Pasadena, CA – 11/1/2022 – Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) has partnered with local nonprofit, the Institute for Educational Advancement (IEA), to deliver high-quality gifted and talented services for eligible students. IEA is dedicated to the intellectual, creative, and personal growth of the nation’s gifted and high-potential youth and offers classes, resources and support for those with exceptional intellectual skills. PUSD students identified or demonstrating potential towards identification for gifted and talented education (GATE) are invited to attend after-school Innovation Clubs, a student-centered learning experience where scholars work in teams to complete a variety of design challenges, and explore independent topics of study in the STEM fields. This year, over 130 students in grades 3-8 benefited from the IEA-lead curriculum. 

“It is such an asset to be able to tap into the expertise of an organization that dedicates itself to meeting the unique needs of gifted learners,“ said Karen Anderson, Pasadena Unified School Arts & Enrichment Coordinator and GATE Specialist. “The Institute for Educational Advancement understands how to connect with our students and their unique needs, challenging them while developing their critical and creative thinking skills, and nurturing their love of learning.”

IEA’s program for PUSD includes STEM challenges like catapults, science fiction writing, Innovation Exposition mentoring, online 3D printing workshops, and environmental design projects. In order to reengage students into the school environment coming out of the pandemic, the partnership was started in spring 2022 and continues through this fall at six schools who needed additional support to run this valuable educational program. 

“For almost 25 years, IEA has helped gifted students to work toward their potential through curated learning designed with a whole child approach,” said Elizabeth D. Jones, IEA President. “Partnering with the Pasadena Unified School District’s GATE team allowed us to work within our own community to provide gifted students with academic, social, and emotional support that will benefit the children beyond the classroom walls.”

For more information about the Institute for Educational Advancement, please visit https://educationaladvancement.org/. 

About the Pasadena Unified School District

The Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) serves pre-K to 12th-grade students in a 76-square mile area that includes the communities of Altadena, Pasadena, Sierra Madre, and unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County. The Pasadena Unified School District prepares students for the future by inspiring the joy of learning in every child, every day. With an innovative curriculum and a commitment to excellence, the schools of Pasadena Unified develop each student’s potential so that they’re ready to succeed in an ever-changing world. For more information about the Pasadena Unified School District, please visit www.pusd.us/enroll.

About the Institute for Educational Advancement

The Institute for Educational Advancement (IEA) is dedicated to the intellectual, creative, and personal growth of our nation’s gifted and high-potential youth. Central to the mission of IEA is a commitment to the development of the whole child through engaging educational experiences that promote optimal challenge, mentorship, exploration of ideas, and recognition of personal potential. IEA seeks to connect gifted individuals through dynamic and engaging year-round programming. Additionally, IEA supports a diverse community that creates a sense of belonging and affirmation. For more information, visit www.educationaladavancement.org.

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The theme of this year’s conference was Earth Science, with a special focus on equipping children with the tools necessary to problem-solve, innovate, and create change in a world with endless solutions.

It’s no coincidence that just days before the conference, Pasadena experienced a near record-breaking heatwave followed by plunging temperatures that brought on a flash hailstorm with pea-size ice pellets and gusty winds. At Academy, students in the Kitchen Chemistry 2 class excitedly put their gummy bear experiment on pause to step out onto the front porch and take in the wintery scene.

Students take a break to  investigate ice falling from the sky during Kitchen Chemistry 2.

The ECSTEM conference offered similar opportunities to learn from nature’s wonders, including keynote speakers and children’s book authors Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple, who read from their book, I Am The Storm.

“A tornado, a blizzard, a forest fire, and a hurricane are met, in turn, with resilience and awe in this depiction of nature’s power and our own. In the face of our shifting climate, young children everywhere are finding themselves subject to unfamiliar and often frightening extreme weather (Yolen, 2019).”

This richly illustrated book told from the perspective of four children who find themselves adapting to extreme weather events thoughtfully depicts the call to shelter, swirl of emotions, and eventual passing of danger that leaves each child feeling as strong as nature itself.

If you haven’t read the book for yourself or in the company of a child, I recommend it. The final pages will have you chanting,

“I am loud like the tornado.

I am wild like the blizzard.

I am hot like the fire.

I am fierce like the hurricane.

I am the storm.

And when the storm passes,

as it always does,

I am the calm, too.”

Below you will find a list of resources from ECSTEM and other STEM-field experts that provide our young people of today with developmentally appropriate, culturally inclusive, real-world learning opportunities that are on the cutting edge of tomorrow.

ECSTEM

• STEM Library
• 2021 ECSTEM Conference Highlights

JPL/NASA

• Earth Science-STEM activities for kids
• NASA Climate Kids- What Is Climate Change?

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Science Education.

• 2022 Report on Science and Engineering in Preschool Through Elementary Grades (free downloadable pdf available)

And if you happened to miss Pasadena’s recent ice shower, here is how you can make your own hailstorm in a cup!

As educators around the world explore new ways to instill students with the knowledge and skills they need to be successful innovators in an ever-evolving 21^st century, there has been a growing emphasis placed on STEAM – an educational discipline that engages students with the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics.  Many educators believe STEAM (and its forerunner STEM) is a critical component of 21^st education. “Education is under pressure to respond to a changing world,” education writer Jeevan Vasagar asserts in a Financial Times article.  As repetitive tasks are eroded by technology and outsourcing, the ability to solve novel problems has become increasingly vital.”

STEAM inspires teachers to utilize project-based learning that intersects each of the five fields and cultivates an inclusive learning environment in which all students are able to connect and contribute.  Unlike traditional methods of teaching, educators use the STEAM framework to bring the disciplines together and enable students to use both sides of their brain at the same time.  STEAM not only teaches students how to think critically, solve problems and use creativity, it prepares students to work in career areas that are predicted to experience significant growth.

Why add the “A” in STEAM?  When it comes to equipping our youth with creative critical thinking skills, STEM is not enough. The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) was one of the early champions of adding the arts to the earlier STEM education framework to create STEAM which emphasizes the important “symbiosis between the arts and sciences.”  According to RISD, ”The goal is to foster the true innovation that comes with combining the mind of a scientist or technologist with that of an artist or designer.”  Former RISD President, John Maeda, an early advocate for STEAM, has emphasized the concept that design thinking and creativity are essential ingredients for innovation.

The IEA team is excited to be planning the IEA STEAM-a-thon, a peer-to-peer fundraising event set to kick off on Saturday, September 18.  This four-week virtual event will feature opening and closing presentations, STEAM challenges/experiments for competition, a judges panel, prizes and a keynote speaker.  This is a wonderful opportunity to inspire young STEAM innovators from across the country and raise vital funding for IEA’s programs and services.   IEA needs your support!  We invite you, your family or your business to become a SPONSOR of the STEAM-a-thon.  Click here for sponsorship information. In August, be on the lookout for information on the IEA website about joining the STEAM-a-thon.

The current best-selling book, The Code Breaker, chronicles the thrilling story of a group of groundbreaking scientists whose string of discoveries launched a scientific revolution that will make possible medical miracles including the ability to fight off viruses, cure diseases and have healthier babies.  We are grateful for one of those miracles as we receive our COVID-19 vaccine shots and see hope for an end to the pandemic.  It is not surprising that the importance of gifted and talented education is noted in the book. 

Feng Shang, who immigrated from China to America with his mother at the age of 10, began his path to biology in the 1990s with his Des Moines, Iowa middle school’s Gifted and Talented Program.  He recalls that initially through his regular school science classes he thought biology was uninteresting.  He found activities such as dissecting a frog on a tray to identify its heart unchallenging and the curriculum was focused on memorization.  In contrast, his gifted and talented program featured a regular Saturday enrichment class in molecular biology that focused on DNA and how RNA carried out its instructions with an emphasis on the important role of enzymes in the process. He was able to do many hands-on experiments including one that transformed bacteria to make them resistant to antibiotics.  This class inspired his eagerness to learn and discover in the field of biology.  For high schoolers, Des Moines had a gifted and talented program called STING (Science/Technology Investigations: The Next Generation), which allowed talented students to work at local hospitals and research institutions.  Zhang’s Saturday teacher helped him get selected to work at the gene therapy lab of Methodist Hospital.  He had the opportunity to work with a molecular biologist who assigned Zhang progressively sophisticated experiments.  One of these experiments deconstructed the HIV virus and examined how each of the components worked.  Part of the goal of the Des Moines Gifted and Talented Program was to help students compete in the Intel Science Talent Search, a national competition.  Zhang’s virus experiment won him third place and $50,000 which he used to help pay tuition for the next step of his education journey at Harvard University.  Today, at only 39 years old, he is considered one of the most transformative biologists of his generation.

Feng Zhang is a prime example of the impact that gifted and talented programs can have on turning American students into world-class scientists.  Gifted children need a much more challenging education than can be offered in the regular classroom.  Gifted and talented programs such as those offered at the Institute for Educational Advancement, provide advanced enrichment classes and workshops that fill a critical gap in our public education curriculum. These challenging and creative programs focus on a wide variety of STEM and other topics taught by experts from such institutions and organizations as Caltech, NASA, Harvard University, Art Center College of Design and Walt Disney Animation. Our high potential youth are the scientists, innovators, engineers and leaders of our nation’s future and the educational opportunities they receive make a difference in their ability to reach for their full academic and personal potential.  Gifted and talented education programs provide the support and inspiration our brightest students need to thrive and reach for the stars.

We’re kicking off Women’s History Month by sharing resources specifically for the amazing girls* in our gifted community who are already making history! What resources have been helpful for the gifted girls in your life? Share them with us!

1. Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program

Though normally a 7-week program, the signature Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program will be running virtually in 2021. The 2-week opportunity is available to rising sophomore, junior, and senior girls—trans and cis—and non-binary students. No prior computer science experience is required. The program covers projects related to computer science, such as art, storytelling, robotics, video games, web sites, and apps. Participants will also hear from guest speakers, participate in workshops, and connect with female engineers and entrepreneurs.

2. E-Girl Essay Contest

The EngineerGirl website is a service of the National Academy of Engineering that is designed to bring national attention to the exciting opportunities that engineering represents for girls and women. Every year, the EngineerGirl website sponsors a contest dealing with engineering and its impact on our world. Though submissions are closed for 2021, the next prompt will be announced in September.

3. All Girls/All Math Summer Mathematics Camp

This week-long summer mathematics camp for high school girls provides a stimulating and supportive environment for girls to develop their mathematical ability and interest. In 2021, the program will be virtual and open to all genders. Participants learn about the exciting mathematics of Codes, interact with peers who share an interest in mathematics, and work with female mathematics graduate students and professors. The campers stay in a residence hall and are chaperoned by female mathematics graduate students and undergraduate students.

4. Ellen Littman

Dr. Ellen Littman is a clinical psychologist licensed in New York State, with a focus on high IQ adults and adolescents. Dr. Littman has been recognized by the American Psychological Association as a pioneer in the identification of gender differences in ADHD, with special expertise understanding issues affecting women and girls with ADHD. She was a podcast guest on the topic of “Why ADHD is Different for Women” in December 2020 – you can listen here.

5. Smith College Pre-College Programs

Designed by Smith’s professors and staff, precollege programs offer an inspiring learning experience. The hands-on, collaborative environment lets students directly engage with world-class scholars who help them pursue their passions and develop new skills. Both remote and on-campus opportunities are available.

6. Math Prize for Girls

The Advantage Testing Foundation Math Prize for Girls is the largest math prize for girls in the world. Each fall at MIT, nearly 300 young female mathematicians compete in the challenging test of mathematical creativity and insight. Their goal is to promote gender equity in the STEM professions and to encourage young women with exceptional potential to become mathematical and scientific leaders. Their format for the Fall 2021 contest has not been announced at the time of publication.

7. The Maker Mom

Kim Moldofsky’s mission for this blog is to help parents raise STEM-loving, Maker-friendly kids. She writes about raising gifted children, girls in STEM, and the Maker Movement. Additionally, she is the founder of #STEMchat, which brings parents, educators and STEM professionals together monthly via Twitter to share resources and ideas.

* We are using “girls” to include any gender-expansive or gender nonconforming youth. Definitions may differ by organization.

As the program director for the Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship with fifteen-plus years selecting and working with the CDB Scholars and families, I’m asked this question more than any other, so I’m here to provide some inside information that you won’t find on High School Confidential or through the grapevine.

Every eligible CDB application is read thoroughly by at least two members of the CDB staff at the Institute for Educational Advancement and logged into our online data system, one folder for each CDB applicant. If any elements of the application are missing, we will e-mail the applicant well before the submission deadline. We also send a DEADLINE COMING UP!! e-mail to every applicant who has begun to fill out or worked on an application within three weeks of the deadline. Staff members evaluate each application individually with written notes pertaining to each element of the application as well as an overall score and assign a numeric to the applicant. This score is then added to an evaluation grid comprised of the totality of that year’s eligible CDB applications. This compilation is what the CDB staff uses to determine which applications will move forward to one of three national selection committees comprised of deans and directors of admission at selective high schools, colleges and universities throughout the United States, heads of independent schools, educators who work with gifted students and CDB alumni, two-three per committee. Our CDB Scholar alumni are outstanding ambassadors and having successfully gone through the application process themselves, quite capable of helping select the Finalists.

The selection committee meetings last two days and result in the selection of between 45-55 Finalists from across the country. These Finalists will be interviewed in person or via zoom (as occurred for the 2020 Scholar selection due to the pandemic restrictions on travel and in-person gatherings) throughout the summer with one or both of their parent(s) or guardian(s) present for a portion of the interview. From the Finalist pool, each year’s CDB Scholars will be selected early in September to begin working with the CDB staff to help find each Scholar’s optimal high school fit.

In reading and evaluating hundreds of CDB applications annually, here are some tips for prospective applicants:

We always offer choices in the essays to help applicants find areas that resonate with them academically and personally. We hope that you will use the 500 word count or a close approximation to elaborate on the given topic and help us get to know what drives and motivates you as an individual in response to the prompt. In my experience, it has rarely if ever been the case that a two or three sentence “essay” has the ability to wow. If anything, it feels to the readers that you’re completing the application under duress and not of your own volition.

By all means use engaging, sophisticated vocabulary and concepts IF you have a clear understanding of their correct usage. Few things stick out more to an experienced application reader than “big” words or phrases put in for effect rather than to enhance a thought or statement. Clunky word choice is not a note you want next to one of your essays.

If you identify as a math or STEAM/STEM person, you are not alone in this applicant pool, so what can you write to set yourself apart from the pack? Well, you can be creative with your words and describe what it is about math that excites and engages you, and you don’t need to be a wordsmith to accomplish this. As readers, my team and I look forward to understanding what drives and motivates an applicant to complete this long and complex application, so help us better understand you. There are few more positive notes I write than, “I want to meet this person and get to know him/her!” It means that you’ve successfully captured my attention through an aspect of your application that presents YOU as the unique individual you are in YOUR voice.

Select your recommenders with care. I cannot emphasize this enough. Since the recommenders—academic and professional—are required to submit their grids and comments directly to the scholarship, you won’t have the opportunity to see what’s been written about you. Few things can derail an otherwise solid application more than comments by someone YOU’VE chosen who either does not have positive things to say about you or who just goes through cursory motions to complete a form without providing any real insight or approbation to heighten your application. Make sure your recommenders are people who know you well and who have shown themselves to be supportive, encouraging, helpful mentors or role models—people who you admire and respect and who feel the same about wanting to encourage and support your CDB application, because they know you well enough to be a staunch supporter of your candidacy.

You are welcome to employ your parents or teachers as proofreaders, but the core ideas should be yours, as well as the writing of your essays, submission of your work sample and finalizing all aspect of the application components. The CDB application is meant to be a reflection of you as an applicant, not your parent. There is a one-page parent letter that should handle that aspect of the application. More to come on this element in the Parent Section of this blog.

If you describe yourself in your CDB application as a dancer or a musician or an artist or singer or inventor or photographer, by all means SHOW US, either as a work sample or in the additional information portal. This is less about you impressing us as a superstar and more about sharing your passion(s) with our team. It’s frustrating to repeatedly read about a special skill or area of interest in your application and not see any visual or oral indication of this element of you.

It is up to you—not your parent—to check in with your recommenders and school office to make sure that the materials they’re compiling for you —recommendations, standardized tests and transcripts—are submitted well within the CDB deadline. You don’t have to make a nuisance of yourself, but go about completing each element of the CDB application in a timely fashion, so you’re not driving everyone around you CRAZY with completing the application minutes or hours before it’s due.[blockquote text=”Make sure your recommenders are people who know you well and who have shown themselves to be supportive, encouraging, helpful mentors or role models—people who you admire and respect and who feel the same about wanting to encourage and support your CDB application, because they know you well enough to be a staunch supporter of your candidacy.” show_quote_icon=”yes” text_color=”#000000″ width=”90%” quote_icon_color=”#aa230d”] 

And now to the parent responsibilities…

While you are always welcome to call or email the CDB Scholarship team with questions or information that’s needed to help with the application, please do not word your questions to us as, “I’m completing the CDB application for my son or daughter.” This is a HUGE red flag for us as to the efficacy of your child’s application and not at all what you should be doing in regards to his or her submission.

As parents or guardians, you are offered a page to let us know about your son or daughter—what makes him or her unique, special talents, areas that perhaps only you as a parent see or know from having lived with this young person more than anyone else. Please don’t use this as a forum to reiterate what’s already been noted in other places of the application such as grades or awards received. This is meant to be your personal statement, and we always appreciate you staying within the one page limit without utilizing the smallest font and no margins top to bottom or side to side. We want to know as parents, what you see, know, feel and value about your child that you want to pass along to us. If you want to tell us about particular vulnerabilities or issues that your son or daughter has had to contend with or overcome, we look upon this as informational and not judgmental. Strengths and weaknesses as well as other aspects of character only help us round out the reality and clarity of an applicant. Perfect superstars as described by parents are immediately suspect to an experienced reader. If your child meets the CDB Scholarship eligibility criteria, by all means support their application, but please do not coerce, bribe or force the issue. The decision to apply—as well as complete and submit—a CDB application should be the responsibility of the applicant. As a parent, you can certainly support the process, but from the sidelines and not as a “co-writer.”

Finally, when decisions are made—whether it’s in selecting the Finalists or ultimately the annual CDB Scholars– please understand that in any competitive process, there will sometimes be results that are not to your liking or expectation. The decisions have less to do with what your child did “wrong” on his or her application or wasn’t “enough” in any given area and more with the reality that the CDB Scholarship draws an incredible, awe-inspiring applicant pool of truly stellar young people from all echelons of the seventh grade national gifted population. The selection process is one that the CDB team takes very, very seriously and meticulously as we evaluate and discuss hundreds of highly accomplished young people and always wish we had the resources to recognize many more of these highly accomplished young people than we are able to do each year with the 25-30 CDB Scholarships we award.

I can’t reiterate this enough, but the CDB team always looks at the multiple aspects of an application, not the singularity of test scores or an applicant’s GPA. Every Institute for Educational Advancement program is centered around the whole child—his or her academic, social, emotional and character-based aspects that all work together to comprise an exceptional individual who will find engagement and fulfillment as a Caroline D. Bradley Scholar within a cohort of peers, mentors and role models spanning selection since 2002.

At this year’s National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) Conference in Albuquerque, NM, I participated in the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival. Teachers, parents and other conference attendees like myself, learned about educational tools, new advanced learning techniques and how to collaborate with each other all while playing games. This STEM event popped into my mind as I thought about what gifts I’ll be giving this holiday season.

There is no shortage of games and puzzles that are intellectually stimulating; Pylos, Quoridor, and the classic Rubik’s Cube are all examples of mentally challenging and fun games. Below you can find a variety of educational toys and games to consider giving to a gifted child this holiday season.

1. Botley: A robot ready to code right out of the box. 
2. Happy Atoms: Build, scan, and identify molecules. It’s advertised as the simplest way to learn about atoms, bonding, and chemistry. 
3. Sound-Activated Light Blocks: Imagination takes light with these Lego-compatible light blocks.
4. Symphony Musical Toy Orchestra for Kids
5. Kiwi Crate: Curate engaging art or science gift boxes for every age and interest. 
6. Lego Make Your Own Movie Activity Kit: Makes stop animation easy!
7. Archi-TECH Electronic Smart House: For the future architect
8. ROBOTIME 3D Wooden Treasure Box Puzzle: Unique model kits to build mechanical engineering
9. Think Box Inventor’s Kit
10. For inspiration, perhaps consider creating artwork using Rubik’s Cubes, as seen here.

1. Write a poem or story about science.

Get writing! Tell a story about your favorite scientist as dramatically as you can, write poetry about a cool science fact, or describe a feat of engineering using your most vivid vocabulary.

2. Teach your family about something you love.

The best way to learn something deeply is to teach it. Turn your family members into your students and tell them all about something you’ve learned recently whether it’s how to build the best paper airplane or how a chemical reaction works.

3. Create nature art.

Make a leaf rubbing, stick sculpture, or tower of balanced pebbles to integrate both sides of your brain.

4. Invent something to solve a problem.

What’s something you wish were easier? Design something to meet a need, starting with a blueprint and working toward a prototype.

5. Test your brain with riddles.

Find challenging riddles on Ted-Ed or elsewhere, then attempt to solve them with your family.

6. Head to the library.

Ask a librarian to help you find books about STEAM at your reading level. Reading is a wonderful way to find a new interest!

7. Ask questions.

STEAM is all about asking creative questions and trying to find answers. Observe the world around you and keep a list of questions you come up with throughout the day: How do stoplights work? Why do some trees lose their leaves and not others? Then work with an adult to find the answers.

8. Build something using recycled materials.

Gather items you normally would have thrown away – packaging, receipts, dried-out pen, etc. – and see what you can build out of the items!

9. Interview a scientist.

If you were a scientist, what kind of scientist would you be? Research to find someone who has your dream job, then write them a letter or email asking them about their work and how they got to be where they are.

10. See what IEA offerings are coming up!

If you’re local to the Pasadena area, check out our upcoming LABS workshops (7^th-10^th grade), check back for the Spring schedule of Academy classes (K-8^th grade) in a couple of weeks or mark your calendars for when the EXPLORE (10^th-12^th grade) externship program application goes live!

Celebrating a different way? Comment below!

Summer is here and you may be wondering what programs or activities are available for your child to attend. We have done some research for you and compiled a list of fantastic Summer programs that serve gifted youth. All these programs come from the Gifted Resource Center (GRC), Institute for Educational Advancement’s database. The GRC is a free public tool which serves as an online database of resources appropriate for the gifted learner from Preschool through High School. The GRC contains an abundance of resources and information regarding advocacy, gifted programs and organizations, schools, scholarships, supplemental learning opportunities, testing and counseling professionals, and the twice-exceptional (2e) learner.

Below is a sample of some of the resources that offer and provide activities during the summer. More information about these programs, as well as many more that are not listed here, is available on the Youth Programs and Services Guide.

GIRLS WHO CODE SUMMER IMMERSION PROGRAM 9-12

Girls Who Code offers a free 7-week summer program for current 10th-11th-grade girls to learn to code and get exposure to tech jobs. Each week the program covers projects related to computer science, such as art, storytelling, robotics, video games, web sites, and apps. Participants will also hear from guest speakers, participate in workshops, connect with female engineers and entrepreneurs, and go on field trips. The program culminates in a final project where students build their own product and share it with the class.

DIGITAL MEDIA ACADEMY 6-8 · 9-12

Digital Media Academy is a nationally recognized organization that provides hands-on summer resi­dential and day computer camps for teens as well as youth (ages 9-13).

SUMMER DISCOVERY 6-8 · 9-12

Summer Discovery is a pre-college academic enrichment program offering middle school and high school students a meaningful summer experience with lifelong value. Choose from over 300 interactive courses at 14 different university locations in the United States and abroad. Their summer programs combine academics with social activities, travel, recreation, and sports.

CODEREV K-5 · 6-8 · 9-12

CodeREV Kids provides classes and curriculum for students ages 6 to 18, focused on explor­ing STEM by learning coding, technology, and robotics. Classes are project-based, allowing stu­dents to engage in deep learning through unique creations and hands-on projects. CodeREV offers classes and summer tech camps in a variety of locations throughout Southern California: Santa Monica, Solana Beach, Encino, Irvine, Beverly Hills, Fountain Valley/Huntington Beach, and Mali­bu/Palisades.

GIRLS GARAGE K-5 · 6-8 · 9-12

Girls Garage is a one-of-a-kind design and building program and a dedicated workspace for girls ages 9 to 17. Located in Berkeley, California, it offers after-school programs, summer camps, and workshops.

IEA ACADEMY K-5 · 6-8

IEA Academy is a program of the Institute for Educational Advancement which provides students in Kin­dergarten through 8th grade with advanced learning opportunities that promote exploration and ap­plication of knowledge. Classes are taught by content-area specialists and taught at a flexible pace to accommodate the learning needs of gifted and 2e students. Classes are small and grouped by ability rather than chronological age. IEA Academy sessions take place in Pasadena, California and are held seasonally: fall, spring and summer (three sessions hosted each summer).

STANFORD HIGH SCHOOL SUMMER COLLEGE 9-12

Stanford High School Summer College offers academically outstanding high school students the oppor­tunity to take Stanford College courses and earn university credit. Program participants enroll as visiting undergraduates in Stanford’s Summer Quarter and take the same courses, taught by the same Stanford faculty, as matriculated Stanford students.

HAWAII PREPARATORY ACADEMY SUMMER SESSION 6-8 · 9-12

Summer@HPA offers students entering grades 6 through 12 a unique four-week day and boarding expe­rience structured for academic enrichment and designed to make the most of summer and take advan­tage of our wondrous island-home to 80 percent of the world’s ecosystems. The diverse class offerings integrate environmental stewardship and awareness, and sustainability education and practices.

CTD SUMMER PROGRAMS AT NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY K-5 · 6-8 · 9-12

From early childhood through elementary, middle and high school, Center for Talent Development (CTD) gifted summer programs encourage gifted kids to explore academic areas of interest and con­nect with a community of peers. CTD offers life-changing residential and commuter programs provid­ing challenging enrichment, honors and Advanced Placement courses taught in a highly supportive environment.

SUMMER ACADEMY AT OLE MISS 9-12

Summer Academy is a two-week academic program designed to provide US and international rising 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders the opportunity to have a glimpse of college life for two weeks during the summer. During their stay on campus, students take one of the different classes offered such as Exam Preparation, Debate, Engineering, Arts, or Literature and earn a ½ Carnegie high school credit for this classwork.

THE QUAD MANHATTAN PRE-K · K-5 · 6-8
The Quad Manhattan is an inclusive meeting place for Twice-Exceptional kids – a place where social and executive functioning “life” skills are developed through FUN! Twice Exceptional or 2e children have intellectual or creative gifts, and also have lagging social or executive functioning skills. Developed by experts in medicine, child psychology and gifted special education, the Quad uses kids’ strengths and passions to hide skill development in creative and engaging afterschool classes and activities during our summer camp.

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY SUMMER PROGRAMS FOR DIVERSITY 9-12

Carnegie Mellon’s Pre-College programs will show you what college life is all about—from the class­room to what’s happening on weekends. Carnegie Mellon offers Pre-College summer programs in a variety of subject areas, such as math, science, architecture, drama, music, art, and gaming. There are no tuition, housing or dining fees for students selected to attend the Summer Programs for Diversity.

SUMMER WONDERS AUSTIN PRE-K · K-5 · 6-8 · 9-12

Summer Wonders is a nonresidential, full or half-day program that allows students to explore diverse subjects in a challenging, creative environment through an integrative, hands-on, non-traditional ap­proach. Summer Wonders is a specialty program for gifted children entering Pre-K through 6th grade and is held during three different two-week sessions at ACE Academy in Austin, Texas.

IPOETTREE K-5

Gifted student Cassidy Kao published her first book at 8 years old and founded iPoetTree at 12 years old. The nonprofit organization seeks to inspire a passion for writing in kids kindergarten to 6th grade. Cassidy provides a fun and free curriculum, supportive environment for sharing poems, and assis­tance with becoming a published author like her.

 In addition to searching the hundreds of resources in the GRC, you can also download our Scholarships & Competitions Guide and Youth Programs and Services Guide with opportunities for K-12 students. Click here to visit the GRC and check out our curated Guides.

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(This post originally appeared on Dr. Hopper’s website. It has been reposted with permission.)

This weekend I had the awesome opportunity to spread my enthusiasm for parasites with middle schoolers at a science workshop through the LABS program at The Institute for Educational Advancement (IEA) in Pasadena, CA.

IEA in Pasadena, CA, is an inspiring non-profit organization, that helps to identify and foster the individual talents and abilities of gifted students from all backgrounds, and works to serve and support them and their families. It was super neat to interact with these students and to reflect on the world of parasites with them.

My main learning objectives for the students in the workshop were to: 1) Define different types of ecological relationships, including the different types of symbiotic relationships; 2) differentiate among parasites, parasitoids and pathogens; 3) get acquainted with different parasite lifestyles- including direct transmission, vectored transmission, trophic transmission, parasitic castrators, host behavior modification, etc. 4) revel in the sheer shock and aw of diverse parasites; 5) become familiar with using microscopes; and 6) gain experience with some basic dissection techniques.

I found some super awesome and educational parasite videos during the process  of getting my interactive lecture together-including videos of: 

The tongue-eating parasitic isopod of fish

The sexual parasitism of the female deep sea anglerfish by the male deep sea angler fish

And of course parasitic wasp larvae developing inside of their host caterpillar: 

This was also a great opportunity to become more acquainted with local parasitologists and the common parasites and hosts in the Los Angeles area. This meant connecting with my local parasitologist colleagues (many of whom are part of the Southern California Society of Parasitologists) and finding some parasite ‘hot-spots’ so that I could bring in ample numbers of snails, crabs, shrimp and protozoans for some hands-on activities including dissections and mounting slides on the microscope.

Below was one of the students’ favorites – the parasitic isopod couple (yes.. male and female showing their love for each other all while parasitizing the host shrimp). ‘Couples that parasitize hosts together.. stay together!.. awww’

They were also amazed by the marine protistan parasitoid Parvilucifera sinerae, that they happened to catch in the act of bursting out of its dinoflagellate host (and thus killing its host!). I am particularly fond of this parasitoid right now.. since I’m working with marine plankton communities every day at USC. You can read about some of my current postdoc work here

This event  reminded me that one of the main reasons why I love science is actually  the amazing support from other scientists.. and getting to know these scientists as people! For instance, I could not have done this workshop, without the support of Dr. Kevin Lafferty (USGS, UCSB) and Dr. Ryan Hechinger (Scripps-UCSD) who provided me with some hot spot localities for collecting highly-parasitized populations of the California Horn Snail, and how to access those hot-spots. These snails are parasitized by many different species of trematodes (Platyhelminthes), which are trophically transmitted parasites. This means that these parasites use multiple hosts to complete their life cycle and thus require their first set of hosts to be eaten by their final ‘definitive’ host. These parasites are also great for show-and-tell purposes since the cercariae (parasitic stage that searches for the next host) are larger than 100 um, move around quite a bit and can often have charismatic features, such as eye-spots.

I also got more great advice from Dr. Kimo Morris, a Professor at Santa Ana Community College and Dr. Ralph Appy regarding what other critters I could collect, and how to alter my workshop and lectures to appropriately target middle schoolers. Dr. Ralph Appy actually invited me to his laboratory to learn how he digests crabs and shrimps with an acidic solution to fool the parasites (in these hosts) into thinking that they are in the stomach of the next host of their life-cycle.. with the ultimate goal of collecting the parasites into a pool of liquid for research or show-and-tell. Dr. Ralph Appy provided me with a ton of ghost shrimp, mole crabs (sand-crabs) and the really cool mud shrimp that was parasitized by two ectoparasitic isopods (one female and one male).

All in all… I definitely learned a ton from this great opportunity.. and look forward to giving another parasitology workshop to K-12 students in the future (next time with fresher snails.. so they don’t smell so bad!).

Interested in participating in LABS workshop? Learn more and register for the next one on the LABS webpage.