Considering applying to a Wake magnet school? These 37 just won national awards.
Thirty-seven Wake County magnet schools have received national awards just as the application period for those schools is in its final week.
Combs, Fox Road, Hunter, Joyner, Stough, Washington, Wendell, Wiley and Zebulon elementary schools; Carnage, Carroll, Ligon, Reedy Creek and Zebulon middle schools; Millbrook High School and Wake Early College of Health and Sciences received the School of Excellence Award from Magnet Schools of America.
Those 16 schools, announced on Thursday, are now in the running to win the national trade organization’s top awards at its conference in April.
In addition, Brentwood, Brooks, Conn, Farmington Woods, Fuller, Green, Jeffreys Grove, Kingswood, Poe, Powell and Smith elementary schools; Daniels, East Garner, East Millbrook and Moore Square middle schools; and Athens Drive, Broughton, Enloe and Garner high schools, Vernon Malone College and Career Academy and Wake STEM Early College received the School of Distinction Award.
Wake County annually does well in the national competition, with 36 schools being recognized in 2019. Last year, Wake STEM Early College was named the top magnet secondary school in the nation, and Reedy Creek Middle won the New and Emerging Magnet School Award.
Since 1982, Wake has used the magnet program to diversify school enrollments, fill under-enrolled schools and provide additional educational opportunities. Magnet schools offer programs typically not found at regular schools, such as advanced arts and foreign language courses.
Wake tries to balance what’s offered at the various schools so that people aren’t discouraged from attending magnet schools. In return for the added offerings and freedom from reassignment, magnet students often have longer commutes to school.
Overall, 57% of the 5,800 applicants for a magnet school were accepted this school year. Some of the schools receiving awards this year are among the hardest to get into because of the high demand.
Wake’s application period to get into magnet schools and year-round schools for the 2020-21 school year ends Jan. 30. Go to https://www.wcpss.net/domain/90 for more information.
This story was originally published January 24, 2020 at 1:39 PM.
