by Hillary Jade, Program Manager
It’s hard to believe, but we’re already well into the new year: 2019. Despite heavy rains – much-needed and welcomed throughout Los Angeles County – in IEA’s home city of Pasadena, CA, the future looks bright! With the rainfall comes the opportunity to recalibrate, reflect, and reenergize for an exciting year ahead. We have some incredible new initiatives and programs on the horizon and are looking forward to continuing to serve and support our amazing students, families, educators, and community partners.
We hope you’re as excited about this list as we are!
- Celebrating Heart, Fostering Hope: On February 9, IEA will formally celebrate its 20th anniversary with a gala fundraiser at the Annandale Golf Club in Pasadena. We’re so excited to share this incredible occasion with those that have helped shape IEA for two decades. If you’re unable to join in person, please consider donating, sponsoring, or providing us with a silent auction item. All money raised will go towards continuing to help serve the nation’s brightest and most deserving students, who drive our mission on a daily basis. For more information, please click here.
- 18 years of Yunasa! Since 2002, and across 22 sessions, Yunasa has been providing gifted youth with award-winning programming, embracing them for who they are and helping them understand and work with the unique joys and challenges they face. This summer, Camp Shady Brook in Colorado and Camp Copneconic in Michigan will host campers, counselors, Fellows, and IEA staff for a unique, week-long experience like no other. Interested in applying? There’s still time!
- Academy Additions: We’re introducing two new NAGC-award-winning Shelagh Gallagher curricula to our Academy offerings: Black Death and It’s Electrifying! – and that’s just in the spring session! Stay tuned for more additions in the summer and beyond, including a course for our youngest students, ages 6-9: The Penguin Predicament: A Problem about Animal Habitat and Survival.
- Ready, set, make! On June 22, IEA will host its first-ever Maker Faire. Details about this one-of-a-kind event with makers, tinkerers, and creative minds coming soon!
- Community: Now entering its second year of providing an academic and social home for the gifted community, IEA’s Learning Center at 540 S. Marengo is excited to welcome – and welcome back – families, educators, Externs, Bradley scholars, and community partners through programming, free events, open houses, workshops, trainings, and tours. Check out our Events page to see what’s on the horizon!
- Our third content guide: In June, IEA will release its third content guide, which will focus on high schools throughout the United States that serve gifted students. We look forward to being able to provide our families with a well-researched, informative guide for their rising high schoolers. To view our two content guides released in 2018, please visit our IEA Publications page.
- Calling all volunteers! IEA is launching its first-ever Volunteer program! Volunteers are an integral part of IEA. We rely on our volunteers to help support a variety of services for our community. Whether you’re working with students, engaging with guests at events, or performing administrative tasks, our volunteers help our programs thrive! Join IEA’s mission to ensure that each gifted child’s specific needs are met so that they can reach their full potential.
- Brilliant scientists, brilliant students: LABS (Learning Among Brilliant Scientists) is in its second program year! Since its initial launch in March 2018, LABS has continued to build momentum with a great line-up of STEM professionals from Caltech, Cal State Los Angeles, and USC. They’ve shared their innovative work and research on such topics as astrophysics, molecular biology, computer science, ecology and evolution, biology and mathematics! The new year kicks off with an exciting LABS on Cancer Cells in the Blood! There are still spots available for the February 16 LABS Series: Living Monsters: Parasites, Pathogens, and Parasitoids.
- Streaming live, coast to coast! Gifted Support Group meetings have gone digital! IEA is now livestreaming our meetings on Facebook and YouTube. We’re excited to be able to expand our outreach to non-local families and share gifted professionals’ amazing insight with our community. The next GSG meeting, on January 31, will focus on social emotional imagination in gifted education.
- EXPLORE-ing a new location: EXPLORE is launching a program in Northern California! The program continues to garner great interest from applicants in NorCal, so this summer we’re hoping to make the leap up north to host students at 1 or 2 mentor sites. We’ll be able to expand our reach and serve more talented high schoolers!
- Hot off the presses: IEA now has a 3D printer! Thanks to a generous grant from the Ahmanson Foundation, which is providing us with funds to transform our Learning Center, our programs are now equipped to provide students with 3D printing technology, design, and coding. Check out our first test print from Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship Coordinator, Mallory Aldrich:
- Speaking of hearts: Academy is hosting it’s first-ever Valentine’s Day card-making event the week of February 4. Stop by during business hours to make cards for family, friends, teachers, and other special people in your life. Free of charge! Details located here.
- Beakers and Bunsen burners and bacteria, oh my! Within a few weeks, construction will be complete on IEA Learning Center’s new wet lab! With three working stations, sinks, and a flat screen monitor, Academy and LABS programs will be able to provide an authentic science lab experience for students and educators. We look forward to seeing this amazing space transform into a space of hands-on inquiry that has been years in the making.
- Student-led workshops: 2018 was a fantastic year for student-led workshops and there are already two planned for February: the third workshop in CDB Scholar Luke Gialanella’s Votes and Voices series – A Presidential History of the U.S. Two-Party System – and The Wonderful World of Poems with Cassidy Kao. We’re so grateful that our students love sharing their knowledge and experiences with each other!
- Family and fun: When not working with and serving our incredible students, IEA staff enjoys cultivating their hobbies and pursuing their interests. Marketing and Communications Coordinator Nicole LaChance is looking forward to joining her family for some rock and roll excitement this summer: “I am going to see Aerosmith in June at their residency in Las Vegas with my family. Aerosmith is a special band for us and I have probably seen them at least 8 times already. It will be awesome to spend time with my family and see a great show we are all super excited about. Maybe I’ll even get lucky at the casino!”
What IEA programs or events are you most looking forward to in 2019