Yunasa West 2013!

IEA’s pioneering Yunasa and Yunasa West summer camps unite highly able youngsters with experts in the social and emotional development of gifted children. Campers explore and grow the intellectual, spiritual, emotional, social, and physical aspects of their lives. 2013 was the 2nd year for Yunasa West, which took place June 9-16 at YMCA Camp Shady Brook in Sedalia, Colorado.

2013 Yunasa West campers and staff

Twenty-four kids from across the country joined us for Yunasa West 2013. This was the second year of Yunasa West, and it proved to be yet another memorable and magical year!

Campers explored all five aspects of Self – intellectual, emotional, social, physical, and spiritual – and learned how to work towards achieving balance across these five areas of their lives.

Every day contained at least one activity to help campers embrace each of the five aspects of Self. In just one day, a camper could go rock climbing (physical), talk with all of the other campers during activities and at meals (social), learn about the different aspects of emotional intelligence in a special workshop (emotional and intellectual), and do yoga (spiritual, emotional, physical, and intellectual).

Using Twitter as a Resource on Your Gifted Child

By Jennifer Kennedy

Jennifer is IEA’s Marketing and Communications Coordinator. She works closely with IEA’s social media to regularly connect with parents and educators of gifted children.

Image by Venspired.com

In a previous post, I mentioned that social media can be an excellent resource on giftedness and discussed the ways in which Facebook can be used in this manner. In this post, I will cover a social network you might not be as familiar with using but that has many extremely helpful applications for you to network and find resources on giftedness – Twitter.

140 characters may not seem like much, but Twitter is a gold mine of information, resources and support for parents of gifted children.

The Many Faces of Gifted: Hazem

By Carole Rosner

Every gifted person has a unique story. The following story is part of a series of posts depicting the many faces of gifted by highlighting gifted children and adults we have found through IEA programs. IEA’s Apprenticeship Program – mentioned in this story – links gifted high school students from across the country with mentors who advance each participant’s skills through the application of knowledge and exposure to real world experiences.

Hazem Zureiqat
2001 Apprentice, U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena
Planning and Studies Department Manager, Engicon
Co-Founder and CEO, Sowt

“I had spent all my childhood in Jordan, and I was interested in pursuing my university education in the United States. I saw the Apprenticeship Program as an opportunity to get a taste of higher education and research in the U.S.,” Hazem Zureiqat, 2001 Apprentice, explained.

Spring 2013 Academy Highlights!

By Jen Mounday, Academy Program Coordinator

Spring Academy classes ran for eight weeks from April 1 to May 25. Classes included two new offerings: Explorations in Literature and Chemistry Lab. Some Academy classics were also held: Organic Chemistry, Primary Advanced Math, Neuro-Energy I and II, Molecular Biology, and Astronomy. Our student attendance was the fullest it’s been and included ten new students from local public and private schools.

Chemistry Lab, taught by Dr. Rosemary Rohde and Ronnie Bryan, was a hit with its hands-on curriculum. Dr. Rose took concepts from Chemistry I and II and expanded on them by conducting correlating experiments for each of the eight weeks. Some lab topics were rates of reaction, electrochemistry and chemical equilibrium. Proper safety precautions were taught with the use of chemicals—information most students don’t usually cover until they take a high school chemistry course.

The new Chemistry Lab class with tons of hands-on experiments was a big hit!