February 2007

In this issue:

• SIG Merit Scholarships
• Have Your Gifted Child Spend the Summer with SIG
• From the President’s Desk
• Experience the ‘Explore and Tour’
• SIG Discounts
• New College Prep Program from SIG
• Ask The Expert
• Employment Opportunities
• Puzzle Corner
• SIG Quick Links

Up to 100 $500 SIG Merit Scholarships are being offered towards a SIG 2007 residential program. The SIG Merit Scholarship is open to students in grades 4 through 11 who are applying for SIG's residential summer program and fulfill SIG's eligibility requirements.

Learn more about the new SIG Merit Scholarships at http://www.giftedstudy.com/merit.asp

It’s never too early to start looking at what SIG program might be right for your gifted child.

Browse our locations and program information on the web at www.giftedstudy.com.

Apply for SIG 2007 at: http://www.giftedstudy.com/admissions.asp

A letter from Barbara Swicord, President of SIG:

This time of year is very exciting in our SIG office in Connecticut. Families are starting to realize that summer plans need to be made now. It is exciting to see familiar names on incoming applications and to meet new families who are signing up for SIG for the first time. Returning families have the added incentive of meeting the Feb. 28 returning discount deadline!

Another exciting aspect of this new year at SIG is the addition of three new program supervisors. I want to introduce them to you and encourage you to introduce yourself, if you should attend one of the Explore & Tour events where they will be in attendance.

Tatiana Behrmann will direct Student Activities for SIG and will oversee our residential programs at the University of Michigan and at Amherst College, where she will also serve as the Site Director. Tatiana comes to us from Port St. Lucie, Florida, where she has been a science teacher and recently opened her own day care program. Before moving to Florida, however, Tatiana has worked as a SIG Counselor, Dean, or Site Director since 1999. She even worked full time for SIG in NJ as a marketing assistant. It is nice to have Tatiana back home with her SIG family and we appreciate the special history and insight she will bring to so many aspects of our program.

Chensun Mills is another new Program Supervisor for SIG, focusing on professional gifted education services. She also will be the site coordinator for Princeton, Bryn Mawr (residential and day programs), and Emory. Before coming to SIG, Chensun has been a consultant in internet marketing, management reporting, and research. She also worked with the Urban Education Exchange in New York City. A couple of years ago, Chensun taught for us at our Fairfield Day Program. Chensun has a Master's degree in Gifted Education from Columbia University. We are delighted to have someone with such a plethora of skills and talents working with our families and programs.

Sue Superson is our third new Program Supervisor, focusing on academics. She will be the Supervisor and Site Director for Drew University and will oversee all the SIG day programs, while being the program supervisor for the day programs at Fairfield, CT Manhanttanville, NY, Moorestown Friends and Stuart Country Day School, both in NJ. Before coming to SIG, Sue was a teacher of the gifted in E. Longmeadow, MA at the middle school level. Sue has also worked for SIG for many summers, first as an instructor and later as an academic dean at Amherst and Drew. We are delighted to have someone with Sue's gifted education experience as well as her SIG experience working with our staff and students.

Tatiana, Chensun, and Sue join our veteran program supervisors Amy Blake and Josh Novick. All our staff are dedicated to providing exemplary service to our families as we help students design the best individual program on the best campus for them. We all look forward to getting to know you as you get to know us!

Barbara Swicord
President, Summer Institute for the Gifted

Experience the ‘Explore & Tour’

The SIG Explore & Tour, our open house style program, is designed to inform families about the Summer Institute for the Gifted program details, academic curriculum, special program information, and support services.

Every campus has an Explore & Tour with the first in early March. Visit the SIG Explore & Tour webpage to find the most convenient location, site and time to explore the program and tour the campus!

Click here to view the SIG Explore and Tour webpage http://www.giftedstudy.com/open_houses.asp

SIG Discounts

Did you know about our discounts available to returning students and their siblings?

If your child attended SIG before and you apply again by February 28, 2007, you will receive a $150 discount off any residential program fee and $100 off any day program fee.

Siblings of past SIG participants are eligible for the same discount when they apply by February 28th.

To learn more about SIG discounts, please contact Amanda Ritz at (866) 303-4744 ext. 5159 or e-mail aritz@giftedstudy.com.

SIG has had an overwhelmingly positive response to the launch of our new College Prep Programs for academically advanced high school students to prepare them for college admissions.

The three-week residential programs will be held this summer at Princeton and UCLA and will focus on college admissions strategies and academic enrichment. More locations may be added in the coming months.

Gifted students in grades nine through 11 are eligible to participate in this program that not only concentrates specifically on college admissions skill development but, like the traditional SIG model, also provides students with the social and cultural experience of living on a prestigious college campus for three weeks.

Click here to learn more about SIG’s new College Prep Programs or contact Amanda Ritz at (866) 303-4744 or by e-mail at aritz@giftedstudy.com.

This month, SIG is fortunate to have someone who knows both the SIG and CTY programs – the topic of this month’s Ask the Expert – extremely well: our Chairman, Dr. Stephen Gessner, former President of SIG for five years (2002-2007) and also Senior Program Director of CTY for five years (1996-2001).

Dear SIG,
I have noticed that both SIG and the CTY program have a similar model—3 week residential academic program on college campuses. Can you explain to me the differences between the two programs?

Dr. Gessner responds:  

These are two excellent programs and both serve gifted students well. While currently associated with SIG, I continue to admire the CTY program.

As I see it, there are two fundamental differences. First, in the CTY model, students choose only one course for the whole three weeks. At SIG, students choose five courses for the whole three weeks. Each class meets for one hour and 15 minutes. Furthermore, the SIG courses cover a wide-range of topics, including work in the creative and performing arts, and fitness and recreation. There are also interdisciplinary courses.

Thus CTY lets students focus on one area and go into great depth in that topic. SIG offers a broader program, allowing students to work in a variety of areas. SIG students can however choose to concentrate in one or two areas, and take most or all of their courses in math or science, or humanities.

The second difference is that SIG offers a greater number of organized student activities.  There are evening programs with professional performers, student shows and contests, and counselor group activities.  There are two Saturday field trip days, where students leave the campus to explore and experience museums, science centers, amusement parks, and theatrical and musical performances. There is also a Sunday organized activity day, involving fun and problem-solving activities. Finally, there is a Parents’ Visiting Day, when parents are invited to come to campus and meet the instructional and residential staff and see their children.

There are some other differences such as SIG having a full-time Registered Nurse on staff and more residential staff on site (Student Activities Dean, Housemasters, and Residential Assistants). Both programs have a comparable number of counselors who live and work with the students.

Both programs do an excellent job. It is up to families and students to decide which approach better meets the needs of their students.

Dr. Gessner is just one of the many experts and leaders in the field of gifted education that have contributed to the popular and insightful ‘Ask the Expert’ each month in the Gifted Student. Other experts include Howard Greene, world-renowned educational planning consultant and author, Barbara Swicord, SIG President and Dr. Del Siegle, an associate professor of educational psychology in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut.

Parents and educators, are you looking for advice and ideas for encouraging your gifted students?  Please send any questions about giftedness and education to sig.info@giftedstudy.com.

While we are not able to answer each question personally, we will make every attempt to post questions and answers in the newsletter and on the website that are of interest to our readers.

Employment Opportunities

Interested in supervising or teaching gifted students this summer?

The Summer Institute for the Gifted is seeking qualified deans, instructors, housemasters, residential assistants, counselors, administrative assistants, program assistants, and nurses for our day and residential programs.  Campuses are located in NJ, PA, MA, GA, MI, CA, NY, and CT. 

An application and additional information can be obtained by going to our website at www.giftedstudy.com/employment/, by contacting the Stamford, CT, office at 866-303-4744 (toll free) or by e-mailing Amy Blake at ablake@giftedstudy.com.

Puzzle Corner

February Puzzle

If RESIGN is worth 798546, SING is worth 7453 and REIN is worth 5734, what is RISE worth?

Send your answers to Amanda Ritz at aritz@giftedstudy.com. First correct answer receives recognition in the March issue of The Gifted Student!

Last Month’s Puzzle

Here’s last month’s puzzle and answer! Did you get it right?

Replace the blanks in the following sentence with two five-letter words. The same five letters must be used for both words. What are they?

The mother said that although she sends her son to school each morning looking smart, during the day he always manages to BLANK his shoes and get his BLANK filthy.

Answer: ‘Scuff’ and ‘Cuffs’

Congratulations to Jerrell from Savannah, GA for being the first to respond with the correct answer to the January puzzle!