WKU News

On Friday, May 24, more than 400 middle school students took part in the Kentucky Recognition Ceremony of the Duke Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP) at Western Kentucky University.

Duke TIP’s 7th Grade Talent Search identifies students in a 17 state area who have scored at or above the 95th percentile on a grade-level achievement test. As part of the program, these students take above-level college-entrance exams (ACT or SAT) to learn more about their abilities. Duke TIP hosts annual recognition ceremonies to honor the seventh graders who score highest on their ACT or SAT exams.

This is the 31^st year that The Center for Gifted Studies has hosted the Kentucky Recognition Ceremony for Duke TIP at WKU.

“Honoring academic achievement is an important way to encourage young people to work hard to reach their potential,” states Dr. Roberts.  “Hosting the Kentucky Awards Recognition is something that we at The Center for Gifted Studies look forwarding to doing annually, and we congratulate the young people who were honored by Duke TIP this year.”

Students arrived on campus mid-day for an afternoon that consisted of an informational session on the summer programs offered by The Center for Gifted Studies, tours of WKU’s campus, and the Kentucky Recognition Ceremony, which was held at WKU’s Diddle Arena at 2:00.

Several prominent leaders in education were on hand to congratulate the students for their accomplishments, including Dr. Carl Rollins, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer for the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA) and the Kentucky Higher Education Student Loan Corporation (KHESLC) and Mrs. Kathie Anderson, Consultant for Gifted and Talented Education. 

Dr. William Gump of Louisville gave the keynote address. Dr. Gump is a pediatric neurosurgeon at Louisville’s Kosair’s Childrens Hospital and attended several summer camps with The Center for Gifted Studies.

Dr. Roberts gave the opening and closing remarks, and Dr. Sam Evans, Dean of WKU’s College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, welcomed students and their families to campus. Bomi Roberson represented Duke TIP at the recognition ceremony.

"This year’s recognition ceremonies invitees have achieved exceptionally high scores on the ACT or SAT, rivaling those of half of college-bound seniors who took the same tests,” said Martha Putallaz, PhD, Duke TIP executive director and professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke. “We are extremely proud of our participants, and we look forward to celebrating their tremendous achievement.”

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About Duke TIP: The Duke University Talent Identification Program is an international leader in identifying and serving the educational needs of academically gifted youth. Through identification, recognition, challenging educational programs, information, advocacy and research, Duke TIP provides resources to gifted students, their parents, educators, and schools for the development of the students’ optimal potential.  

This year, 75,172 students participated nationally. Of those, 23,379 students have been invited to attend state recognition ceremonies, and 1,670 students have been invited to the grand recognition ceremony.

In the state of Kentucky, 2,856 students were tested for Duke Tip and 1,517 students qualified for the Kentucky Recognition Ceremony. This percentage of 53 percent is more than 20 percentage points greater than the national average. 

Of these 1,517 students, 132 seventh graders qualified for the Grand Recognition Ceremony.

The Grand Recognition Ceremony honors seventh graders who have earned scores equal to or better than 90 percent of college-bound seniors who took the same tests.