National Summer Gifted Programs

Stanford:  Pre-Collegiate Studies

Find the program that is right for you

Stanford University selects top high school students from around the world to participate in engaging summer academic programs. These programs are ideal for gifted students currently in grades 8 – 12.

Our programs offer highly motivated, intellectually curious students the opportunity to investigate topics not typically taught in secondary schools. Students engage in small classes taught by instructors who are experts in their fields and passionate about teaching. In this setting, students hone their academic skills and form new friendships with intellectual peers. Students in our residential programs get a taste of college life on the beautiful Stanford campus.  Past students have described their Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies experience as life-changing.

Applications are open for all our programs:

STANFORD SUMMER COLLEGE ACADEMY

Students ages 16 – 19 take courses that have three weeks in a live, real-time online class and three weeks on the beautiful Stanford campus.  Students can chose among 21 courses in a variety of subjects and earn Stanford Continuing Studies credit and a Stanford Continuing Studies transcript. This hybrid program is ideal for students wanting college credit yet don’t have a full eight weeks to be on campus. 

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SUMMER HUMANITIES INSTITUTE

Students currently in grades 10 and 11 explore the big questions at the heart of the humanities in seminars led by distinguished Stanford professors. Students spend the first two weeks intensively studying and researching a topic in history, literature, or philosophy, attending daily lectures by the faculty members, and participating in group discussions and activities in the afternoon. During their third week, students work closely with their professors, graduate students, and writing mentors to produce original research projects.

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STANFORD SUMMER ARTS INSTITUTE—NEW PROGRAM

Students in grades 9 – 11 engage in courses that stand at the intersection of the arts and science showing that the arts are at the heart of what we do and want to be. Our courses take a multilayered, interdisciplinary approach to understanding our relationship to music, visual design, and performance.  Students can choose among six courses ranging from Music Perception to Architecture, Drawing, and Design.

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UNIVERSITY-LEVEL ONLINE MATH & PHYSICS COURSES

For students who have surpassed their high school’s math and physics curriculum, University-Level Online Math & Physics courses are offered throughout the year and are largely self-paced, giving students the opportunity to take a broad array of math and physics courses. Expert instructors are available for optional office hours to meet with students online and offer assistance as they progress through the course material. All courses carry Stanford University Continuing Studies credit, and students earn a Stanford Continuing Studies transcript.

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HIGH SCHOOL SUMMER COLLEGE

Students ages 16 – 19 choose from more than 145 college courses in 30 academic departments, earning Stanford undergraduate course credit and an official Stanford University transcript. Students in the residential, commuting, and online Summer College programs create their own course schedules and experience what life is like as undergraduate students at Stanford.

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PRE-COLLEGIATE SUMMER INSTITUTES

Students currently in grades 8 – 11 engage in intensive study, single-subject courses with instructors and peers who share their talents, passions, and interests. Coursework is tightly integrated with the social experience in academically themed houses. Courses in areas ranging from biotechnology to entrepreneurship to creative writing are customized to give students deep exposure and hands-on experience.

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STANFORD UNIVERSITY MATHEMATICS CAMP [SUMAC]

An elite group of talented rising high school juniors and seniors from around the world convene for intensive study in advanced mathematics. Students participate in lectures, guided research, and group problem solving.

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STANFORD ONLINE HIGH SCHOOL

Academically-talented students, in grades 7 – 12, engage in a worldwide learning community. Through vibrant, real-time, online seminars, the rigorous curriculum challenges students to reason analytically, think creatively, and argue critically. Stanford OHS offers a number of enrollment options including taking solely a single course. Stanford OHS is a WASC accredited school and course credit is transferable to other WASC accredited schools.

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To Learn More About Stanford Programs, visit: SPCS.STANFORD.EDU/NAGC

ASU Night of the Open Door - 2015

ASU is sponsoring this wonderful "Night of the Open Door" event at their various campuses.  Open to kids, students, educators, parents, alumni, or anyone who loves learning.

Polytechnic: Feb. 20, 2015 • 5-8:30 p.m.

Tempe: Feb. 28, 2015 • 4-9 p.m.

West: Mar. 28, 2015, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Here is some information from their website:

Arizona State University is a founding member of Arizona SciTech Festival and Night of the Open Door is a signature event, one of the top in the state. Based on a long-running, portal-busting event held each year in Berlin, Germany, this event is held annually, hosting hands-on activities, laboratory tours, book readings, video games; featuring ASU scientists and cutting edge art and research; and opening doors to museums and world-class plant and animal collections. Whether it's a multimedia performance or astronomy show or a sit down with ASU students or faculty to talk about volcanoes, Navajo stories of the stars or Mayan discoveries, it is a night to get behind the scenes and engage with the creative invention that is ASU’s signature blend of science, engineering, art and the humanities.

Spearheaded by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, with partners - the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, and the Biodesign Institute and other ASU partners in 2012 - Night of the Open Door has grown to encompass four campuses, 1,000 volunteers and offerings for just about everyone. So whether you are a kid or a kid-at-heart, a prospective or current student, K-12 educator, life-long learner, alumnus, a Sparky fan, entrepreneur or curious how to build your very own “Birthquake,” Open Door events create the few evenings a year where you can step in and discover what inspires our faculty and staff, artistic, educational and research partners and puts our students in the driver's seat for some of the most innovative solutions and inspiring discoveries in the world.

Register today, follow on twitter and come explore!   

Offered at several campuses (click link for more info). 

AAGT 41st Annual Gifted Conference - Feb. 5 & 6, 2015

Arizona Association for Gifted and Talented (AAGT) is inviting all those interested in gifted education to their Annual Gifted Conference at the Black Canyon Conference Center in Phoenix, Arizona on February 5 and 6, 2015.

Enjoy two full days of learning, networking, and gifted education synergy! 

Their theme this year is ‘Advancing Gifted Education’ and that is what they aim to do. Sessions on differentiation, technology integration, the common core standards, social/emotional needs of gifted individuals, and much more will be offered, as well as a special strand for teachers of AP courses (Friday only). 

Click HERE to register.

Focus on the Good Stuff

By Stephanie Newitt

This year I went to the Parent Day of the Arizona Association of Gifted & Talented’s (AAGT) educator conference, held in Phoenix.  The concluding keynote speaker was Dr. Dan Peters.  Dr. Peters is a licensed psychologist , co-founder and Executive Director of the Summit Center in Walnut Creek, California.  His topic:  Parenting Your Gifted Child for a Successful Life:  Focus on the Good Stuff.

Dr. Peters first asked us to define our goal as parents.  What is important?  Good grades?  Advanced performance?  The courage to take risks?  Perseverance?  Independence?  The ability to cope with adversity?  Our goal, as parents, will determine how we interact with our children, moment by moment in each day.  What if our parenting goal was that our children would become independent and successful in life?  Would we focus on outcomes or effort?

Dr. Peters suggests that a good parenting goal would be to grow healthy kids who are motivated and engaged in learning and life.  Paths to success will take a different shape for each individual.  How often is this path a straight line from beginning to end?  How often is the path to success full of curves, turns and even “U” turns?  It would behoove us as parents to keep our focus on the forest, not the trees. 

This requires a nurturing parent approach.  Dr. Peters suggests to parents that this includes:

·         Trusting their child’s judgment, based on the child’s developmental age and maturity

·         Respecting their child’s thoughts and feelings

·         Supporting their child’s interests and goals

·         Keeping their children safe and providing boundaries

·         Modeling self-control, sensitivity and values that parents believe to be important

·         Modeling and teaching self-regulation

(More information is in Dr. Peters’ book Raising Creative Kids)

An example of this is to discuss the pros and cons and how each situation would play out.  I thought of a time when I had the opportunity to discuss the pros and cons with my youngest child.  I wish I had done more of this with his older siblings, but I am glad I am not too old to learn.  Our youngest is ten years old.  He qualified for the 2013-2014 GPS gifted self-contained class and we attended the spring open house last May.  However, he was not among the first group pulled from the lottery.  I asked him if a spot opened up before school started, would he want to go.  He told me, “Yes, if it’s before the first day of school.  If it is after the first day of school, no.”  The first day of school came and went without a phone call.  We were disappointed, but not heart-broken nor bitter, as we know that it is our own attitude that helps us make the most of any given situation. 

The third week of school we received the phone call.  A space had opened up in the gifted self-contained class.  Would we be interested?  We were invited to take the time we needed to make this decision.

I sat down with my son and told him the news.  He felt a big weight on his shoulders and felt almost frozen and debilitated.  When I told him we would make the decision together, the posture in his shoulders literally changed and he stood a little straighter.  I arranged for us to visit the self-contained class at the end of the school day so that he could see the class and also where he would line up for the bus and meet the children on his bus route.  Back at home after the tour, I took out a piece of paper and together we brain-stormed the pros and cons of each school setting.   For the self-contained class, we used information from our visit to the classroom and what we had learned at the spring open house.  He asked his older siblings for advice on how they made decisions and how they transitioned to new schools.  We added his siblings’ comments to our lists on the grid.

Once the grid of pros and cons was complete, we transferred everything about the new school and gifted self-contained class to a bubble map.  We had addressed the logical side of things, and now I wanted to address the emotional side of the decision.  I told my son that we can live a balanced life when we make decisions equally with both our heads and our hearts.  On each bubble of the bubble map, I asked my son to attach the emotion that he felt when he read the statement in the bubble.  When he was done, I took a hi-lighter and, as I read the emotional label he had given, I asked him if it was positive, negative or neutral.   Though he ended with 16 positives, four negatives and one neutral, I could tell that my son felt the weight of the four sad emotions very heavily.  He told me he didn’t want to talk about it anymore.  He was emotionally tired. 

I waited a few hours and then encouraged him to come back to the kitchen table.  He was now ready to continue our discussion.  I asked him if the four statements that he had labeled “sad” or “very sad” were permanent situations.  He said three of them weren’t and I asked him why not, how could they change over time?  He shared with me how he thought those situations – and feelings – could be changed as he got to know his new school and new classmates.  We were smiling through this discussion and we re-labeled these three with the pink hi-lighter. 

The fourth and last “very sad” reason was that he would miss his old friends.   It was a very tender moment for both of us as we honestly talked about the sadness felt of leaving his old friends.   I shared with him a story of how I have been able to keep in touch with friends during some of my moves.  From my story, he gleaned an idea.  On his own, he decided that he would write a letter on the computer to each of his friends, telling why he would miss them and expressing the hope that they could still get together.  He would include our home phone number and address and my email address so the friends could contact us.  He felt these letters would help him stay connected.  Once he had this feeling of hope he had a smile on his face and quickly went to the computer to compose his letters.  He printed them and put them in envelopes, ready for the next day of school.

My son wanted to go to his old school one last time so he could give his friends their letters.  He asked his friends not to open the letters until they got home.  This allowed them to have normal play at lunch time.  I had told my son that I would pull him out of school early and we would go out to ice cream.  I wanted him to have something positive to look forward to at the end of his school day.  We went out to ice cream and laughed and talked.  It was a good way to have closure to the decision making process.

The next day I took him to the regional bus stop, a neighborhood park, and he was excited to play with his new friends of the gifted self-contained class.  He has adjusted well to his new class, and three months into his new experience I asked him if he regretted his choice and wanted to move back to his old school.  With a smile on his face he responded with a firm and resolute, “No!”

Since his transfer to his new school, he has been able to see occasionally friends from his old school.  He knows he is still connected, that they are only a phone call away.

We are a prayerful family and during this whole process I invited my son to pray about his decision and I did also.  We sought for feelings of peace.  Together we felt peaceful that transferring to the gifted self-contained class would better meet his needs and, through our discussions and idea sharing, we learned to navigate this journey.  We acknowledged both our head and our heart, and treated our thoughts and feelings honestly.  We strove for balance and peace.

Whatever journey you and your child have ahead of you, this choice, of focusing on the forest, the big picture, helped guide us on our journey.  I want my son to feel engaged in learning and in life, and to learn to be self-motivated, to work hard and be resilient.  Having these open and honest conversations, giving him a safe place to express both his fears and hopes, will set the pattern helping him to know  how to have a life of balance and peace.