Sophomore Clayton Buback has a knack for learning. He is an exceptional student who soars in math and science.

His teachers and friends all agree; he’s got something going for him. Perhaps it is for these very reasons that he decided to apply to the Missouri Academy.

The Missouri Academy is a two-year residential program for students who are talented at and interested in studying math, science, or technology. It replaces a student’s junior and senior year of high school, and with the completion of the program they can receive both their high school diploma and Associate of Science degree.

“He is very well-prepared for the Academy,” sophomore Paige Cheever, good friend of Buback’s said. “He is a very intelligent and a hard worker.”

The Academy is located at Northwest Missouri State University, a five-hour drive from St. Charles. The program allows for students to visit home on the weekends, and bus transportation allows for students to be picked up on a Friday evening and be dropped off on a Sunday afternoon. Buback plans to visit his dad regularly.

“I knew he’d go away sooner or later, and this is two years earlier rather than a few years later,” father Dan Buback said. “Once, we took him there on a weekend and the kids looked like they were having so much fun, I’m afraid he won’t want to come home on the weekends.”

It all began last Nov., when Buback received a letter in the mail from the Academy, inviting him to apply to the program. Since that time former FHN students now attending Missouri Academy, Maggie Doerge and Neeraga Ganeshraj, have visited North, presenting a slideshow to sophomore science classes. They are hoping to spark even more interest in the Academy.
Buback feels it’s a perfect fit, seeing as he hopes to work with “something involving chemistry” in his future. He’s excitedly awaiting the head start the Academy will provide, the opportunity to learn about college life, and the freedom that comes with living on a college campus. He can’t wait.

“The Academy is the perfect place for Clayton,” sophomore Brittany Stanley, who’s also considering the Academy, said. “He’s a good student and the Academy is the best way to prepare him for a career in science, mathematics, or computing.”

Buback will undoubtedly benefit from such an experience, but it is not only him that will be affected by his decision to apply. Both his friends and family back home will miss his “entertaining” personality, but they all have said that they feel he’s made the right move.

It took Buback hours to fill out the application. He answered the short answer questions, wrote the required essays, and listed his achievements and awards. Now after all that work, he can only wait.

“It’s a pretty selective program, but recently they’ve been accepting more people to make it more well-known,” Buback said. “I’m uncertain [if I will be accepted], but hopeful.”

Academy or no Academy, Clayton Buback will go far. Family, friends, and even teachers have acknowledged the fact.

“He will do very well,” Honors Biology teacher Laura Montgomery said. “He will excel.”