STENTORIAN
VOLUME XXVIII, ISSUE 4
NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS
MAY 2017
Class of 2017 By the Numbers
By AVRA JANZ
As graduation approaches,
many seniors are reflecting
on what the last two years
have held: good friends,
remarkable teachers, run-
ins with administration and
contentious arguments on
Facebook. Beginning this year.
The Stentorian administered
and analyzed a survey of the
experiences of the Class of
2017 in an attempt to add
nuance to those reflections.
What are our goals? Would we
attend NCSSM again? How
many levels did we receive?
Based on an annual survey
by The Harvard Crimson,
the first annual survey of the
graduating class featured four
sections, on demographics and
politics, college, the NCSSM
experienee, and gender
discrimination, a special-
interest section for 2017.
198 out of approximately
350 seniors responded to the
anonymous survey, which
contained both multiple-
choice and short-answer
questions; although not
every member of the class
responded to the survey,
respondents are referred to as
“seniors” and “the class” in
the accompanying analysis.
Results are as follows:
Demographics
Seniors outlined their
religious and political
affiliations, combined family
incomes and locations of origin
in detail, establishing the
Class of 2017 as a remarkably
diverse one. Certain trends,
though, stood out. Although
no one county accounted for
more than 17.7% of the class,
a plurality of seniors are from
either Wake County (17.7%),
Durham County (8.1%) or
Mecklenburg County (7.6%).
Slightly over a third of
respondents (34.8%) hail from
the Triangle, and the majority
of the class live in suburban
areas (54%).
Most of the students in
the Class of 2017 identify as
white (64.6%), with 28.8% of
students identifying as Asian,
9.1% as Black or African-
American and 1.5% as
American Indian; respondenfs
could identify with more than
one race. 4.5% of students
identified as Hispanic or Latino.
Most survey respondents
were female (58.6%), though
females eompose only about
50% of the class.
Average members of the
Class of 2017 grew up in
relatively rich households.
According to the US Census
Bureau, the median household
income in the United States
in 2015 was $56,516. By
comparison, 50.5% of survey
respondents indicated that
their parents’ combined
incomes were greater than
$109,918, and 8.1% of
respondents indicated that
their parents’ combined
incomes were equal to
or greater than $250,000
annually. 5.1% of students,
in contrast, have parents
who make less than $21,884
annually. Less than a third of
students students (29.8%) had
held a paid job with regular
wages.
College
Members of the Class of
2017 detailed varying college
plans, but again, eertain
trends were prevalent among
their responses. More than
half of respondents (53.5%)
will attend a public, in-state
school, and 68.7% of students
plan to stay in the Southeast
U.S. A large majority of
students - 70.7% - plan to
major in fields in science,
math and technology, and
an additional 12.6% attend
to pursue a major related to
health and medicine. 35.2%
of students majoring in a
field related to science, math
or technology plan to pursue
majors related to engineering,
and 20.4% plan to pursue
majors related to biology.
A plurality of respondents
(42.4%) plan to work both
during their first semester and
second semester or quarter
in college, while a third of
students do not plan to work
at all during their first year.
54% of students will receive
financial aid during their first
year of college, and 10.6%
have received a full or large
merit scholarship. Nearly
half (47%) of students do not
plan to take out any loans in
order to pay for college, but
12.6% of students plan to take
out $40,000 or more in loans
over four years. The college
decisions of the Class of 2017
were largely motivated by net
cost; a plurality of seniors,
29.8%, indicated that net cost
was the key factor in their
college decisions. Course or
major offerings came in as
a close second, motivating
the decisions of 27.8% of
students. Seven students
plan to take a gap year, and
thirteen plan to play a varsity
sport in college. Nearly two-
thirds (65.7%) of students
plan to play an intramural
sport in college, while 62.1%
of students have played
intramural sports at NCSSM.
NCSSM
Seniors detailed a variety
of viewpoints regarding the
# Catholic
# Protestant
H Christian: Other
Muslim
# Jewish
9 Hindu
# Buddhist
# Unatfiliated, Athiest or Agnostic
# Other
Religious affiliation.
% Democrat
# Republicart
# Independent
Political affiliation.
e Donald Trump
# HiHary Clinton
# Gary Johnson
# Jill Stein
# other
2016 Presidential election votes. 42 seniors voted in the election.
All Donald Trump voters indicated that they had remained satisfied
with their votes as of late April or early May; at least one senior who
votedfor each other candidate no longer felt satified or was unsure.
# Arts and Humanities
# Business
Health »xt Medidne
# Multi /lnterdisc^indry Shxlles (eg:
^ea and gender stucties)
# PLMic and Social Servtces (eg; pubtic
administiation, theology)
# Sdwice, Matii and Technology
# Social Sciences
# Trades and Personal Services
Intended major or field of study. Science, Math and Technology
(70.7% of students) and Health and Medicine (12.6% of students)
were the most popular intendedfields of study.
administration at NCSSM,
race relations at NCSSM and
their overall experiences at
the school, but on the whole,
opinions were positive -
with the notable exception of
opinions on mental health.
A plurality of seniors
(42.4%) indicated that they were
satisfied with the administration
at NCSSM, rating the
administration a 4 on a 1-5
scale; 39.4% of seniors rated
race relations a 4, though eight
seniors rated race relations a 1,
or “negative.” A sixth of students
(16.7%) indicated that they had
been discriminated against by
peers as a result of their race,
while 5.1% of seniors indicated
that they had experienced racial
discrimination from teachers.
About a fifth of students
(20.2%) had refrained from
expressing an opinion in an
academic setting for fear that
they might offend others, and
similar percentages of students
(22.7% and 21.2%, respectively)
indicated that they had felt
excluded at NCSSM because
of their political or religious
beliefs. More than half of
students (52.6%) indicated that
attending NCSSM had affected
their mental health negatively,
though a plurality of students
(29.8%) reported that attending
NCSSM had not affected their
mental health. 86.4% of students
would choose to attend NCSSM
again, given the option.
Nearly half of respondents
(47%) had never cheated in
an academic context while at
NCSSM, but most cheaters
were serial cheaters: 32.3% of
students who had cheated had
cheated more than three times.
More than half of NCSSM
students participate in varsity
sports (57.6%); only 15.2% of
students have never played a
sport at NCSSM. More than 9
in 10 students (90.9%) agree
with the recent decision to
eliminate the wi-fi cutoff,
but few students support
the Morganton campus: on
a scale from viewing the
campus “negatively” to
“positively,” a plurality of
students, 33.8%, rated the
campus a 2, and only 5.6%
gave it a 5.
Gender Discrimination
About a fifth of students
(20.7%) indicated that they
had been discriminated
against by peers as a result
of their gender, and 13.7%
of students indieated that
they had experieneed gender
discrimination from teachers.
Students shared a number
of stories detailing their
experiences with gender
discrimination at NCSSM,
and many students noted
that they had experienced
heightened discrimination
in high-level STEM
classes. Says one student,
“1 experienced [a stigma
against female students]
most often in the high level
STEM classes where female
representation is low. The
inequality was often subtle
but still enough for me to
feel like I needed to “prove”
myself to these teachers.”
Says another: “Even within
STEM classes 1 still get the
feeling that my answers are
not correct, even though they
are, because I am a female.
I’ve found myself having to
repeat things over and over
again just to get a singular
point across. More often than
not my repetition is ignored
completely.”
Female students in male-
dominated STEM classes
reported having difficulty
finding lab partners,
having opinions ignored or
discredited by male peers,
and having had male peers
take credit for their answers.
Students also indicated
that gender discrimination
was intertwined with racial
stereotyping in high-level
STEM classes, as well as
at school in general: one
student noted that if she
performed relatively poorly,
teachers and students would
expect others of the same
gender and race to perform
poorly as well.
Students who identify as
transgender or nonbinary
indicated experiencing
significant discrimination.
Says one student, “People
don’t use my pronouns or
respect my gender... this has
CLASS, cont. on page 8.