First-Class Finish

The Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science, and Engineering sent its first graduates out into the world this summer, with every departing senior accepted to college — three of them to Columbia University. The school, located on West 123rd Street between Morningside and Amsterdam Avenues, opened in the fall of 2007 as a joint effort by the New York City Department of Education, the University, and local civic organizations to create a selective public school that would provide science, technology, engineering, and math education to students from Upper Manhattan and elsewhere. Today, everyone involved is feeling good about the experiment. “I am so proud of this school we set up with the city,” says Columbia president Lee C. Bollinger. “We are now embarked on an adventure with these young people that will be a source of pride for the University for generations to come.”