100 reasons why the Apogee School for the Gifted should be your 1st choice!

Every gifted student knows what it’s like to be the first one done.  One word; boring!  What do you do with all your free time?  Twiddle your thumbs?  Read another book?  Do busy work your teacher assigns?  Get into trouble?  It’s not fair to make smart kids waste time waiting for everyone else to finish when they could be using their time for productive learning.  Not every gifted kid is good in every subject.  Maybe math isn’t your thing and you need extra time to figure it out, but you rock in science.  No worries, the Apogee School was designed to go with your flow so you can truly work at your own pace in every subject.  We do this by assigning each student a Personalized Learning Plan (PLP).  We start with the NWEA-MAP and a pretest to get an idea of which grade level and quarter you’re ready for in each subject (5th grade 3rd quarter for example), then fill in your learning goals for that quarter.  Once you demonstrate mastery, you move on.  This works great for subjects like math.  For other subjects like Social Studies that are more group oriented we differentiate based on individual ability.  What happens when you completely finish a subject through the end of high school level but aren’t quite there yet in other subjects?  We send you to IUPUI to keep going, and you get actual college credits.  How cool is that?  Each student also has an ongoing independent project, so you can be assured that your time at school will be well spent for learning, not looking out the window to watch grass grow.

 

Thanks to Jack for this suggestion!  He explained that in his experience there’s the expectation that students have to spend a significant amount of their time and energy at school earning status among classmates and even teachers.  This causes unnecessary anxiety and creates damaging division among students.  School should be about learning, not about status.  It’s a well known fact that people learn best when they feel secure.  Worrying about being cool to not be bullied is a major problem in schools.  At Apogee, every student understands how privileged they are to be at a school that respects everyone for their inherent value as human beings.  We take care of each other because that makes the Apogee community work for everyone.  With no need to earn status, students can focus on their learning and building friendships.  Having the freedom to be yourself lets you shine, and that makes you cool.

 

Thanks to an anonymous middle school student for this suggestion.  We had an opportunity to tour another private gifted school in Ohio and ask students what they valued most about their school.  One student raised her hand and answered, “The principal knows my name.”  Apogee is intentionally small and always will be because every student has unique needs and deserves to be known.  When a school gets so big that the principal doesn’t know your name, students fall through the cracks.

 

Come back soon to see the next reasons why the Apogee School for the Gifted should be your 1st choice.  Be sure to scroll back to the top of this page to share your suggestions.  After we reach 100 reasons, we’ll keep on going!