35 years
BRIAN CHILSON
Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families would like to congratulate Anna Strong, A “Visionary” who makes a difference in health coverage for children and families in arkansas every day.
ANN ROBINSON GIFTED-EDUCATION EXPERT
D
r. Ann Robinson, who founded and runs the Jodie Mahony Center for Gifted Education at UALR, never wanted to be a teacher. Born in Wyoming to a family that included a long line of educators, Robinson said that seeing how hard her schoolteacher mother worked turned her off to the profession from a young age. Nevertheless, after landing a job teaching migrant workers, she went on to become a high school English teacher. Robinson said that the resilience and intellect of the smartest kids in her class was a big part of her going back to Purdue to get her degree to try and understand how to serve gifted children better. One of only 25 centers for gifted education in the country, the Mahony Center (originally called the Advanced Placement Professional Development Center, but later named after the state legislator who wrote some of the early legislation to help establish gifted education in the state) was founded in 2001, funded by a grant proposal written by Robinson. While there has been giftedand-talented education on the UALR campus since the 1980s, the center allows Robinson and her staff to cover the waterfront in the field — doing original research, teaching gifted children, and educating teachers on spotting and teaching talented kids. “If you’re going to make any headway,” Robinson said, “you need to look at something a little more global — integrate what you do for kids, for teachers, for school in an active research paradigm. You really need to just pull that
all together, and a center is a good way to do that.” Last summer, the Mahony Center presented professional development classes to over 800 AP and pre-AP teachers, and their annual Summer Laureate for Youth program brings in hundreds of gifted kids from around the state for a week of fun and brainbuilding enrichment. American society, Robinson said, has a “love-hate relationship” with talented people. While we want the innovations, art, music, poetry, computer skills and engineering know-how that talented and intelligent people have, our education system isn’t always good at helping those people develop and grow. “It’s a little bit of an uphill climb,” she said. “You kind of have to explain to people why what you’re doing is ultimately going to give them the things society is asking for.” Part of getting there, Robinson said, is learning how to spot intelligent children from a young age — a task that can be made harder, she said, by issues like poverty, physical disabilities and learning disabilities, which can “drop a screen over talent.” Robinson, a board member of the National Association for Gifted Children, feels like her career has made a difference. “They pay me to do what I love to do,” Robinson said with a smile. “In a state like Arkansas, you can effect change. We are a small state in that, if you really want to get something done, you can work hard here and get it done.” DK.
A Home in the Heart of it All. From natural landscapes to wonderful amenities, the neighborhoods of Chenal Valley bring to life everything you could dream of in a community. It makes coming home more like a walk in the park. To begin your search for a new lot or home in Chenal Valley, go to Chenal.com.
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SEPTEMBER 12, 2013
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