LSMSA Students Study Barbecue, Star Trek, Genetic Engineering, and More During Special Projects Week ‘25

Students at Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts (LSMSA) took part in Special Projects Week ’25, Jan. 6-10, exploring a wide range of topics that included “Creole Culture in Louisiana,” “Aviation: Basic Knowledge of Becoming a Pilot,” “Piñata-Making Party,” and “Star Trek: The Final Frontier.” A total of twenty-nine topics were offered on LSMSA’s Natchitoches campus during Special Projects Week ’25.

 

APPLY NOW: LSMSA is currently accepting applications for the Fall ’25 semester. Priority deadline is March 1. Apply here.

 

Special Projects Week is held annually at the start of LSMSA’s spring semester. Projects are offered by faculty members outside of the parameters of a typical class structure. Topics frequently focus on careers, hobbies, and practical life skills like cooking or sewing. Student work is not graded during Special Projects Week, which allows for a more relaxed learning experience.  

 

 

Crystal Lewis, Chair of the Creative and Performing Arts and Associate Lecturer and Director of Dance, led a special project called “All Things Design and DIY.” Meeting daily in the LSMSA Dance Studio, Lewis’s group learned fundamental principles of interior design while collaborating to design spaces “that can bring them joy, peace, or even spark creativity,” Lewis said.   

 

“Special Projects Week allows students to explore a variety of fun subjects that first week back to campus in the spring semester, which helps ease the transition back to school after the holidays,” Lewis said. “Mostly, I hope they just had a really great time exploring design ideas and seeing what they could create.”

 

“I’ve really learned about different design styles and how to make use of what you have,” said LSMSA student Paulina Hsiau ('26) of Leesville. Hsiau said that she enjoyed Lewis’s class. “It’s been fun because we get to not worry about assignments and just do what we like to do.”  

 

Not all Special Projects Week ’25 projects were so casual. In Dr. Temitope Fadipe’s “Genetic Engineering 101”—which received support in the form of donated lab materials from Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.—students spent the week doing things like learning how to extract DNA plasmids from lab-grown bacteria. Dr. Chris Hynes, Senior Lecturer in Chemistry and Coordinator of LSMSA’s Future Scientist Program, explored the science and technology of flying in “Aviation: Basic Knowledge of Becoming a Pilot.” 

 

Most Special Projects Week ’25 courses found a way to “split the difference” between learning and fun, whether by merging the two (as in the case of Dr. Brad Burkman and Dr. Casey Green’s “When an Old Diary and a Computer Meet: An Intro to Digital Humanities”) or by encouraging students to see how knowledge of math, science, and the arts often go hand-in-hand (as with Dr. Allison Landry and Dr. Maggie Hodge’s “Needle Arts”). Students in “Needle Arts” said that they learned more than how to crochet or cross-stitch.

 

“Sometimes you have to rip everything out and start all over,” said “Needle Arts” student Addy Landry ('25), who crocheted a multi-color blanket under the tutelage of Dr. Maggie Hodge, Principal Lecturer of Biology. “It teaches you patience with yourself.”

 

ABOUT LSMSA
LSMSA is a tuition-free, public high school for high-achieving sophomores, juniors, and seniors with a nominal room and board fee to cover housing, meals, and campus activities. The LSMSA Foundation offers assistance for families so that no eligible student is denied the school’s 42-year legacy of a college-level living/learning experience. For more information about LSMSA, or to apply for the Fall ‘25 academic school year, visit www.LSMSA.edu.