Isn’t the calendar full of special days? Yes. Today is special because it is the deadline for submitting applications for Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) to be considered in their first round of applications. The first round for those who have been employed at CTY.
CTY went online in 2020 and 2021 for obvious reasons, so Program Assistants (PA) weren’t needed. Therefore, I am very excited to possibly be a PA again, and writing the cover letter brought back happy memories. Completing the application also made me look at how much I had changed since summer 2019, one of which was earning my Teaching Online Certificate so I can better serve students.
For those who are unfamiliar with CTY (as I was before being hired), CTY is a summer program for gifted students. They are held at certain locations in the U.S. and two in Hong Kong. There are Day Sites and Residential Sites. Day Sites are for elementary students, and parents pick up at their student end of the school day. Residential Sites, on the other hand, are for middle and high school students, and they live in dorm-like settings and learn on campus. CTY employs at least one person who plans events for students when they are outside of class.
For students, what’s even better than being in a summer program with only gifted students is to meet, learn, and play with other gifted students from different parts of the country and the world. I remember having a student who was from a small town in Texas, and his family lives there because of his dad’s job. He and his brother were the smartest students in school. Logically, he knew there are other gifted students, however, until he was at CTY where he can learn at a faster speed with others who are more like him, that reality is far away.
The small class sizes are wonderful, too. In California, the average class size for elementary grades is 30 students for one teacher. In contrast, the average class size at CTY is nine students for a teacher and a PA. In 2019, I had the largest class at my Day Site — 11 students. I did not work at a Residential Site, so I cannot speak to what the average class size is, but each class has an instructor and a TA, so two adults for each class. Students also have adults supervising them outside of class.
If you know of gifted students who would benefit from an opportunity like this, CTY is something you might consider.
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