Gifted students in kindergarten through eighth grade will have an opportunity to expand their academic horizons on Saturday mornings with a new program created by Vanderbilt University. Saturday Academy at Vanderbilt for the Young, or SAVY, kicks off Jan. 19 from 9 to 11:30 a.m. The classes meet every Saturday through March 8 at the University School of Nashville.
“Gifted children benefit socially, emotionally and intellectually from being in a classroom of their true academic peers,” Elizabeth Schoenfeld, director of the Vanderbilt Programs for Talented Youth, which oversees SAVY, said. “Our classes will engage and stimulate these quick minds, while also providing rigorous training in critical thinking, problem-solving and reasoning.”
The classes range from “The Deep: The Wonderful, Watery World of the Oceans” for kindergartners to “Going Nuclear: The Solution for Our Energy Needs?” for seventh- and eighth-graders.
The program also reaches out to parents.
“Parents are among the most important forces in the development of special talents while also fostering balance and healthfulness,” Schoenfeld said. “For that reason, we are offering classes for SAVY parents while their children are in class.”
All sessions will be taught by teachers specially trained and experienced in working with the gifted. Each class is limited to 12 students, all of whom will have tested at the 95th percentile and above on either verbal or quantitative reasoning sections of academic achievement tests or IQ tests.
In addition to SAVY, the Vanderbilt Programs for Talented Youth offers programs for gifted seventh through 12th graders, including Weekend Academy at Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt Summer Academy and the new Med School 101. To learn more about those programs and to apply, visit pty.vanderbilt.edu or call (615) 322-8261.
Media Contact: Melanie Moran, (615) 322-NEWS
melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu