NATCHEZ — Applications for students to attend the new magnet school in the Natchez-Adams School District are due by 5 p.m. today.

The Robert Lewis Magnet School for STEM — or science, technology, engineering and math — is slated to open this fall to 125 sixth-grade students.

The school will offer an applied learning that encourages children to learn through project-based learning.

The new school is located at the former Robert Lewis Middle School site.

Applications are available at West, Frazier and McLaurin Elementary schools as well as Braden Administrative Building, which is also where the applications must be turned in. NASD administrative consultant Orlando Pannell said the district had received approximately 114 applications as of Thursday.

“The first few days they were really coming in, and I think we’re going to get another onslaught (today),” Pannell said. “It’s going to be really exciting at the end of the day to see how many we’ve received.”

Admission to the school will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis for the first 125 students. If more than 125 students apply, a lottery will be offered to fill the available slots.

If a lottery is implemented, students not included in the 125 available positions will be placed on a waiting list.

A student’s past disciplinary infractions will not play a part in the admission decision.

Part of the admission process will require an interview of both the child and the parents or guardians.

Pannell said the district would begin interviews as early as next week in order to inform students who were accepted to the school before the last day of classes this year.