New London — Ivy Varela of Norwich says her daughter seems to have her sights set on the Dual Language & Arts Magnet Middle School in Waterford.

Thinking ahead to her sixth-grader’s future career path, Varela is more inclined to nudge her sixth-grader toward New London’s STEM Magnet Middle School program.

Either way, Varela said, the school choices presented at Wednesday’s Bee Magnet Showcase were new and “pretty exciting.”

Held at the Winthrop STEM Elementary School in New London, the open house highlighted New London’s maturing magnet school system offerings alongside those run by LEARN, a Regional Educational Service Center.

Both offer schools with targeted curriculum in the fields of STEM, visual and performing arts, and language and culture.

Parents perused material offered at tables set up in the hallway of the school, asking questions about just what their children would be learning and what the schools offered.

New London is still in the midst of evolving into the state’s only magnet-school district and busy establishing pathways for students from kindergarten through their high school.

For instance, Winthrop STEM Elementary Magnet School has a K-5 program that progresses to the STEM Magnet Middle School for grades 6 and 7 and on to the Science and Technology Magnet High School of Southeastern Connecticut.

The Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School has a pathway for K-5 students that continues in a program at the Arts Magnet Middle School for grads 6 and 7.

New London Public Schools District Arts Supervisor Kate Fioravanti said by the time students in the arts pathway reach high school, they will not only have new facilities but depending on what discipline they are pursuing they will be spending time at the Garde Arts Center, Lyman Allyn Art Museum or Sonalysts Studios.

Involving community partners is a big part of the magnet school experience and helps to enrich the student’s education, she said.

Lisa Marcus of New London, a mother of first- and fourth-graders, MicKayla and Camrynn, said she pulled her kids from private school last year so they could enter the Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School, where they are flourishing.

She is now assured a spot in the arts pathway and expects that her fourth-grader will be a freshman at the yet-to-be constructed 6-12 school at the site of New London High School.

Marcus said the number of school choices is raising the bar for all area schools that must now compete to attract students.

“The students are the ones that benefit,” Marcus said.

Peter J. Cummings, associate executive director of LEARN, said school choice is now a big part of the educational landscape in southeastern Connecticut.

“People have a lot of options on where they want to send their children,” Cummings said.

Cummings said while Wednesday’s event is part of the recruitment process, all of LEARN’s schools, which operate on lotteries, have waiting lists.

LEARN operates five magnet schools in the area: The Marine Science Magnet High School of Southeastern Connecticut, Three Rivers Middle College Magnet High School, the Dual Language and Arts Magnet Middle School, the Regional Multicultural Magnet School and the Friendship School for Waterford and New London residents.

Most of the schools represented at Wednesday’s event are open to students from across the state and accepting applications for enrollment until April 1.

g.smith@theday.com