After leaving to the Texas Academy of Math and Science (TAMS) for a full year, senior Paige Hall has returned to finish out high school.

“The TAMS experience was incredible,” Hall said. “Everyone around me was highly intelligent and we all had the same goal to succeed.”

After completing a year, Hall decided to return because she said school should be more than a pure academic experience.

“My unhappiness led me to return,” Hall said. “I missed just having fun and being a high school student with no worries. Socially, I didn’t fit in with the other students.”

TAMS is a rigorous two-year program that offers an early entrance into college for Texas sophomores. The students who enter and complete the program graduate with a high school diploma and at least 57 hours of college credit.

“I was concerned for her living on a college campus at such a young age and being able to find young people her own age to be around,” Head Volleyball Coach Beth Wills said.

Hall said the environment was ‘much more concentrated, rigorous and demanding at TAMS.’

“In high school, many students just want to pass their classes so that they can participate in extracurricular activities, but at TAMS your GPA is all you have,” she said.

Volleyball is one of the activities Paige returned to.

“It’s definitely a positive for (her) to be back here and back playing volleyball,” Wills said.

Hall said she left the program feeling prepared for her academic future.

“I’m extremely confident about college now,” she said. “I’m not afraid to go because I know exactly what it’s like and what I must do to succeed.”

TAMS not only advanced the academic aspects of her life, but also her perspective, Hall said.

She said, “Interacting with people of different cultures and birth countries who were all striving for immense goals truly gave me a varied vision on life.”