My hurried, crooked, parking alignment, three feet from the curb confirms the rush of my excitement when I arrive to a Thanksgiving party last November hosted by old school friends and their parents. They were outside waiting for me to arrive with wide waves of welcome and a beautiful gift related to a forty-year-old inside joke born from an adolescent incident occurring one summer night when we were much younger.  

Although I will not share historical specifics of our youthful merriment, I can tell you we use the phrase: O Tannenbaum! to memorialize the joke as both salutation and touchstone in many of our current day communications, and at all of our special event interactions. I am fortunate in this world to rely on a steady anchor of an inside joke fitted many summers ago, grounded in friendship, high spirits, and remembrance.  

Last summer, after accepting an invitation from IEA to visit camp Yunasa West, I drove on gorgeous Colorado-in-July twisty creekside roads to tour campgrounds, hang out by the lake with Fellows, break bread with staff, and facilitate an art workshop with campers. 

Several of the remarkable experiences I had at camp include: circles of children and camp counselors and Fellows together in conversation, activity, or easeful silence; children seeking out Fellows to share progress on a project or a thought process; camp counselors welcoming me with an inheritance of being former campers themselves; dialogue with a young camp counselor who made excellent suggestions to help me best serve children in my art workshop; witnessing the simultaneous kindness, precision, and flexibility of Nicole and her IEA team in developing and supporting both the structure and flow of the camp day; being let in on a camp inside joke cryptically called Peach Juice!, which is where I wish to focus for the rest of my writing today. 

Although I do not have permission to share details of Peach Juice! with you, I can tell you it is a mighty, mighty inside camp joke, hatched during an ordinary moment, post Pandemic, from the same muse I suspect served me and my friends well in our O Tannenbaum! youth. Celebrity enough of an inside joke to have its own polished Peach Juice! board game, complete with a Michael Piechowski game character, unveiled this past summer by a bright and industrious camper. I hope the legacy of Peach Juice! has the fortitude and legs to thread through the Yunasa West community for the next forty years and beyond.  

Human happiness within the circumstances of time, space, memory, and shared experience is perhaps one of the best ways to find some meaning in this life. O Tannenbaum! has happened. Peach Juice! has happened. I was there. You were there. I hope everyone has something like Peach Juice! in their lives to hold and carry as a personal and community talisman and (also) amulet in bright times and in dark (as I write, IEA’s Pasadena and nearby areas are on fire). I also wish I could somehow see out ahead to witness these camp friends in adulthood, reuniting for a few birthdays and holidays, arriving and parking in crooked haste in order not to miss a minute together nor the toast to the well-being and bestowal of Peach Juice! 

Thank you, IEA and community of camp Yunasa West 2024, for the wonderful visit this past summer. Keep up your good and virtuous work. Stay safe and take good care. Until we meet again…Peach Juice! 

Catherine Zakoian is a licensed and national board certified counselor based in Boulder, CO. For close to 25 years she has specialized in counseling gifted, profoundly gifted, and twice exceptional (2e) children, adolescents, teens, adults, families, and organizations.

Learn more about her and her practice at: https://catherinezakoian.com/

Summer is right around the corner! With school being out, it may be difficult to keep your gifted child engaged. But what if there were a way to continue to cultivate your child’s intellectual and social development while contributing to a greater community of peers, scientists, innovators, and even federal agencies? That’s where citizen science comes in!

Citizen science is defined as the collection and analysis of data relating to the natural world by members of the general public, typically as part of a collaborative project with professional scientists.¹  

A great example of the participation in citizen science is the website and mobile application iNaturalist, which is a joint initiative between National Geographic and the California Academy of Sciences to understand when and where organisms occur. iNaturalist is built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity all around the world to help scientists, like those at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, find and use data gathered by everyday people. Not only is this an interactive way to contribute to scientific research, but it’s an awesome opportunity to share and discuss your findings with fellow naturalists, neighbors, and members of your community.

If your child prefers a more specific area of interest, there are many websites and mobile applications that cater to data gathering as it relates to topics that are more niche. For example, the website and mobile application eBird takes advantage of the unique knowledge and experiences of the average birdwatcher. This initiative, founded and run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, allows for the gathering of information that powers data-driven approaches to education and conservation. They even host The Cornell Lab Young Birders Event, which aims to bring together teenagers with a passion for birds.

Alternatively, if your child is more interested in exploring a whole platform of people-powered research projects to choose from, look no further than Zooniverse.org. This website offers a multitude of citizen science projects to get involved with. From projects like “Killer Whale Count” to “The Cricket Wing”, there’s no shortage of projects for your curious child to find engagement and community in.

So take some time this summer to get outdoors, connect with others, and contribute to projects that make a difference in the world!

¹Language data is provided by Oxford Languages, part of Oxford University Press

Happy belated Mother’s Day to all the moms. I hope you have found a special moment just for yourself, and a lovely day with family. This time last year, we were all still trying to understand and adopt to the realities of lives in pandemic. Schools cancelled, working from home, senior shopping hours, and predicting the peak (over and over again). So much have changed since then, yet some important changes remained.

Moms are now working more jobs, their personal and professional boundary lines have been blurred to none, and they have less time for themselves. In addition to the roles prior to the pandemic – working, parenting and domestic duties, most moms are also taking on some versions of homeschooling for their children. For parents of gifted and profoundly gifted children, it has become more challenging to “keep up” with their unmet needs from their virtual classroom.

We know there are a lot of parenting resources in gifted education, from programs to services, assessments to advocacy. This blog post, however, primarily focuses on the self-care for parents of gifted and highly gifted children, how you can take care of you while taking care of the family.

If you haven’t already, please check out IEA’s monthly Gifted Support Group. It’s a great place to start. Our monthly Gifted Support Group meetings feature experts on various aspects of 

gifted education. The goals are to support parents, build community, it’s a venue for shared discovery, and a space to exchange resources and ideas. Sharing experiences with other parents and educators who interact with gifted children has proven to be enormously helpful.

In this open letter titled “Dear Tired Mom of Gifted Kids,” Gifted Specialist Colleen Kessler from Raising Lifelong Learners reaffirmed that sharing experiences with other parents and building community is critical to bringing calm to everyday parenting life. 

In this podcast by Debbie Reber, who is the founder of TiLT, a parenting community for raising unconventionally wired children, Debbie shared twelve strategies and ideas for creating a sustainable, doable self-care practice.

Taking care of you paves a strong foundation for the wellbeing of the whole family. The journey of raising gifted and highly gifted children is long, joyous, tenuous and amazing all at the same time. Know that you have a community and are never alone! Best wishes and keep in touch![vc_single_image image=”10489″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=””]

What are some educational, personal and professional highlights and/or accomplishments of yours since graduating from high school?

Graduated from Stanford with my BS in Computer Science (started out very intent on the Engineering Physics major; in classic Stanford fashion, accidentally took a CS course, discovered I could not put the books down, ignored everything about “be different, be different, don’t become a CS major” and became a CS major).  Did a bunch of research like optical character recognition on historical law texts (my favorite library was the law library), gamified e-commerce, wrote my own programming language (on top of Python, silly me), etc. etc.  Did a bunch of internships, most memorably LinkedIn the summer they announced the Microsoft acquisition.  Started my MS in Computer Science also at Stanford but pulled a Larry & Sergey and took leave of absence because I could not wait to get my hands dirty in industry.

I wanted to go way out of my comfort zone so I did the hardest thing imaginable and joined Bridgewater (hedge fund) because I’d fallen in love with portfolio management algorithms.  I learned so much about how the world’s most intense systems (hundreds of billions of dollars) are engineered and optimized and re-engineered and re-optimized to the tiniest granularity possible.  But I could not ignore my growing hunger to keep learning and building things for people, for human lives, for my family & friends to enjoy, so last year I joined Alexa at Amazon where I am now a software engineer working on a team that is building smart shopping for grocery, physical stores, and all sorts of devices among other things, which has become exponentially more useful and relevant to the world in this past year.  Very excited to see what we can make for all of you.

What is a favorite IEA/CDB memory?

This is going to be a very predictable but I think important answer. Not even a few days into my first year of college, an IEA alumna reached out to a group of new college freshmen to invite us to brunch. We had met perhaps once in person before then, but we instantly bonded as a group over our mutual shared experiences, the Conferences and events, and appreciation for the IEA community and those that make it possible. (It’s a widely known secret – I’m now going to only partially spill the beans – that there is a group of us self branded as “Bonnie’s kids” or some similar lingo which changes over the years. I am not sure what the current lingo is, so I’m not spilling the full beans, but Bonnie’s kids meet up all over the world and it is delightful and hilarious and heartwarming to me every time.)

What words of wisdom would you pass on to current IEA students?

This question makes me laugh because I am absolutely not wise and do not feel qualified to write anything here.  Maybe I’ll be able to say more at an IEA event someday.  One thing I do want to say, though, is to take the advice of your mentors seriously and yet not be afraid to challenge them and do things differently when your gut is screaming at you to do otherwise.  Who knows if this is the “right” way to do things, but I have found I am happiest and most able to act on my instincts when I know it’s right for me and it’s not what people expect of me.  I think when that divergence happens, if (especially) it’s painful to reconcile, that’s a great sign that you’re following your internal compass and being true to yourself.

If I had asked seventh grade Esther An where she was going to be in three years, she probably wouldn’t have eagerly responded with, “Wallingford, Connecticut.” Actually, even the suggestion
of anywhere outside the city of Los Angeles, California, where I was born and raised, would have been met with incredulousness.

But, somehow, I find myself writing in a dorm room almost 3,000 miles away from where I imagined I’d be, in the midst of fall term at Choate Rosemary Hall. When I look back on the events that led me here, they originate, inevitably, from the Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship. The short version: CDB completely opened up my world.

More specifically, though, I remember walking into my CDB interview as if it was yesterday, as well as my distinct feeling that I could talk with Bonnie and Brianna forever. Leaving the gorgeous green offices in Pasadena that day, I was overwhelmed by their warmth, love and kindness.

I was over the moon when I joined this community because, as I began to meet fellow Scholars and parents, I realized that this feeling of connection, of finding my people, only got stronger. Our network is incredibly diverse, but each and every person is connected in the way that they’re some of the most generous, inspirational and passionate people I’ve had the privilege to meet. For me, that’s been the most unique aspect of this whole experience. CDB has allowed me not only to broaden my horizons and take on challenges I couldn’t have previously imagined, but also to find my favorite people.

I honestly can’t believe there was a time when I didn’t know them, especially my wonderful friends at Choate. Everything I’ve shared with my peers has shaped me: working through computer science with Lucas, contemplating the meaning of life and how one can understand the inner workings of an Arduino with Aarthi, making it through a flight to Kentucky with Anna, discussing the importance of faith during a cross country run with Emma, getting a “ping” from Sam, being awed by one of Kathy’s brilliant solutions to a math problem and listening to Bekah’s invaluable advice when I’m unsure of what I’m doing — I could go on and on about how special these people are to me and how much I love them.

It’s really no surprise that traveling across the country hasn’t been the only drastic change I’ve welcomed these past few years. CDB has empowered me with the will and grit to try and discover myself. With the support of the amazing people at IEA, I’ve thrown myself headfirst into new expeditions. From starting and sticking with Choate to taking black-and-white film photography to learning dance and to joining a hack-a-thon, CDB’s incredible community has taught me that there’s nothing I can’t learn or grow from. I’ve also realized that I have a lot to be grateful for. I’m so lucky to be a member of this fabulous group.

If there’s one thing CDB has taught me, it’s that the unknown isn’t so scary when our community — our family — is with you on your journey, every step of the way. My dearest hope is to be the kind of person who can give back to the world all of the blessings I’ve been gifted.

The application for the 2019 Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship is now open! Visit the CDB page for more information and to apply.

When I stepped into IEA’s Barder House on June 18, I did not know what to expect. While I had researched the mission and programs of IEA, I was not sure what exactly the term “non-profit management” encompassed, nor was I familiar with the inner workings of non-profits, despite my experience volunteering with non-profits in the past. But having matriculated through gifted programs before, I was deeply moved by IEA’s advocacy for gifted education and focus on the “whole child.” With my interest in entrepreneurship and economics, I wanted to learn about the origin and development of IEA, and understand what makes a non-profit a non-profit.

I came upon EXPLORE after my friend told me about his experience as a Caroline D. Bradley Scholar. After researching IEA and the mentors and sites at EXPLORE, I was drawn to the program’s career-oriented philosophy. I had taken courses at local colleges during previous summers, so I yearned for a more hands-on experience.

Here are three themes that defined my externship and made my EXPLORE experience unforgettable:

1. Community: Throughout my externship, I felt like a true member of IEA’s staff. Six weeks may not seem like a long time, but my mentor Abby and her colleagues welcomed me as an integral part of their team. From our July 4 potluck to our light hearted conversations during meetings, I appreciated the sense of unity and camaraderie within IEA. I was also fortunate to connect with IEA’s close-knit community of gifted students, parents and educators at the annual Summer Spotlight event. And I cannot forget Not to mention the Friday workshops—every Friday morning EXPLORE externs came together to connect with each other and learn about career and college readiness. It is truly a small world that I got to meet fellow boarding school peers with whom I shared mutual friends. During our educational workshops and lunch breaks in Little Tokyo, we shared stories about our schools and became friends over udon soup and ice-cold lemonade.
2. Hands-on: In addition to learning about the fundamentals of marketing, development, and programming, I enjoyed applying my skills to worthwhile projects. By analyzing the history of donations to IEA, for example, I not only honed my statistics know-how, but also gained and shared valuable insight on areas of strength and weakness in our development strategy. For my Google Analytics project, I delved into Google’s helpful tool for tracking a website’s traffic. Besides mining through the labyrinth of stored data, I harnessed my findings to formulate recommendations for possible future improvements. I discovered that IEA has untapped potential to attract more Spanish speakers and implemented this recommendation by translating a few of our program flyers to Spanish.
3. Revealing: My externship shed light on the skill sets necessary for various careers. While working on my Donor Analytics project with Abby, I discovered the importance of statistics in data-driven fundraising, where past trends inform future strategies. It was also exciting to use my Spanish to translate flyers; I came to realize the significance of the language in marketing and communications-based careers. While my interests and goals may change over the years, at least I now have a grounded impression of what careers in the non-profit sector entail.

Rather than hammering concepts in a lecture hall, I fell deep into the weeds of informative projects and learned about marketing and management in an engaging way. No course or tutorial in non-profit management could have given me the same level and depth of knowledge.

Mark Blekherman is an EXPLORE extern at IEA this summer. He is a rising senior at Phillips Exeter Academy.

This month, the Institute for Educational Advancement (IEA) kicks off our 20^th year of supporting the hearts and minds of gifted youth. Since 1998, we have been dedicated to meeting the unique needs of gifted children so that they can reach their full intellectual and personal potential.

As we reflect on our history, our milestones, our current impact and our vision for the future, we invite our community to join us in identifying what makes IEA special. Can you add to the list below to help us get to 20 and celebrate our 20^th Anniversary?

1. Community. Central to our initiatives here at IEA is building a community of learners, teachers and mentors. This “community” happens organically with the ongoing connections between of the families we serve, but also through the events and gatherings we organize to bring new perspectives and voices together.
2. Balance. As expressed in our logo of the Golden Ratio, at IEA we aim to help gifted youth achieve balance in their intellectual and personal lives. We understand that personal growth is multi-faceted, and involves not just the intellect but also emotional well-being, personal values and social connections.
   
3. Fueling Curiosity. Gifted children need deeper exploration and enrichment than what is generally offered in a traditional school setting. We listen to our community, responding to their needs by offering deeply robust and advanced learning opportunities for all ages of gifted learners. Most recently, we launched our LABS series in response to an identified need expressed by our families for rich, STEM-based opportunities for middle and high schoolers.
4. Partnerships. IEA first officially partnered with Pasadena Unified School District in 2000 to offer our Pipeline to Success program, an effort which successfully supported underserved gifted students in the district. Today, we continue to partner with local schools, school districts and education organizations so that through our combined efforts, the unique learning needs of the gifted population are met.
5. Parent and Teacher Support. Finding the right resources and support for a gifted child can be overwhelming, frustrating and time-intensive. Since our inception, IEA has helped to ease this process for parents and teachers by providing in-person and online (see our Gifted Resource Center) guidance, counseling and support to help these caring adults find the optimal educational environment for a child.
   
6. All Students. IEA is committed to helping all gifted children, regardless of background. This is why as a nonprofit we fundraise to be able to provide our heavily subsidized program offerings. And for those who are not able to pay tuition, we offer financial aid and scholarships. We are dedicated to not turning away any qualified student from participating in our programs. While it varies by individual program, approximately 1 in 4 students served by IEA receives financial aid.
7. Advocacy. While IEA and our partners have made progress in advocating for the rights of gifted learners to receive needed support and resources, we still have a ways to go. In a national poll conducted through our Public Policy Initiative we have uncovered that the general public believes in supporting our gifted learners financially. With our many education and advocacy partners, we are working to ensure that gifted youth have access to the resources they need to thrive.
   
8. People. Each time we talk to a parent, teach a student, train a teacher or provide counseling, our IEA staff, teachers, counselors and Fellows are deeply committed to providing the highest quality services possible. Our dedicated runs deep and it is felt by the students and parents in our community who overwhelmingly report positive experiences with IEA.

I invite you to learn more about how we plan to celebrate our 20^th Anniversary and share with us what you believe makes IEA special. And if you’re interested in participating in our 20^th Anniversary Celebration Committee, drop me a line at adaniels@educationaladvancement.org!

Share your memories with us on social media using the hashtag #IEA20.

Looking for ways to keep your gifted child active and engaged this summer? We’ve got the answer for you:  IEA Academy. We’ve put together our top 10 reasons for you to enroll your gifted and talented child for one of our two-week Academy classes this summer.

2. Rigorous content. Each IEA Academy class is carefully designed to be stimulating, challenging and intellectually rigorous. Activities are often interdisciplinary and all integrate hands-on, inquiry-based learning environments, stimulating curiosity through discovery and exploration. One student relates: “I normally just memorize information, but in [my Academy] class I had to think up my own answers to questions.”
3. Something for every learner. Whatever topics your gifted child is currently into, IEA Academy has a class that will interest and engage them. Are you the parent of a future engineer? How about “Building with Electrical Circuits” or “Algorithms for Beginners”? Is your child interested in health and medicine? How about “Brain Function: Zooming In to Cells & Out to Systems” or “Genes and Genetics”? Does your child have an exceptional artistic side? What about “How to Write Scripts like the Greats” or “Dissolving Boundaries: The Intersection of Poetry & Art”? Check out our class descriptions here.
4. Creativity is fostered. Too often in a school setting, students aren’t able to express themselves creatively or artistically. IEA Academy courses are designed specifically to not just intellectually challenge students, but to inspire imagination and inventiveness. According to a “How to Write Scripts Like the Greats” student: “This [IEA Academy class] challenged me to be more creative.”
5. Small class size. IEA Academy classes are capped at ten students, with most averaging six students in total. This means more 1:1 time with teachers and personalized attention and differentiated instruction for your child. In the words of one student, “I am in a big class at school so I get more one on one attention [at IEA Academy].”
6. Expert, passionate teachers. Academy teachers have extensive expertise in the content area of their course. Their enthusiasm and passion drives their participation in the Academy, and they receive special training in working with gifted students. Remarked one teacher: “One student enjoyed their experience so much that they didn’t want to leave class! It was a highlight of my teaching career!” Read about our Academy teachers here.
7. Beyond academics. IEA Academy classes go beyond traditional academic topics and encapsulate IEA’s vision of providing opportunities for the whole child to grow. Classes incorporate, and indeed some focus solely on, practicing mindfulness, building emotional literacy and establishing social connections. Read more about how practices like mindfulness can help your gifted child.
8. Real-life, applicable content. Sure, our IEA Academy classes cover really cool and interesting topics, but they also provide useful information, tools and strategies that students can implement in their lives immediately and in the future. According to one Academy teacher, “Most rewarding [for me is] seeing students master information that I know will come in handy as they grow.”
9. Valuable feedback for parents. Every IEA Academy teacher provides parents with an assessment on their child’s strengths in relation to learning objectives, subject mastery and learning abilities. Parents also receive next step targets to continue, expand on and maintain the learning after the class ends.
10. Feel part of a community. The unique needs of gifted children often set them apart from their student peers in school. Joining the IEA Academy means joining a community in which other members face similar challenges and have the same needs and experiences. One IEA Academy student relates “At IEA Academy I’ve enjoyed working with people that have the same interests as me!” And bonds form between students and their teachers, as related by this IEA Academy teacher: “I deeply enjoyed connecting with the students at IEA and exploring the subjects with a shared enthusiasm and excitement!”
11. Scholarships and discounts available! On a tight budget? No problem! IEA has not turned away anyone requesting our programs and services because of a financial hardship. Our generous supporters allow us to provide financial assistance to those who need it. (If you’re interested in becoming one of these supporters, contribute today!)

The deadline to register for IEA Academy’s Summer Session II (July 10-21) is July 5^th and for Summer Session III (July 24-August 4), the deadline to register is July 17^th.

Don’t wait any longer! Enroll your child for IEA Academy today.

This year, IEA’s theme for both the Bradley Seminar and Yunasa Summer Camps was “Finding and Cultivating Your Voice.” In a culture that has become image-obsessed, where we often exist behind a meticulously crafted social media identity, and where many personal interactions have been replaced with digital ones (my social media mask meets yours), finding our real voices, understanding who we are and what we have to offer unto the world, is essential. Also, most of us – and many gifted kids that I know – battle a convincing inner critic who can rise up, looming like a bully whose leg is constantly outstretched for us to trip upon.

If we can develop strong and healthy inner voices, we will hopefully live authentically while standing up successfully to the debilitating critical voices in our heads. IEA strives to provide a space for children to unfold, where they are emboldened to find and cultivate their voices.

In a 2008 interview from the podcast On Being, Irish poet, author, and philosopher John O’Donohue discusses biography: “It often seems to me that if a person believes that if they tell you their story, that’s who they are. And sometimes these stories are constructed of the most banal, second-hand psychological and spiritual cliché, and you look at a beautiful, interesting face telling a story that you know doesn’t hold a candle to the life that’s secretly in there…There’s a reduction of identity to biography.” Identity is different than the sum of our experiences, and while biography often “unfolds identity and makes it visible,” we hold within us a unique person who is so much more nuanced, interesting, and capable of incredible things.

As we develop a presence on the Internet, we essentially create an ‘in-real-time’ biography that we display to the world. We often interact with others through this Internet veil, and our real identity – our true voice – is neglected. In the same interview, John O’Donohue talks about an “evacuation of interiority” in our culture. How do we find and cultivate our voices? We nurture our interior lives; we tend to our insides. How do we tend to our insides? By being attentive, surrounding ourselves with beauty, becoming a part of an accepting, healthy community, and asking lots of questions.

Attentiveness – an ideal that we emphasize at Yunasa – provides us with the opportunity to explore how our surroundings affect us. It helps us to notice the needs of others and figure out how to meet those needs. It helps us to identify our own needs and advocate for them. It helps us to remain present. Finding our voice requires us to pay attention. Psychosynthesis, a type of guided meditation that we practice at Yunasa, serves to cultivate attentiveness in campers by helping them to focus solely on beautiful imagery that unravels in their minds. As the meditation continues, participants are able to uncover bits of creativity, imagination, and real issues that require consideration, and they are provided with a safe space to discuss and analyze these things. I believe prayer, mindfulness, and journaling also cultivate attentiveness and further awaken us to the beauty that surrounds us.

We must seek beauty: always “keep something beautiful in your mind” (Blaise Pascal).  Beauty – whether it takes the form of poetry, literature, music, sculpture, painting, theater, film, math, chemistry, astronomy, nature, or deep, enlivening conversation – awakens our identities; it brings us back to who we are. All of IEA’s programs provide the opportunity to nurture our need for beauty. Yunasa places gifted children in nature, in a beautiful setting where they are free to explore how their social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and physical selves connect to make them whole. EXPLORE and Academy provide participants with a place to learn deeply about subjects that awaken their identities among other children and adult experts who find beauty in the same places. CDB allows students the freedom to pursue an education in a learning environment that matches their values, goals, hopes for community, and understanding of beauty.

Finding one’s voice is impossible without community; we are social creatures, and community provides a place for us to speak, to practice using our voice. A community of accepting individuals who hold similar values helps to draw us out of ourselves. When we feel safe, when we trust the people around us, we are able to give and receive help and love. IEA provides safe community within all of its programs – a place to land, a place to be vulnerable. We help guide each other, asking questions that help us think critically about ourselves and one another.

As I am wont to do, I shall end this blog post with a Thomas Merton quote:

 “We have the choice of two identities: the external mask which seems to be real…and the hidden, inner person who seems to us to be nothing, but who can give himself eternally to the truth in whom he subsists.”

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Why is Community Important?

Community is the foundation of our social life. A healthy community provides support, encouragement, affirmation, and a sense of belonging to all members. Feeling loved and accepted also fosters good behavioral patterns, increase productivity, inspire creativity.

Although there are tremendous benefits in building and belonging in a community, the greatest social epidemic of our modern life is isolation. It is not always easy for everyone to find their “tribe”, especially if they are different from the majority; such is the case for gifted and high ability learners.

Why is There a Need?

Gifted and high ability learners possess exceptional capability to reason and learn in one or more domains. They are critical thinkers, curious learners, innovators, and sensitive individuals.

There are estimated six to ten percent of students in the U.S. who are gifted and high ability learners, roughly three to five million students. Though this is by no means a small number, spread them out through the nation, they are still minority groups in most schools. It is much harder for gifted students to find their community.

Though gifted students possess high potential, they are not always top performers. Research shows that 25% of gifted people are underachievers, and they quit trying because nothing they do leads to any measurable success or satisfaction[1]. Lacking the support from a community can exacerbate these outcomes.

Adding social-economic divide to this challenge, the picture becomes more dire. One study shows the gaps between top performing socioeconomically disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers were significant[2]. In fact, high-achieving, low-income students are equally likely to attend college as low-scoring high-income students[3]. These students need a support group that can help them to unlock their potential.

Without a nurturing community, feeling alone, misunderstood, and unchallenged, many gifted and high ability learners get bored, frustrated, or develop bad study habits. Without a community, we are creating a persistent talent underclass.

What is it Like to Have a Community?

Imagine witnessing the moment when someone talks about their passion with sparkles in their eyes, imagine the tears of joy when someone dares to try something new and take ownership of their potential that they didn’t even know existed.

Each summer, gifted teens from across the country, sometimes from outside the United States, gather to spend a week-long retreat at IEA’s Yunasa camps – Yunasa West in Colorado, and Yunasa in Michigan.

Campers from all backgrounds bring a variety of interests and talents, providing an opportunity for all to grow in a diverse environment.

More than a traditional summer sleep-away camp, Yunasa provides a combination of camp activities and enriching workshops designed specifically to help gifted teens find balance as they develop greater awareness and a sense of adventure.

Prior to Yunasa, many campers are trained to focus on just a single aspect of self. At camp, through activities like giants’ ladder, aqua jump, yoga, nature walk, music improv, and many more, they learn to recognize and nurture other aspects of self, while learning the importance of leadership, teamwork, and trust.

Communities are critical for the functioning of a healthy society. For children who learn differently from the majority of their peer group, it is especially important to have a strong supporting network that can help them grow both professionally and personally.

What kind of community do you envision for gifted children and all children? Are there examples you would like to share?

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This post is part of the Hoagies’ Gifted Blog Hop Community. Please click the image below to keep on hopping!

References:

[1] adapted from The Gifted Kids Survival Guide: A Teen Handbook

[2] Plucker, J. A., J. Hardesty, and N. Burroughs. “Talent on the sidelines: Excellence gaps and America’s persistent talent underclass.” Storrs: University of Connecticut, Center for Education Policy Analysis. Retrieved from http://www. cepa. uconn. edu/research/mindthegap (2013).

[3] Martha J. Bailey and Susan M. Dynarski, “Inequality in Postsecondary Attainment,” 2011. In Greg Duncan and

Richard Murnane, eds., Whither Opportunity: Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances, pp. 117-132. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

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