Academy of Science and Technology

November is one of our quieter months in AST. We are working to finish up applications for the Class of 2028, there were a record 260 students who applied to join us! We are waiting for testing to be returned and teacher recs to be completed. Interviews will be in January!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving Break

November 20-24-Thanksgiving Break

I asked our faculty members to write up a little about themselves that I could share with you all. I think it's important that you all get to know who is with your student each day! We are all committed to doing our best and we appreciate your trust in us.

From Larissa Coffee (Honors Bio, AP Environmental Science)

Hello! I’m Larissa Coffee. This is my 5th year at AST (10th year as a teacher) and I teach Honors Biology and AP Environmental Science. I’m about to celebrate my 24th anniversary with my husband, Stephen. We have one daughter, Marina, who is 19 and in her first year of college pursuing a nursing degree. I graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a Bachelor’s of Science and then served as an officer in the Navy. I’m a first generation American and my first language was Spanish. My parents are from Argentina and Ecuador and they raised me to love this country and appreciate all the opportunities it afforded me. That’s why I decided to serve in the military.

My husband and I left active service 2005 and moved here to Texas (He continued as a reservist and retired recently after 20 years of service). A few years ago, we had an amazing opportunity to live in Newfoundland, Canada as expats when Stephen was sent there for work. It was such an adventure with moose in our backyard, and icebergs, puffins, whales, reindeer, and even polar bears sharing the island with us. After moving back to Texas and getting the chance to teach Environmental Science here, I was reminded of how much I love the outdoors and decided to begin a Master’s of Science in Environmental Management. I’m in my second year of graduate school and I love the courses that I take and sharing what I learn with my students.

If I could give my students one piece of advice, I would tell them to pursue what truly interests them instead of deciding their major solely on what will give them the largest pay check. And I would remind them that it’s ok to not be certain of what they want to be when they grow up. They don’t need to have it all figured out by the age of 18.

Check out our classes in action! These are some great action shots from AP Chemistry and AP Biology! We are always so proud of our students and love to see them hard at work!

If you ask our seniors and their parents they will probably tell you that the last four years both drug and flew by. Like the adage goes, the days are long but the years are short. We absolutely want students to be thinking about what they want to do after high school. However, we need to make sure that our students focus on choices and fit over a single name or single school type.

As freshmen and sophomores, there are two big things that students can be working on: organization of activities/awards and exposure to different schools. When students start their applications in the summer between junior and senior year, they must list in and out of school activities, awards, honors, and some applications make them break it down by hours per week and weeks per year. This summer--the summer assignment for our 9th to 10th grade students (2027) will be completing a organizational tool that has them do this. I will provide a template that helps them do this. I am planning to add this tool over the winter break in a few weeks, so they can get started early if they would like to.

Exposure to different colleges and universities is crucial for students/families. Many of our students like to aim for the most prestigious and most difficult schools in the country to be admitted to. Although reach schools are completely fine to have on your list, lists that are dominated by schools in that category lead to unnecessary stress, typically more rejections that acceptances, and simply doesn't maximize scholarship opportunities and/or financial aid. This summer our sophomore to junior (2026) class will be working on building a diverse college list that focuses on research of different colleges, creating a priority list, etc.