CCAGTC
Adapted from information provided by Karen Hamilton, Senior Staff Analyst, Los Angeles County
The Central Cities Association for Gifted and Talented Children (CCAGTC) believes that historically underserved and underrepresented gifted, talented, and twice-exceptional (2e) children deserve equitable access to meaningful summer learning and enrichment opportunities. Summer should provide time for rest, recreation, family, and fun, but it can also be a powerful time for children to explore their interests, strengthen skills, discover talents, and prepare for future educational and career opportunities.
For many families, however, access to high-quality summer programs is not equal. The cost of camps, transportation, technology, program fees, and even awareness of available opportunities can prevent gifted children from participating. Historically underserved families may also receive information about enrichment programs, scholarships, internships, and application deadlines too late to take advantage of them.
That is why summer planning must begin early.
Gifted children benefit from opportunities that challenge their thinking while allowing them to pursue subjects they genuinely enjoy. Summer learning does not have to look like another school day. Families can turn everyday experiences into opportunities for intellectual, creative, social, and personal growth.
Reading together, visiting libraries and museums, attending cultural events, keeping a travel journal, conducting science experiments, playing strategy games, exploring technology, volunteering, gardening, cooking, and participating in the arts or athletics can all encourage learning. Families can connect these experiences to a child's interests, allowing curiosity to guide exploration.
Community service can be especially valuable. Volunteering allows young people to apply academic and leadership skills while developing empathy, responsibility, and an understanding of their communities. Older gifted students can also use the summer to explore careers through mentoring, internships, job-shadowing, college programs, and community-based projects.
CCAGTC particularly encourages families to investigate free and reduced-cost programs and scholarships. Libraries, museums, universities, community organizations, STEM programs, arts organizations, and summer camps frequently provide opportunities that families may not know exist. Programs such as NSBE Jr., SEEK, Black Girls Code, local library programs, and community enrichment programs demonstrate the variety of experiences that can expose children to new possibilities.
For twice-exceptional students, summer can also provide an opportunity to strengthen executive functioning, reading, writing, mathematics, organization, or other skills without losing sight of the child's gifts. Support should be strength-based and balanced so that summer does not become a season focused only on correcting weaknesses.
CCAGTC calls upon families, schools, community organizations, universities, businesses, and enrichment providers to work together to make summer opportunities more accessible to historically underserved gifted and talented children. Schools should provide families with summer resources and recommendations early enough to meet application and scholarship deadlines. Community organizations should actively publicize free and affordable programs, while summer providers should expand scholarships and outreach to communities that have traditionally had less access.
Parents should also talk with their Scholars about what they want to learn, create, experience, or accomplish during the summer. The goal is not to fill every day with structured activities. Children need time to rest, play, imagine, and simply enjoy being young.
Summer can become a bridge between what a child already knows and what that child has yet to discover.
Talent exists in every community, and summer opportunity should too.