By Ashley Prior, Marketing and Communications Coordinator
This summer’s ever-changing landscape provides children and youth of all ages an opportunity to participate in fun, challenging learning through IEA’s virtual programs. When the Institute for Educational Advancement (IEA) made the difficult decision to cancel all in-person summer programming, we knew we had to find ways to connect with our students virtually instead. As a non-profit that supports all aspects of a gifted child, IEA is very aware of the extreme toll this pandemic has taken on the intellectual, social and emotional wellbeing of students and their families. IEA’s parents and students were eager for the organization to provide quality material in safe learning environments that engage our young people intellectually and channel their intensities and anxieties in healthy ways.
“Our kids look forward to joining us each summer at our Learning Center in Pasadena and at our Yunasa camps” said Elizabeth D. Jones, President & Co-Founder of IEA. “While we knew we could bring our existing content online, we also challenged staff to go further and think of ways we could ensure our community can connect with one another, even from a distance.”
IEA’s small but mighty staff and faculty quickly created compelling online content and provided virtual spaces for communities to come together. This summer, IEA will continue to offer advanced learning and social opportunities virtually.
In addition to online Academy classes and virtualYunasa summer camps, families can sign up now for IEA’s new Spyglass workshops, which use a digital platform to bring high-level content into the homes of gifted and advanced students across the country. Spyglass will consist of live, interactive sessions, both standalone and in series, on a variety of topics for a range of ages. This summer, students can sign up for workshops like the highly relevant series Digital Civics, Changemakers of Tomorrow, which will challenge students to identify reliable sources versus misinformation, utilize effective strategies for communicating information and create impactful media content. Students will be encouraged to work together to apply these skills through projects that raise awareness of causes important to them and their communities. Other Spyglass series scheduled include Critical Studies of Science Fiction, College and Career Readiness and Introduction to Speech and Debate.
Families have already found these resources extremely helpful. As one IEA parent stated, “We have only been able to engage with IEA through camp Yunasa. The online content tailored to gifted kids that IEA is planning to offer is a huge bright spot for me coming out of this awful experience! We can’t get this type of content otherwise.”
Together, we can ensure our students are able to continue to grow both mentally and interpersonally this distanced summer.
Sign up now for any of the classes online or call IEA at 626-403-8900 to learn more about these programs.