The creativity of young minds was at work as more than 160 students participated in the district’s annual Gifted and Talented Summer Exploration Camps held at Young Elementary School.

The program is designed to help GT students discover the depth of their own creativity, as well as to challenge them to find ways to incorporate innovation into school and non-school activities. Students were divided into three groups based on grade levels. The primary camp included students in kindergarten through second grades, while the elementary camp hosted third, fourth and fifth graders. Students in grades sixth, seventh and eighth participated in the intermediate level of the camp.

“The goal of the program is to provide GT students with additional enrichment and opportunities to meet other GT students as they explore topics not normally covered during the school year,” said GT Facilitator Michelle Reynolds. “It also provides the students with opportunities to work with experts in the field each camp is learning about.”

This year’s themes included African culture for the primary camp, archaeology for the elementary group and the intermediate students learned about the 1940s era in American history focusing on the central form of entertainment, radio programming. The themes vary each year, and in the past, have covered topics such as photography, crime scene investigation, the stock market, Shakespeare, forms of communication, Japanese and Native American culture and more.

“We are always looking for interesting topics for the camp,” said GT Facilitator Leslie Axel. “We look for topics that are of high interest to both boys and girls and that give lots of opportunity for in-depth study and creativity. We focus more on enrichment, going beyond the child’s chronological age and physical grade level.”

Students in the primary camp learned interdependence by going on a safari to Bayou Wildlife Park in Alvin. They also studied Africa in-depth by learning about its different tribes, building villages, studying animals and cooking African dishes.

The intermediate students were exposed to the dress and entertainment of the 1940s and explored the advertising styles and motivations. The students split into three groups, and Sam Rayburn High School’s yearbook instructor Crystal Sliva said her group specialized in the transformation and performance of a Burns and Allen radio program produced during that time.

“In any teaching situation, one must select teaching styles and methods that match up to the needs of the students involved,” Sliva said. “We used large group instruction to provide experiences and knowledge that each of the students needed to be an effective member of the team.”

The students created 1940s style hats, advertisements for products used in that era, performed a radio program complete with commercials, built a rotating stage and developed a set design for the presentation.

“We encourage our campers to explore their own learning styles and push them to set realistic goals and analyze their work on a daily basis,” Sliva said. “In our small group sessions, we each focused on the goals set for our part of the larger project. I prepared my students for their performance with examples of radio programs, memory games and performance building skills. I believe this year’s camp was one of our most productive. Our students had a great time and put on a magnificent production.”

Sliva said the camp is beneficial for GT students because it provides fun learning experiences that push the students to explore their own abilities and limitations.

“For some of our students, camp is the only place they receive personal attention to their skills and abilities,” she said. “GT camp gives our students a place to experiment, explore and shine. At this age, many of them are faced with peer pressure to not be as bright as they can be. All children need to feel accepted, and we want them to feel accepted in a way that encourages their educational growth.”

The elementary students explored the world of archeology by learning about the tools and the language the field uses. They also built a sifting screen and went on a planned dig and scientifically recorded their findings.

“The GT summer camp provides the gifted student with a different learning environment than the normal classroom,” said Pasadena ISD’s Director of Advanced Academics Pat Sermas. “This environment allows the gifted student to explore curriculum content with gifted students of various chronological ages. Our goal is to stimulate productive thinking in our students. This ability will be essential to their future development as scholars and independent thinkers.”