Eighty profoundly gifted students and their parents registered for the January 2009 HEROES Conference at the Rutgers University Inn and Conference Center. Parents were able to attend a number of programs on issues, options and opportunities for their children and students were able to select for a variety of workshops.
The conference was originally planned for 100 participants. Due to very high demand, we expanded the conference to accept 160 participants but still had a waiting list
Educating the Gifted was presented by Dr. Linda Brody, Director of the Julian C. Stanley Study of Exceptional Talent (SET) at the Johns Hopkins University for Talented Youth (CTY).
Dr. Michelle Muratori, Senior Counselor of the Center for Talented Youth moderated a panel of three students who chose to begin their college careers at exceptionally young ages and also interviewed a 14 year old Harvard stem-cell researcher.
Nancy Pullen, Director of Recruitment and Enrollment at Rutgers University gave an overview of opportunities for young scholars.
Director of Summer/Winter Sessions, Elizabeth Hough outlined a variety of challenging opportunities including the announcement of the High School Scholars Program that would provide qualified high school and younger students 30% off their tuition for summer session class. During Summer 2009 about two dozen HEROES students took advantage of this scholarship to take summer session classes.
The highlight of the day was when Rutgers Vice-President of the Office of Continuous Education and Outreach, Dr. Ray Caprio, headed a very informal discussion on what our needs were and what we could do to address those needs. Although he could not make specific promises, he clearly showed that he was listening and was willing to work with us to find solutions. People who had been complete strangers at the beginning of the day were crying and hugging each other by the end of his talk. We had hope. We are now working to build on that beginning.
Writing for College by Tisha Bender, Assistant Director of the Rutgers Writing Program and Coordinator of Expository Writing and Michael Goeller, Associate Director of the Rutger
Writing Program and Plangere Writing Center Coordinator introduced students to the difference between the demands of college writing and high school writing.
Students were able to explore opportunities in the arts with dancer, John Evans; jazz trombonist, Conrad Herwig, actor Marshall Jones and Mason Gross Extension Division Director, Julie Roth in Mason Gross Presents.
Math enthusiasts were treated to two selections: Discrete Math by Dr. Joe Rosenstein of Rutgers and Sequences by Dr. G. Boyd Swartz of Monmouth University.
Engineering workshops were taught by Blasé Ur, Program Coordinator for the New Jersey Governor’s School of Engineering and Technology.