B.A.S.H. Gifted Education Program
March 2026 Newsletter
Upcoming Events & Meetings
- March 31: Last Day for PT Requests for 2026-2027 SY (talk to your counselor)
- May 1: Prom & Professional Learning for Staff (no school for students)
- May 8: Last day to make changes to your course selection card.
- May 29: Last day for Class of 2027 to clear obligations for parking pass eligibility for the 26-27 SY.
- June 5: Graduation
2025-26 Academic World Quest updates!
On Thursday March 12th, BASH students traveled to Alvernia University for the Berks County competition of Academic WorldQuest. It was Boyertown’s second year entering teams into the competition and they did extremely well. Team Grizzly Bears finished in 5th place with 56 points while Team Kodiak Bears finished 11th with 48 points, despite having two replacement team members in the last week.
What is AWQ? Founded in 2003, Academic World Quest is a team game testing high school students’ knowledge of international affairs. Four-person teams compete by answering questions divided into ten unique and engaging thematic categories. The winner is the team with the most correct answers. Here’s the categories and articles
Global Connections Competition
While the Berks County AWQ Competition may be over, students in Academic WorldQuest and Gifted Education at BASH were invited to join in a Global Connections Competition for much of the month of April. Using an online platform called FanSchool, students are given 5000 credits to buy various countries from around the world. They earn points daily every time their countries are mentioned in the New York Times. The more knowledgeable about current world events that they are, the better they can manage their teams.
Summer Enrichment Opportunities
MCCC Dual Enrollment News
One Credit Dual Enrollment for Summer
Would you like to take a class or 2 over the summer to get a jump start on college?
Summer 14-week and 6-week
Session I classes start May 11!
If you are a Dual Enrollment student or senior who recently graduated. You can still receive the DE rate for the summer Semester.
Summer registration is open! Go to the link below!
https://www.mc3.edu/admissions/high-school-dual-enrollment/class-at-montco?authuser=0
Design Build Play
The Cook Honors College at Indiana University of Pennsylvania will offer a course called Design, Build, Play as part of its 2026 Summer Honors Program from July 6-24. This course will be offered for dual enrollment instruction credits. This three-week course will be comprised of two hands-on workshops for one week on campus with two weeks of online instruction students can complete from home. The total cost for room, board, programming, and three credits of instruction is $675.
https://www.iup.edu/honors/news/2025/07/cook-honors-college-hosts-design-build-play.html
Study World Languages Abroad!
Have you considered spending a month or more in the summer studying abroad to improve your language skills? There are relatively inexpensive programs in various European cities designed to help foreign nationals learn their language in an intensive study format. In 2012, I spent more than a month in southern France in the city of Montpellier taking an intensive French language class and loved it! There were lots of high school age kids from all over the world in the program and it made me wish that I had done the program when I was their age. Ask your world language teacher about their experiences studying abroad and how an intensive language course in the summer could help your progress towards fluency. Below are some suggestions of cities and programs for you to check out if you might be interested. To give you an idea, I found the approximate costs for month-long home stays with half board and lots of classes (upwards of 20-30 hrs / week). You may find cheaper rates if you stay in student living quarters or share rooms with other students. Airfare would be additional.
Spanish
Madrid - Inhispania https://inhispania.com/ ($2500)
Seville - Seville Language Center https://www.sevillalanguagecenter.com/ ($2200)
German
Cologne - Tandem Koln ILS https://www.tandem-koeln.de/en ($2100)
Vienna (Austria) - Deutsch Akademie https://www.deutschakademie.de/en ($2600)
French
Montpellier - Institut Linguistique Adenet https://www.ila-france.com/ ($2400)
Toulouse - Alliance Française Toulouse https://alliance-toulouse.org/ ($2900)
Career Portfolio:
Current 9th Graders - you may complete your 10th grade service hours for the Career Portfolio over the summer!
Momentum Makers Camp!
Momentum Makers Summer Camp invites 5th-12th graders to explore diverse topics with expert instructors at Alvernia University. This exciting program features one-week specialized camps, each focusing on a unique theme. Students can attend multiple weeks to explore various subjects, engage in hands-on activities, and develop valuable skills. The Exploratory Camp offers an in-depth experience with multiple topics, research mentorship, and lab access.
https://www.hisawyer.com/total-experience-learning-institute/schedules?schedule_id=camps&authuser=0
Girls Who Code
Girls Who Code, create, connect. Your summer adventure starts here. ✨
Pathways is Girls Who Code’s free, virtual summer program for high school girls and nonbinary students to explore tech, build in-demand skills, and create projects that make a difference—no experience required!
Girls Who Code is excited to offer Pathways this summer from Monday, June 29th, through Friday, August 14th! This seven-week program is a free, flexible online learning opportunity for students who want to learn coding at their own pace.
Participants will be able to explore coursework in five tracks throughout the program: Data Science + AI, Game Design, Web Development, Cybersecurity, and AI + Society.
Beyond coding, students gain real-world insights through virtual Partner Events with leading tech organizations. They can also connect with peers through Girls Who Code’s private Discord community and join optional Student Hours for live support and collaboration.
For students who participated in Pathways during 2025, this summer's program will offer new courses and virtual events, as well as the chance to explore coursework you may have missed previously!
Pathways is open to high school girls and non-binary students of all experience levels, including rising 9th graders, graduating seniors, and returning participants. Check out our eligibility criteria for more information.
BASH Club in Spotlight: Student Diversity Union
he Student Diversity Union is an active club dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the many cultures represented at BASH. Open to all students, the club provides opportunities to learn about and celebrate cultural diversity within our school community. Through events, programs, and field trips, members explore and highlight different cultures, traditions, holidays, and celebrations while fostering respect, understanding, and connection among students.
Culture Day Festival: Mon. Mar 30, 2026
The BASH Culture Day Festival, hosted by the Student Diversity Union Club, is designed to celebrate and honor the cultural richness within our s
chool community. Rather than offering simplified snapshots of cultures, the festival encourages deeper cultural awareness, respect, and open-mindedness. Through shared experiences and dialogue, students have the opportunity to learn about different perspectives, break down cultural barriers, and build meaningful connections. The goal is to foster a school environment where diverse values, traditions, and beliefs are recognized, appreciated, and approached with understanding rather than judgment.
AP Course Spotlights
AP Psychology
AP Psychology is a super interesting and thought-provoking college-level introductory course covering the scientific studies of human behavior and mental processes. In AP Psychology students will learn about people and what influences how we think, feel and behave. The material in this class applies to behavior in your everyday lives and gets you thinking more scientifically about why people do what they do. Some of the topics covered include: a scientific study of the brain, emotions, motivations, personality, memory, defense mechanisms, psychological disorders and treatment of psychological disorders. Taking this course is incredibly worthwhile for all students; by earning college credit you could use this class to fulfill either a required, elective or general education college course, regardless of your chosen college major.
AP Economics
AP Microeconomics is an introductory college-level microeconomics course. Students cultivate their understanding of the principles that apply to the functions of individual economic decision-makers by using principles and models to describe economic situations and predict and explain outcomes with graphs, charts, and data as they explore concepts like scarcity and markets; costs, benefits, and marginal analysis; production choices and behavior; and market inefficiency and public policy.
What are Strategic Development Skills?
Strategic development skills are the abilities used to create long-term roadmaps for growth by balancing internal organizational goals with external market dynamics. These skills allow professionals to move beyond day-to-day tasks and focus on creating sustainable competitive advantage. In other words, they are a foundation of core competencies that prepare individuals for a successful transition into the workplace and ongoing career management. It essentially acts as a "career currency," bridging the gap between academic knowledge and real-world application.
Why These Skills Are Critical to Learn
Developing these skills early provides a significant competitive advantage for several reasons:
Closing the "Skills Gap": Employers often find that while graduates have technical knowledge, they lack the "soft skills" required to function effectively in a professional environment.
Enhanced Employability: Mastery of these competencies makes you a more attractive candidate, often carrying more weight in hiring decisions than a GPA alone.
Lifelong Adaptability: Unlike job-specific technical skills that may become obsolete, career readiness skills are transferable and help you navigate multiple career changes.
Increased Confidence: Being "career ready" allows you to clearly articulate your value to recruiters during interviews and networking events.
Key Evidence of the Strategic Development Skills Gap
Executive Perceived Deficiency: Roughly 92% of executives believe American workers are not as skilled as they need to be, with nearly half (44%) identifying a specific lack of strategic development skills as the primary issue.
Hiring Difficulty: About 89% of hiring managers report difficulty finding candidates with the right strategic development skills, which they now consider equal to or more important than technical expertise.
Impact on Success: Research shows that 40% of new hires fail within their first 18 months, not because of a lack of technical knowledge, but due to inadequate strategic development skills like emotional intelligence.
Entry-Level Readiness: Only 22% of leaders currently feel that entry-level employees are fully prepared for their roles, with 58% specifically citing weak strategic development skills as the reason for this lack of preparedness.
Most Lacking Skills
Employers consistently report that the hardest skills to find in U.S. job applicants include:
Critical Thinking: 64% of hiring managers find this difficult to source.
Listening and Interpersonal Skills: Over 50% of managers struggle to find candidates who can effectively communicate and work within a team.
Professionalism and Work Ethic: Nearly half of employers express concerns about the basic work ethic and "elevator chitchat" abilities of recent graduates.
Research from Harvard and Stanford suggests that 85% of job success comes from soft skills, while only 15% comes from technical knowledge.
The Mensa Foundation is committed to inspiring and empowering intelligence across all walks of life but especially in the minds of our children. As a result, the Foundation developed Mensa for Kids for educators and teachers providing free, high quality, and diverse educational resources for kids of all ages, regardless of their affiliation with Mensa. Mensa for Kids is committed to adapting and growing as the fields of education and intelligence evolve.
The Mensa Honor Society offers Young Mensans the opportunity to use their intelligence to benefit their schools and communities.
With two divisions — the Junior Mensa Honor Society for youth in grades 5–9, and the Mensa Honor Society for Young Mensans in grades 10–12 — the Mensa Honor Society recognizes Young Mensans who represent the ideals of integrity, intellectual curiosity, academic commitment, and service.
In keeping with the purposes of Mensa, the objectives of the Mensa Honor Society are to:
Recognize the achievements of Young Mensans who take active roles in their communities, schools, or faith-based organizations.
Provide recognition for Young Mensans for service that develops their talents and skills for the benefit of others.
Allow these achievements to be formally recognized by Mensa, schools and other institutions.
Suggestions of the Month for Gifted Education
Meet the BASH Gifted Education Team
Mr. B. Burychka (bburychka@boyertownasd.org)
Mrs. M. Gramp (mgramp@boyertownasd.org)
Mr. J. Maurer (jmauer@boyertownasd.org)
Mr. J. Valick (jvalick@boyertownasd.org)
ARCHIVES: Gifted Education Information, News & Tidbits
Informational Documents / Articles
Books
Gifted and Distractible: Understanding, Supporting, and Advocating for Your Twice Exceptional Child by Julie Skolnick
Emotional Intensity in Gifted Students, 3rd edition, by Christine Fonseca
A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children by James T. Webb, Edward R. Amend, Emily Kircher-Morris, and Janet Gore
Guiding the Gifted Child: A Practical Source for Parents and Teachers by James T. Webb, Elizabeth A. Meckstroth, and Steph front Tolan
Websites
PAGE - Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education
The smartest kids should never hear this phrase from adults, according to experts
The Kid Should See This - Smart Videos for curious minds of all ages
Videos
Past BASH Gifted Newsletters
SAT Prep Resources
Will your student be taking the SAT in the near future? There’s lots of free and low-cost resources available. Check out this article for some ideas and resources. Here’s a few of the highlighted resources in the article:
It is recommended that students start early, take official practice tests, focus on their weaknesses, and create a study plan.
2025-26 Counseling Dept Information
- Go to pages 14-16 in the Program of Studies titled “Enrichment Courses” This section covers the gifted program, honors/AP courses, dual enrollment, etc.
- The Counseling Dept. also hosted a Financial Aid Presentation earlier this year. You can view recorded past presentations on the site. The Virtual FAFSA Support information is also listed here.
- Student Aid Guide - This comprehensive guide (which has been updated for 2025-26 school year) provides a complete overview of the financial aid process with information on most of Pennsylvania’s financial aid programs and services.



