WKU News

The Center for Gifted Studies at WKU recently completed another summer of successful gifted education programs.

The Summer Program for Verbally and Mathematically Precocious Youth (VAMPY) hosted 217 students for the three-week program from June 22 to July 12.  The students represented 47 Kentucky school districts, 22 Kentucky private schools, two Kentucky Diocese, 8 other states, Saudi Arabia and China.

VAMPY provides advanced learning opportunities for academically gifted students who have just completed the seventh through tenth grades. In order to attend VAMPY, students must have earned a qualifying score on the SAT or ACT.

VAMPY classes met daily for the three weeks, allowing gifted young people to study one topic in great depth. This year, students could pick from 16 classes such as anatomy and physiology, genetics, teenagers on film, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, and VAMPY MakerSpace.

During the rigorous and rewarding academic experience, VAMPY students did a wide array of things, including a visit President Lincoln’s Presidential Library in Springfield, IL, using engineering to create a large chain reaction machine, learned the Arabic language, solving such problems as how to ship a potato chip and how to make a concrete canoe, and combining all different forms of chemicals in two chemistry classes.

Outside the classroom, students attended a CATS musical performed by Xclaim!, the Twilight Performance Series at WKU, and a Bowling Green Hot Rods game, which included fireworks for the Fourth of July.  Campers also took part in Optionals, which included sports, card games, arts and crafts, and other fun items.  Other special events included the annual dance, talent show, paper theater and banquet.  

The dates for the 32nd year of VAMPY are June 21 to July 11, 2015, with the application becoming available in mid-January.

To view pictures of the VAMPY program, visit our Flickr page at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/giftedstudieswku/collections/72157645451925602/.

For more information on VAMPY 2014 or to be placed on the mailing list for VAMPY 2015, please contact Zack Ryle at (270) 745-3014.

About The Center for Gifted Studies: Located on the WKU campus in Bowling Green, The Center for Gifted Studies has been serving children who are gifted and talented, their educators, and their parents for more than 30 years. The Center provides exciting educational opportunities for gifted young people, rigorous professional development for teachers, and support for parents of gifted young people. Under the direction of Dr. Julia Link Roberts, The Center has become one of the preeminent centers for gifted education in the United States.  The Center believes that when gifted young people meet their extraordinary potential, our communities, our state, our nation—even our world—become better places. That is why each school year, The Center renews its commitment to encouraging excellence by providing quality programming and resources for gifted students, their teachers, and their parents.