Eric has recently graduated (as Salutatorian) from the local public high school. As we are ending the K-12 era of Eric’s education, thus reflections of the previous 10 years (he skipped two grades of elementary school) of our lives come to the forefront of our thoughts.
Eric has had the privilege of being a Davidson Young Scholar (YS) since he was 9 years old. At that time, as parents, we were feeling a bit overwhelmed with trying to deal with school issues related to keeping Eric appropriately challenged academically. We felt very alone in our rural school district. No other parents were being faced with questions of grade acceleration and public school gifted 'policies'. School officials didn't always understand our situation. The Davidson Institute came to our rescue….their website was not only helpful, but available at all hours of the night. Our Family Consultant was patient with our questions and frustrations. The parenting seminars, Summits and many ‘topic-specific’ parent eLists helped us to feel not quite so alone with our unique situation. If our Family Consultant did not have advice for a given dilemma, they contacted an expert who did.
And now, we learn that after years of their continuous support, they are giving us even more. Eric has been awarded the extreme honor of being named a 2009 Davidson Fellow Laureate. Along with this honor comes a scholarship for $50,000 to be used to help with furthering his education.
We truly do not want to even consider what the public school experience would have been like for Eric without the Davidson Institute’s input. Thank you to the Davidson Institute for being a lifesaver!
Programs mentioned in this story: Young Scholars Davidson Fellows
This article is provided as a service of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to supporting profoundly gifted young people 18 and under. To learn more about the Davidson Institute’s programs, please visit www.DavidsonGifted.org.
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