educational experience to children from across our state, directly feeding an educational and workforce pipeline that fills highly trained, high-demand, and difficult to fill jobs including medical professionals, engineers, and research scientists across our state.
In December 2024, the education profiling organization Niche ranked ASMS Alabama’s Number 1 Best Public High School for 2025, citing its accelerated college-level curriculum, living-learning environment as a residential high school, ample leadership opportunities for students, and research focus not available anywhere else in the state. The school’s nearly 300 gifted students hail from 57 counties, and 58 percent of its students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Data indicates that 75 percent of its graduates matriculate to Alabama universities, and 65 percent remain Alabama residents following college graduation. Since its inception in 1989, the Alabama School for Math and Science has graduated over 3,000 students who have become professional leaders in STEM industries across our Alabama.
To ensure students are provided a strong foundation in their future careers, ASMS has created three specialized curricula tracks catering to the needs of Alabama’s workforce—the Advanced Engineering Initiative, Medical Sciences Pathway, and Research Fellows programs. Each of these programs seamlessly align with the Alabama Department of Commerce’s latest strategic plan, “Catalyst”, to meet the workforce needs of our priority business sectors including bioscience, mobility, defense, chemical and advanced materials manufacturing, and technology. ASMS is a direct enabler of the Catalyst plan’s successful execution. The city of Mobile is expected to hire over 1,000 new engineers in the next decade, and Huntsville is already the primary city where college graduates look for a technology job in the state of Alabama. Where do we expect these workers to come from? A great place for them to start is ASMS.
The school recently received the greatest number of applications in its history (500), having to employ a waiting list and regrettably turn down many outstanding applicants. For an institution that educates Alabama’s best and brightest children and that adds so much value to the economic development of our state, should we not consider ways to increase the number of residential students to further enhance our STEM workforce pipeline? In order to do so, the school would require additional residential halls, a gymnasium, and the hiring of additional faculty and staff. While some might not support such an upfront expense, I am convinced it is money well spent that would net substantial ROI in the long run by ensuring more students receive a world-class education, matriculate on to Alabama universities, pursue co-ops and internships with Alabama companies, go on to fill in-demand Alabama jobs and furthermore pay Alabama taxes. If ever there were a sound investment for Alabama’s future, surely this is it.
We talk a lot about Workforce Development in our state—the Alabama Workforce Transition Act seeks to streamline the state’s workforce development efforts, which is a truly admirable initiative. But from my unique vantage point, real economic and workforce development begins in the secondary school system. And while the industrial trades are enjoying a much needed and deserved renaissance, we cannot forget to support the educational institutions which train our future doctors, engineers, and research scientists. Alabama—we have a clear and obvious winner in the Alabama School for Math and Science. If we want to take workforce development seriously and truly walk the walk, I implore our state leaders to celebrate and honor the achievements of ASMS students, faculty, and staff by prioritizing its funding and support so that it may continue to serve our state by producing highly educated workers who go on to fill high-demand jobs for Alabama companies in STEM industries.
