The First of Many: The Journey of One of Mass Academy’s First Students
In 1992, Mass Academy opened its doors to its inaugural class of students. We recently had the opportunity to speak to Sarah Adams, a professor of Mathematics and Electrical & Computer Engineering at Olin College, who was a part of that first graduating class. She took the time to meet with us and talk about her experiences going from her previous school, Northbridge High School, to Mass Academy, and how this prepared her for college and her career.
Adams was introduced to Mass Academy through her parents, who both worked in education. She was interested in the idea of attending college classes early. “I was ready for a more academic challenge and … to [get out of] the high school social drama,” she said. While she enjoyed her time at Northbridge High School, Adams felt as though she wasn’t being challenged enough. When her parents heard about Mass Academy, they encouraged her to apply in the hopes of expanding her educational pursuit. Adams recalls both the application process and the curriculum itself being very different from what it is now – in its first year, Mass Academy was open only to seniors with both full-time and part-time options.
The students also spent their time entirely at WPI, with no classes dedicated only to Mass Academy students. “There wasn’t a dedicated space for us back then,” Adams explained. “We had a small room under the library at WPI, but otherwise, we were just WPI students.” With no formal check-ins and structured schedules outside of their classes, Adams described her experience as more like attending a college than being part of a high school.
Despite the lack of a traditional high school environment, Adams still thrived. She was enrolled as a full-time student at Mass Academy and thus took a full course load at WPI, including a tennis class to fulfill her high school gym requirement. “I loved the freedom to choose my classes and focus on what interested me,” she said. The academic rigor and independence prepared her for future challenges in college and graduate school. Adams credits this early exposure to college-level learning with gaining her independence and strong work ethic. This later led to her college professor encouraging her to skip postdoctoral research and instead go straight into a professorship after earning her Ph.D.
Socially, the program at Mass Academy wasn’t as cohesive as it is today. “There wasn’t much of a community among the Mass Academy students,” Adams recalled. “I worked closely with one or two classmates because we happened to share classes, but most of my friends were WPI students.” That said, she did join the French Club and made use of WPI’s Math and Science Help (MASH) sessions, which she found especially useful as she adjusted to the more demanding coursework.
Looking back, Adams considers her time at Mass Academy very significant in her academic career. “It was ahead of its time, providing students with a chance to immerse themselves in college-level academics and develop independence early,” Adams shared. “It gave me a jumpstart on my education … that extra year of math and science let me skip introductory courses in college, dive deeper into my major, [and pursue] my Ph.D. younger than most.” While she acknowledges that the program was still finding its footing in 1992, she finds that Mass Academy’s innovative approach to education had a positive, lasting impact on her career.
Lilian Amer ’26
Junior Staff Writer
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