B.A.S.H. Gifted Education Program

This school year, there will be some exciting changes in the Gifted Education program at Boyertown Area Senior High! We hope to offer many additional opportunities for enrichment while continuing to grow existing activities and aspects of the program. For example, this year, the gifted program teachers will be able to offer more time and support than in previous years. The BASH Library has always been an option for gifted students to gather to work on projects and activities. Now, there will be additional space available in Mr. Burychka’s Room 718 during several periods during the day.

Enrichment Activities - we will be planning a series of voluntary enrichment activities throughout the school year. Here’s some examples of the types of activities that we are currently planning:

• Speaker Series - bringing in experts in various fields to discuss with students about topics of interest. Be on the lookout in Google Classroom for a survey to gauge interest.

• Online Activities - students attempt to complete various online activities such as lateral thinking puzzles, EdPuzzles on miscellaneous topics, online quizzes on random topics, etc. These activities will randomly pop up as ‘assignments’ in the Gifted Enrichment Google Classroom.

• Model UN - this year, students will be piloting a Model UN program as an offshoot of YAG. This would be a great opportunity for students who are interested in global issues.

• Academic WorldQuest - last year, BASH entered its first teams to the Berks County competition sponsored by the World Affairs Council. Out of 22 teams entered, BASH teams came in 7th & 8th places! We will be running Academic WorldQuest again this year. As soon as the information is released, we will be creating a series of bi-weekly competitions. Participation in these competitions and scores will determine the 8 students who will travel to Reading Area Community College for the Berks competition in early March.

The gifted team is also working on finding additional ways to support the gifted students who may be struggling in their classes. This support may come in the form of tutoring in specific classes, but also helping build the executive functioning skills that may need an extra boost. The team is working on some exciting skill building activities and will announce them once they are a reality.

SENG is a national organization formed “to empower families and communities to guide gifted and talented individuals to reach their goals.” They have resources to help parents form local support groups and offer regular webinars for parents and educators.