Belin-Blank 30th Anniversary

of Nurturing Potential and Inspiring Excellence

30 Years the belin-blank center

the belin-blank center

1988–2018

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1988–2018

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30 years of nurturing potential and inspiring excellence

Knowledge is important because it leads to wisdom; Wisdom is important because it leads to deed; Deed is important because it leads to volunteerism and philanthropy, which make this nation great.

David Belin

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With deep appreciation to Beverly Perry, daughter of Myron and Jacqueline N. Blank, and her son, Jeff Perry. Their generosity made this 30th anniversary publication and the commemorative video possible.

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30 Years

of N urtu ring Po t ent ia l a nd In spiring Exc e l l e n c e

Lives Enriched

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Historical Reflections

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Powerful Partners

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The Long View

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Exceptional Resources

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Empowering Education

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Lasting Success

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The Value of Validation

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Beyond the Classroom

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Ensuring the Future

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In our words

the belin-blank center is:

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Engaged Energetic Entrepreneurial

Educational Exceptional Extraordinary

Brian Douglas, Assistant Director for Finance and Operations

Ashlee Van Fleet, Administrator for Curriculum and Instruction

Li v e s

Enriched

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Ac a d e mi c A s c e n s i o n :

From High School to Medical Researcher C

heryl Blackmer found her people in the BelinBlank Center’s programs.

“It’s so amazing to be able to go to a waterpark with the same people that later that day you can just go and study silently with for three hours. It’s pretty incredible. I love the relationships that I have developed through these programs.”

Blackmer credits the Center for providing her with exceptional opportunities—including the chance to forego her final two years of high school in favor of the Bucksbaum Academy at the University of Iowa.

That journey started when a friend mentioned the Center to her.

“She had previously participated in other programs, and she suggested I check out the Belin-Blank Center website,” Blackmer says. “That’s what led me to look up the Junior Science and Humanities Symposia (JSHS), Secondary Student Training Program (SSTP), and Bucksbaum Early Entrance Academy.”

Blackmer took full advantage of her participation in JSHS, a program promoting and publicly recognizing students for outstanding achievement in original research and experimentation in science, technology,

“I saw a local newscast about a dangerous tick-borne flavivirus—I thought that was really scary. I decided to research it a little further. And I found that there were no really efficient detection methods for this virus so I decided to go ahead and develop my own.”

Cheryl Blackmer (opposite page, third from left)

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engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at the high school level. With guidance from Belin-Blank Center staff members Dr. Lori Ihrig and Brian Douglas, Blackmer took her project to the national competition in Baltimore where she earned the top prize.

“I was honestly very, very surprised to win that award,” Blackmer says. “I remember when we were at the awards ceremony, I never thought in a million years they would call my name for first place.”

Blackmer’s project grew out of a news report about the Powassan virus.

“I saw a local newscast about a dangerous tickborne flavivirus—a new local virus that was coming into Iowa. I thought that was really scary. It was coming to my state, so I decided to research it a little further. And I found that there were no really efficient detection methods for this virus, so I decided to go ahead and develop my own. It made it more efficient, more rapid, and it was just a better technology that I developed.”

The project was ambitious by any measure— Blackmer spent six months reading medical journals just to fully flesh out her research question—and required her to convince university professors to provide her with advice, lab space, and genetic material. But she knew the work was important.

“This virus can cause permanent brain damage in a week. So half of all people who get infected with this virus develop permanent brain damage and 10 percent of all people who get this virus die. The incubation period for this virus is anywhere between five and 12 days. The sooner it can be detected the sooner they can receive treatment.”

Blackmer followed her participation in JSHS by studying fruit flies for an epilepsy study as part of SSTP in the summer of 2018 leading into her early entrance into college.

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Blackmer credits the Center for providing her with exceptional opportunities—including the chance to forego her final two years of high school in favor of the Bucksbaum Academy at the University of Iowa. That journey started when a friend mentioned the Center to her.

“I think the Belin-Blank Center programs definitely build on each other,” she says. “If I hadn’t done this research project and participated in JSHS, I wouldn’t have ever figured out that I love doing this, and I wouldn’t have applied to SSTP. If I didn’t do JSHS and if I didn’t come to SSTP and really experience university living, I don’t think I would want to participate in the Bucksbaum Academy and spend the next four years at this university.”

These experiences are nothing short of lifechanging for students like Blackmer—in the classroom and beyond.

“The Belin-Blank Center has impacted my academic life significantly by helping me accelerate and pursue my passions. I also think it’s impacted my social life quite a bit, too, because these programs have connected me to many like-minded individuals.”

Those like-minded individuals also benefit from the Center’s commitment to serving gifted students from a variety of backgrounds.

“I think the Center is doing an excellent job of reaching out to kids who wouldn’t have as many academic opportunities if they just stayed right where they are,” she says. “They are reaching out and helping those kids who may feel stuck or like they don’t have as many opportunities.”

Blackmer intends to keep taking advantage of her opportunities.

“I want to become a medical researcher in the field of virology or the study of viruses. So right now my major for college is microbiology/premed, but I hope to experience more classes and fine-tune my interests a little more through college,” she says. “I’m thinking about getting an MD/PhD right now, but honestly if I could just do research, I’d be very happy.”

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“I think the Center is doing an excellent job of reaching out to kids who wouldn’t have as many academic opportunities if they just stayed right where they are,” Blackmer says.

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“So many of the faces have changed, but the spirit of the Belin-Blank Center has always been the same. It feels like home to me. There’s something special about the relationships that people build here.”

Dr. Randy Lange Gifted Program Coordinator, La Grange, Il

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co mi n g h o m e :

A Quest for Professional Development D

r. Randy Lange wanted to acquire expertise in gifted education, but there weren’t any applicable programs in Illinois where he was teaching. That led him to cross the Mississippi River to find what he needed in a doctoral program.

“I came here purposely because of the Belin-Blank Center at the University of Iowa,” Lange says.

That was in 1999, and since then, Lange, who is now the coordinator of a gifted program in La Grange, IL, has taken full advantage of the professional development opportunities available via the Belin-Blank Center. He has also made a point of giving back. From his work on the Invent Iowa curriculum upon his original arrival to his present teaching of online courses for the Center, Lange has maintained his connection to the Center’s work.

“Whenever the Belin-Blank Center calls,” he says, “I try to help out.”

Professional development has been a core program for the Belin-Blank Center since the Center was founded in 1988. In fact, professional development programs for gifted and talented teachers began at the University of Iowa in 1981 as the first activity of what would grow into the Belin-Blank Center. The Center offers a wide variety of workshops and courses, all of which correspond to the educational strands required for the Iowa Talented and Gifted Endorsement.

Lange speaks highly of the Belin-Blank Fellowship program and of Dr. Laurie Croft who has been the program’s primary instructor for nearly 20 years. The program brings teachers together to provide opportunities for them to learn better methods for working with gifted and talented students in their classrooms. Lange values the connections and shared experiences of the teachers who participate, as well as the expertise offered by center instructors.

“It feels like you’re talking to real people here. You’re not just talking to these lofty academics who don’t know

what it’s like to be in the public school setting. When you’re here you feel like you’re talking to people at your level who are going to be able to give you advice and suggestions and strategies and resources that are going to help you.”

Those strategies and resources are grounded in research, and Lange praises the Belin-Blank Center as a “topnotch research center. If you want real meaty research, they can give you that, too,” he says.

Lange highlights his relationship with Belin-Blank Center Director Dr. Susan Assouline as indicative of his experience with the Center.

“When I first started working with her in my graduate program, I just really connected as far as her teaching style.

It really hit home with me. There was so much flexibility in terms of where she thought she could take you as an instructor.”

That relationship is active and important to Lange.

“Susan was and continues to be such a great mentor. I feel like I’m one of her kids, and I want to make sure that my work is in alignment with the philosophy of the Center.

Every time something goes on at school that goes really well, she’s one of the first people I contact. And when she thanks me for things that I share that they can hopefully use for the talent search or different graphics and things that I’ve made over the years, it makes me feel really good that I’m giving back just a little bit of all I’ve gotten from her and the whole center.”

Lange isn’t shy about spreading the word about his positive experiences with the Belin-Blank Center.

“I tell a lot of people that where I am professionally and personally, I relate a lot to, and have a lot of gratitude toward, the Belin-Blank Center. So many of the faces have changed from 1999 to 2018, but the spirit of the Belin-Blank Center has always been the same,” he says. “It feels like home to me. There’s something special about the relationships that people build here.”

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In our words

the belin-blank center is:

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Committed Enthusiastic Ideal

Informed Talented Fun

Dr. Ann Lupkowski-Shoplik, Administrator, Acceleration Institute

Dr. Joy E. Goins, Licensed Psychologist

H is to ric a l

Reflections

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FROM THE P RESIDEN T

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FROM THE DEA N

September 2018 Congratulations to the Belin-Blank Center at the University of Iowa on three decades of nurturing potential and inspiring excellence.

Thousands of lives have been enriched by center faculty and staff over the past 30 years, and I could not be prouder that the College of Education is the home of this center.

Thanks to the research, scholarship, advocacy, and service provided by the Belin-Blank Center, students, their families, and educators have a deeper understanding of talented and gifted education, twice-exceptionality, academic acceleration, and so much more.

Many students have had the opportunity to stretch, excel, and be challenged thanks to everything from summer academic programs to the opportunity to take online Advanced Placement courses through the center’s Iowa Online AP Academy.

The Belin-Blank Center is recognized across the state, nation, and globe for its contributions to the talented and gifted community, creating a rich legacy to keep building upon for the future.

I commend founding director and director emeritus, Nicholas Colangelo, current director Susan Assouline, and our generous benefactors for their commitment to helping all talented and gifted students reach their full potential. This shows what is possible when visionary leaders team up with generous benefactors to have a real and lasting positive impact on our world.

I look forward to many more decades of innovation and excellence thanks to this enterprising center and witnessing the thousands of lives that will continue to be touched and transformed.

Daniel L. Clay, PhD, MBA Dean

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fro m the d i r e c t o r :

A Single Vision Leads to a Collaborative Center “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Aristotle’s words succinctly capture the educational impact of three decades of Belin-Blank Center programming, services, and research: many parts combining to create a unique legacy. Neither the whole nor the parts would have been possible were it not for the special relationship between the founding families, Myron and Jacqueline N. Blank and David and Connie Belin. These four individuals demonstrated incredible courage when they brought forward the idea of providing opportunities to Iowa’s gifted and talented students.

In those early days, many barriers blocked access to effective and consistent programming for bright students. Some of the barriers were psychological or philosophical; others were the results of logistics and inconsistent or non-existent policy. The Blanks and Belins brought their initial idea of improving opportunities for Iowa’s bright students to a young professor, Dr. Nicholas Colangelo, who would go on to forge a lasting bond with the families that would become the foundation for the Center.

Relationships between the founding families and our faculty and staff are the heart of the Center and the lifeblood of the organization. Good relationships like these bring out our best. It has been an honor to witness the evolution and growth of those relationships through multiple generations, which resulted in an extensive expansion and evolution of our programs, services, and research.

Each page of this commemorative book explores how relationships influence our programs and services as well as the people served by the Center. We understand the privilege of providing stewardship for this legacy.

Any anniversary is an occasion for celebration; one that represents several decades has particular importance. It is an opportunity for reflection and celebration as well as for dreaming about the future. Thanks to our benefactors, our advisory board, our faculty and staff, the College of Education, and the University of Iowa, we celebrate a decades-long reality created from a single vision. Though there are ever-changing parts to our organization and our mission, the whole of our vision remains the same: improving the lives of the worldwide gifted community, their families, and their teachers.

Susan Assouline, Ph.D. Director Myron & Jacqueline Blank Endowed Chair in Gifted Education

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Belin-Blank Center Staff Directors

Susan Assouline, Ph.D., Director Laurie Croft, Ph.D., Associate Director for Professional Development Megan Foley-Nicpon, Ph.D., Associate Director for Research and Clinic Brian Douglas, M.B.A., Assistant Director for Finance and Operations Jan Warren, M.A., Assistant Director for Student Services

Administrative Staff

Alissa Doobay, Ph.D., Assessment and Counseling Clinic Kristin Flanary, M.A., Communications and IOAPA Joy Goins, Ph.D., Assessment and Counseling Clinic Jon Goodwin, Ph.D., Assessment and Counseling Clinic David Gould, M.A., Bucksbaum Academy Lori Ihrig, Ph.D., Curriculum and Instruction Joshua Jacobs, A.A.S., Technology and Project Management Tracy Ksiazak, Ph.D., Assessment and Counseling Clinic Emily Ladendorf, B.A., Technology and Public Relations Ann Lupkowski-Shoplik, Ph.D., Acceleration Institute Duhita Mahatmya, Ph.D., Research Scientist Cally Murray, M.P.A., Development (UI Center for Advancement) Ashlee Van Fleet, M.A.T., Curriculum and Instruction Nicholas Colangelo, Ph.D., Director Emeritus Clar Baldus, Ph.D., Visual Arts, Faculty Affiliate

Clerical Staff Rachelle Blackwell Lori Hudson Bridget Pauley Nancy Whetstine

Graduate Assistants Echo Amos, B.A. Alyssa Choate, B.A. Jung Eui Hong, M.A. Sungeun Kang, M.Ed.S. Stephanie Lynch, M.S.Ed. Charlie Netzer, B.A. Akorede Teriba, B.S. Cara Wienkes, B.A. Haley Wikoff, M.S.Ed

Undergraduate Assistants Hannah Dobroski Noah Doershuk Sadie Elbert Tyler McKenzie Melanie Meierotto Emily Miranda Vanessa Perez Callie Shannon Henry Sharpe

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fro m the d i r e c t o r e m e r i tus :

A Thirty-Year Legacy of Trust and Personal Commitment A 30th anniversary is a significant milestone whether it be celebrating a friendship, marriage, career, or time as a Cubs fan. The Belin-Blank Center has achieved this milestone for a number of reasons but perhaps none so important as trust.

The initial discussions with David and Connie Belin, Mike and Jackie Blank, and me were not only about vision and energy about a gifted center at the University of Iowa, but about relationships built on trust. Those early days had little in terms of formal paperwork and signings but much in terms of commitment and passion. The handshakes, the eye contact, the banter, and the excitement were stronger than any written contract.

The Center has been built on a strong foundation of trust and has always been a deeply personal statement for all of us. A personal statement to our original benefactors that we will keep their spirit in everything we do. A personal statement to every child and parent we serve that we will attend to their best interests. A personal statement to every teacher that we will help them be effective and caring in developing talent. And a personal statement to every staff member that to work at the Belin-Blank Center is to become part of a family and history.

There are so many thoughts and feelings that run through me as I think about this 30th anniversary. I reflect on the very first meeting with David, Connie, Mike and Jackie that led to what is today’s Belin-Blank Center. On the caring and support of their children, family members and family friends. On the incredible Center staff, the Advisory Board, and the many UI administrators who have made the growth of the Center a personal commitment.

There are a variety of ways that an organization can make it to #30. I would not trade for how we accomplished it—yes, hard work, talent, but certainly trust and personal commitment. We have all contributed to a strong foundation. Happy 30th anniversary to all of us and be assured that we will celebrate many more anniversaries.

Nicholas Colangelo, Ph.D. Founding Director

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A single box, a significant building, and a steadfast belief A network of strong relationships underpins the entire history of the Belin-Blank Center. This network started with the founding families living in Des Moines, Iowa, and now includes staff, educators, and students from around the world. Those relationships have served the Center exceptionally well for 30 years, and they offer the promise of many more decades of innovation, service, and success.

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In 1980, David (opposite, top) and Connie Belin (opposite, bottom) and Myron and Jacqueline Blank (below)— philanthropists and education advocates—met with Dr. Nicholas Colangelo, a newly appointed assistant professor in the University of Iowa College of Education. The Belins and Blanks believed talented and gifted students were not being fully served in school, and they hoped to support efforts to improve the situation.

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B

efore there was a fully realized Belin-Blank Center, there was the Belin-Blank Teacher Training Fellowship Program in Gifted Education.

In 1980, David and Connie Belin and Myron and Jacqueline Blank—philanthropists and education advocates—met with Dr. Nicholas Colangelo, a newly appointed assistant professor in the University of Iowa College of Education. The Belins and Blanks believed talented and gifted students were not being fully served in school, and they hoped to support efforts to improve the situation.

Dr. Colangelo was exactly the partner they needed to bring this idea to fruition. Focusing on professional development for teachers, Colangelo developed a plan to give educators the tools needed to fully engage gifted and talented students in their classrooms.

The original program materials fit easily inside a single box, but the impact of those materials grew to an incalculable size. From the first class of 17 teachers in 1981 to the hundreds of educators now served each year on-site and online, ongoing professional development has been a cornerstone of the Belin-Blank Center. Educators from across Iowa, as well as other states, pursue the State of Iowa Talented and Gifted Endorsement while gaining a greater understanding of the nature and needs of gifted learners.

Convinced the program they had generously supported was making a difference, the Belins and Blanks again made significant financial commitments while joining forces to secure state funding—in part, by signaling if the state wasn’t interested they might well be willing to work with a different university outside of Iowa—for the creation of a comprehensive center.

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Founded in 1988, the Belin-Blank Center quickly developed into an internationally respected powerhouse providing innovative programming for gifted and talented students in addition to its groundbreaking work with teachers.

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The Belin-Blank Center has steadfastly maintained its commitments to teachers, students, and families and offered innovative services and programs by building on a 30-year legacy.

Founded in 1988 under Colangelo’s leadership, the Belin-Blank Center quickly developed into an internationally-respected powerhouse providing innovative programming for gifted and talented students in addition to its groundbreaking work with teachers. As its reputation and influence grew, the Center added counseling services for families of gifted children and programming to serve twice-exceptional children who are both gifted and have a diagnosed disorder that impacts their learning or socialemotional development.

In 2004, two defining events launched the next phase of growth. That year, the Center moved into its new home, the six-story Blank Honors Center on the University of Iowa campus. The building—an airy, uplifting space—is connected to Daum Residence Hall where many honors students reside, creating a centrally located campus-within-the-campus for a full range of activity around gifted education.

That same year, A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students, authored and edited by Colangelo, Dr. Susan Assouline, and Dr. Miraca Gross, ignited a national conversation concerning talented and gifted education. The two volumes asserted that the most effective way to help bright students is to accelerate their education— arguing that this is true academically, emotionally, and socially. The book continues to be influential in any serious conversation about gifted education. In particular, A Nation Deceived was the impetus for the 2015 two-volume publication A Nation Empowered: Evidence Trumps the Excuses Holding Back America’s Brightest Students. A Nation Empowered provides even more evidence supporting the effectiveness of this underused educational intervention.

In late 2012, Colangelo retired and Assouline, who had been the Center’s associate director since 1991, became the new director. Under her leadership, the Belin-Blank Center has not only steadfastly maintained its commitments to teachers, students, and families; members of the staff have also established new programs and offered innovative services by building on the Center’s legacy. Underlying the stewardship of the founding families’ vision is the belief in the enormous potential of gifted students to solve intractable problems, discover the unimaginable, and create beauty when their talents are appropriately recognized and fully nurtured.

A network of strong relationships underpins the entire history of the Belin-Blank Center. This network started with the founding families living in Des Moines, Iowa, and now includes staff, educators, and students from around the world. These relationships have served the Center exceptionally well for 30 years, and they offer the promise of many more decades of innovation, service, and success.

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One Family’s Tradition of Philanthropy Leads to Lasting Impact for Thousands S

ome things are important for a generation or maybe two. Other things have lasting significance that extends to each subsequent generation. For the Perry family, the Belin-Blank Center has been a source of pride for four generations—with no end in sight.

Beverly Perry’s parents were Mike and Jackie Blank who, along with David and Connie Belin, provided the foundational support that launched what is now the Belin-Blank Center. For Beverly, the Center has given her philanthropic giving an essential focus.

“The Center has a lot of meaning,” she says.

“There are many people out there who need help. Education solves significant problems for people and for young kids. To give children a chance who wouldn’t have a chance really touches my heart.”

Beverly remembers how thrilled her parents were with the Center and its work, and she’s confident they would be delighted to see the Center’s work continuing and expanding.

“My parents were happy and proud with how it progressed and how it was taken care of and nurtured,” she says. “My mother would just be so excited and proud of where the Center is today.”

The next generation is committed to honoring the family legacy. Beverly’s son, Jeff Perry, is adamant about continuing to support the work that was so important to his grandparents.

“They were concerned that our country was not promoting gifted students—certainly not early enough—and gifted education, and they were watching countries like Japan that were putting students on a fast track at an early age when they identify talent,” Jeff says. “They were concerned that we weren’t doing the same thing and that we were losing out to other countries that were recognizing talented students at an early age.”

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Jeff’s sister, Shoshana, remembers the importance her grandmother placed on doing what she could to improve the world.

“My grandmother was a humanist, an ethical humanist, and she cared so much about the stories of other people and she cared so much about the impact that she had,” Shoshana says.

Both Jeff and Shoshana believe David Belin was a significant inspiration to their grandparents. Belin certainly inspired Jeff, as well.

“David was one of the most impressive, nicest, humblest people that I have ever met,” he says.

Shoshana has a collection of correspondence between her grandmother and David Belin.

“David was my grandmother’s very best friend,” she says. “There was probably no single person that I recall other than family members that had the impact on her life like David did.”

That relationship was grounded in values the families had in common.

“In many ways, David and Connie were instrumental in further shaping how my grandparents wanted to live a life of philanthropy and what most mattered to them in terms of their involvement and their values,” Shoshana says. “Those values included education and offering opportunities for education to those in the margins. I think David and Connie really helped to shape Jackie and Mike and set the course in that direction. It was one of those fortuitous relationships that happen in life that helped to redirect their source of commitment.”

Jeff wants to pay forward what his grandparents meant to his family.

“My grandparents were the rock of the family. I want to honor them. I think we all do. And so not only do I want to be involved, but I want to make sure that once our generation is gone it keeps going. To me, it’s vitally important that the family stay involved and keep

“To be connected with Myron and Jackie is something I am so proud of, and I think that anyone who was fortunate enough to know them would agree. The fact that I get to continue to help build on their legacy is an incredible feeling.”

William Perry, great-grandson of Mike and Jackie Blank

this moving forward. They did so much for us, and so I want to make sure that we are doing enough for them.”

To that end, Jeff encouraged his son William, who attended the University of Iowa, to forge a link to the Center. In fact, William is now on the board of the Belin-Blank Center—representing the fourth generation of his family to have a deep connection to the Center and its work.

“My family has such great respect for what the university stands for as a whole,” William says, “and to have the opportunity to be involved with one of the most philanthropic institutions within the university is something for which I feel very fortunate. I am able to see, firsthand, how impactful the Belin-Blank Center is and how efficiently it uses resources towards its primary initiatives. Every dollar received by the Belin-Blank Center is used to its absolute fullest.”

Like his father, William takes pride in continuing his family’s tradition of support for, and involvement with, the Center.

“It has helped me foster a sense of connection with my great-grandparents who I was fortunate enough to spend time with in my late adolescence.

To be connected with Myron and Jackie is something I am so proud of, and I think that anyone who was fortunate enough to know them would agree with me.

The fact that I get to continue to help build on their legacy is an incredible feeling.”

His dad couldn’t agree more.

“It is because of our eternal commitment that I am trying to get my kids involved at an early age and make sure they’re going to be around doing this for the next 50 years—and will try to get their kids involved as well,” Jeff says. “It’s not only a way to honor my grandparents, it also happens to be an unbelievable program that we completely believe in. This is not a passing phase. We are committed to this—now and for generations to come.”

Top: Charlie, Jeff, & William Perry Middle: Jackie & Mike Blank Bottom: William Perry & Beverly Perry

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A Transformative Generation A

Top: Tom Belin Bottom: Belin family circa 1978

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recent journey of discovery started with the summer issue of the peer-reviewed journal Gifted Child Quarterly, which I receive as a perk of our parents’ philanthropic legacy. I was drawn to a report co-authored by University of Iowa researchers Soeun Park, Megan Foley-Nicpon, Alyssa Choate, and Mallory Bolenbaugh on the experiences of Asian-American parents of “twice-exceptional” children whose gifts are accompanied by a disability.

I’ve known Megan, now the Belin-Blank Center’s Associate Director for Research and Clinic, for many years, and I was delighted to learn that the other authors were all in the process of completing the University of Iowa Counseling Psychology Ph.D. program, offering another reflection of the BelinBlank Center’s enriching academic environment.

A follow-up Internet search led me to a book chapter that Megan and Soeun co-wrote with Alissa Doobay, whose case-study presentation to our Advisory Board describing how the Belin-Blank Center Assessment and Counseling Clinic translates resources and expertise into precision diagnoses was an instant classic, underscoring how timely information can transform the lives of students and their families. Another Internet search led me to a blog on the Bucksbaum Academy, where Alyssa Choate has worked as a graduate assistant to support students who are new to the University of Iowa community. A further search led me to a newsletter of the Iowa Psychological Association with beautifully written essays by Mallory Bolenbaugh on ethical considerations involved when psychologists provide pro bono services and by Joy Goins (also of the BelinBlank Center Assessment and Counseling Clinic) on how psychologists can reduce human suffering while promoting equality and justice through their work.

With imagination and vision, Nick Colangelo brought together motivated individuals across many walks of life, multiplying the impact of his efforts by assembling and guiding an incredibly talented team of professionals. Supporting these efforts through the Belin-Blank Center Advisory Board has been a great honor.

Tom Belin, Ph.D.

Reminded that a generation is sometimes described as a period of about thirty years, it occurred to me that the emergence of all of these shining stars had unfolded across roughly half a generation.

Indeed, in so many ways, what we have witnessed in the past generation has been transformative. With imagination and vision, Nick Colangelo brought together motivated individuals across many walks of life, multiplying the impact of his efforts by assembling and guiding an incredibly talented team of professionals. When I looked back at the annual report prepared for our first Advisory Board meeting in 1999, our “first team” was there as a testament to the longevity and continuity of the Belin-Blank Center’s impact: among others, Susan Assouline was then Associate Director and Clinical Supervisor; Laurie Croft oversaw Professional Development, Curriculum Development, and the Invent Iowa program; Jan Warren directed Student Programs and Talent Searches; and Brian Douglas was the administrator for Computers and Technology. And now, with Susan leading the way with the support of literally dozens of absolutely first-rate professionals, we move forward with a new generation of leadership finding new ways to nurture potential and inspire excellence.

Supporting these efforts through the Belin-Blank Center Advisory Board has been a great honor. While everyone who has participated deserves thanks, I want to pay special tribute to Barbara Ross Belin, who has shared my father’s sense of purpose throughout; Joanne Brown, who has been like my mother’s twin sister; Ann and Jim Hoffman, who have been there from the start; and in memoriam, Joy Corning, who brought both stature and spirit, and Ann York, who complemented her expertise with extraordinary

generosity. Also filled with meaning has been the emergence of a new generation of leadership on the Advisory Board, including my sister Laurie as a fountain of insight; Jeff Perry and William Perry as successors to Jackie and Mike Blank’s amazing legacy; family friends Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan, Bob Scarborough, Ann Smith, Don Swartz, and Paul Thompson who double as model advocates; and program alumnus Alex Vacca (who participated in the first Advanced Placement Academy summer program) as well as Julius Carter, Alyssa Levitz, and Shabana Sidhu, who double as model ambassadors.

I recently ran across a November 1993 letter our father sent to U of I President Hunter Rawlings advocating for the University of Iowa to pursue world-class leadership in gifted education. “If the University capitalizes on this opportunity,” he predicted, “this can have tremendous collateral benefits for the standing and prestige of the University, as a whole, and in addition can have great collateral benefits for all citizens of Iowa…”

With immense gratitude to everyone who makes it happen, I eagerly anticipate the next generation of Belin-Blank Center achievements to give new meaning to those prophetic words.

Tom Belin, Ph.D. Chair, Advisory Board

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In our words

the belin-blank center is:

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Busy Absorbing Impactful

Passionate Effective Reflective

Dr. Laurie J. Croft, Associate Director for Professional Development

dr. Lori Ihrig, Supervisor for Curriculum and Instruction

Partners pow erf u l

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The Importance of Relationships D

r. Laurie Croft, associate director for professional development and a clinical professor of gifted education, highlights the expansive ways the Center can help teachers pursuing an endorsement in gifted education. The endorsement requires 12 credit hours, which most programs require teachers to complete as a series of three-hour classes. At the Belin-Blank Center, there are many more options.

“As a center for gifted education we can envision a rather extensive collection of coursework,” Croft explains. “We have 40 to 50 one-hour workshops rather than just four courses.” Those courses are offered year round and teachers can choose what to study based on the priorities of the schools where they teach.”

The Center also offers the Belin-Blank Fellowship, bringing a cohort of a dozen or so teachers to campus in the summer for a week of immersive work focused on gifted education.

“For many of the teachers in the Belin-Blank Fellowship, it’s really an important personal experience. We’re affirming to them that they are a gifted individual,” Croft says. “It’s that self-awareness for them that’s also important to me. In some ways,

people look at gifted education as something that’s strictly for the kids, but the teachers are kind of my kids. I always say, ‘If you can think of a class that you want to have, I’ll find a way to offer it.’ They work so hard and so we do everything we can do to support what they need.”

Croft is consistently impressed with the teachers with whom she interacts.

“It’s great to see these people who are so committed to continually learning more about the students for whom they are advocating and working,” she says. “It’s really a privilege to be able to work with these people who are incredibly talented and committed.”

This work has a ripple effect that helps the Center better serve the underserved.

“For some students, perhaps in rural areas—and even within rural areas, marginalized communities there—we want educators and families to recognize that these students are also of high ability and high potential and that there are resources and supports available to them to really nourish that,” Dr. Duhita Mahatmya says. “We want to extend access and awareness to everyone.”

“People find working here gratifying, the families and educators who use our resources find it fulfilling, and the people who support us and look to keep us going find it valuable and important work. I think that really says something about what we do.”

Josh Jacobs, project manager and administrator for technology

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“For many of the teachers in the Belin-Blank Fellowship, it’s really an important personal experience. We’re affirming to them that they are a gifted individual.

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It’s that self-awareness for them that’s also important to me. In some ways, people look at gifted education as something that’s strictly for the kids, but the teachers are kind of my kids. I always say, ‘If you can think of a class that you want to have, I’ll find a way to offer it.’ They work so hard and so we do everything we can do to support what they need.”

Dr. Laurie Croft, associate director for professional development

“When I think about the outreach work that I’m engaged in, we have excellent relationships across campus that allow us to be both strong in what we do and creative with our programs.” Dr. Lori Ihrig cites the Center’s Secondary Student Training Program—a program connecting gifted high school students with university researchers—as an example. “We have faculty in eight colleges across campus, and over 40 faculty members who participate in that program.

And we couldn’t do that sort of outreach work and engage students in those high level experiences without those faculty partnerships.”

From the campus, the circle of relationships expands to encompass the whole of Iowa.

“One of the programs I work with is the STEM Excellence and Leadership Program,” Ihrig explains.

“We are deeply engaged with 10 rural school districts across the state. Being able to have those partnerships allows us to reach more students to fulfill our mission.”

These partnerships build on one another, connecting a network of people with common goals and extending the Center’s reach to the entire nation and around the world.

All of this grew out of the original emphasis on teachers—an emphasis chosen by the Belin and Blank families and Dr. Nicholas Colangelo several years before the Belin-Blank Center was officially formed. That focus on the professional development of teachers remains a key part of the Center’s work.

“Something that strikes me about the relationships, both internally and externally at the Center, is the

amount of longevity that we have,” says Josh Jacobs, project manager and administrator for technology for the Belin-Blank Center. “The staff generally have been at the Center for quite a long time. That’s also true of our board members. In fact, most of our board has been with us for many, many years. We have one family that is in their fourth generation of board members. We have an incredible history of longevity in relationships in many different areas.” Jacobs believes the foundation of those long relationships is easy to understand given the nature of the Center’s work.

“I think that speaks to the importance of what we do. People find working here gratifying, the families and educators who use our resources find it fulfilling, and the people who support us and look to keep us going find it valuable and important work. I think that really says something about what we do.”

That sense of fulfillment extends to those whose relationship with the Center hasn’t been as long. For example, Dr. Duhita Mahatmya joined the staff as a research scientist in 2016. She felt welcomed and supported from the very beginning.

“People are really open to helping you out and supporting you or being an ear to listen to you if you have any problems,” Mahatmya says. “That’s something that was really clear from the beginning and that has persisted.”

Dr. Lori Ihrig, supervisor for curriculum and instruction, sees those relationships within the Center radiating outward to encompass the whole of the University of Iowa.

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“The work that we do transforms the way people see the world that they live in.”

Dr. Lori Ihrig, supervisor for curriculum and instruction

According to Rachelle Blackwell, a secretary for the Center, the close-knit relationships within the Center are the foundation for the amazing relationships formed beyond the Center’s walls.

“We’ve watched each other’s families grow. We’ve lost together, we’ve gained together, and it makes it a community,” she says. “Nobody really lags around here.

No matter what role you play, you end up stepping up to the plate and we’re a strong team walking out and doing what we do.”

What the Belin-Blank Center does is change lives.

“The work that we do transforms the way people see the world that they live in,” Ihrig says. “That’s true for our teachers; it’s true for our students and our families. When we change how teachers are interacting with students and how they understand gifted students, they look out at their classroom and they see students differently.

They teach differently. They start engaging with students differently. And for students who come to our programs, it can change the way they identify themselves and the type of goals that they set and the type of work they want to engage in. So I think it’s transformative in both of those ways for teachers and students.”

Like Blackwell, Ihrig believes these successes start with the relationships among the staff of the BelinBlank Center.

“We couldn’t engage in the level of outreach that we do if we didn’t have excellent relationships within our center and within the group of people who are making all this happen,” Ihrig says. “We’re a relatively small staff, but together we accomplish a great deal. And if we couldn’t work together and rely both on that history and our relationships within the Center, we couldn’t be establishing partnerships across the campus, the state, and around the world that allow us to accomplish so much for students, their families, and their teachers.

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30 y e a rs:

The Long View 1988–1989: Iowa State Board of Regents establishes The Connie Belin National Center for Gifted Education. Myron and Jacqueline N. Blank give $1 million to endow a named chair in gifted education; Nicholas Colangelo appointed as chair and director. First summer program serves 80 students. Cole-Belin Education Foundation pledges $250,000 to Belin Fellowship Fund for teachers. Professional development expands from 20 to 60 teachers; academic credit is offered. Honors Seminar in Education for pre-service teachers approved for credit. Invent Iowa statewide competition initiated.

1990–1991: First Belin-Blank Leadership Institute for talented and gifted educators in Iowa convened. First Advanced Placement Teacher Training Institute (APTTI) implemented. Family counseling program initiated. Wallace endowment to establish Wallace Research Symposium. Handbook of Gifted Education, edited by Colangelo and Gary Davis, published.

1992–1993: Belin Center approved for the State of Iowa’s Talented and Gifted Endorsement. Blank Family endows the Blank Summer Institute with $1.23 million. Project Achieve, an intensive math and language arts program for underrepresented students from Chicago high schools, established. Belin-Blank Exceptional Student Talent Search (BESTS) established. Thirteen hundred people attend the first Recognition Ceremony (sponsored by Henry B. and Jocelyn Wallace) honoring outstanding students and their teachers.

1994–1995: The Iowa Talent Project serving underrepresented students from the Des Moines Central Academy and focused on Advanced Placement courses established. Center is renamed The Connie Belin & Jacqueline N. Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development.

The World Council for Gifted and Talented Children headquartered (1995–97) at the Center.

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1996–1997: The Blank family gives $1 million endowment for center’s advancement and development followed by another $1 million endowment to support the Center’s technology program. The Center begins building international partnerships and hosts the 12th Biennial World Conference for Gifted Children in Seattle, WA.

1998–1999: The first Wallace Policy and Leadership Conference hosted. Iowa Acceleration Scale by Assouline, Colangelo, Lupkowski-Shoplik published. Center welcomes first class of the National Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering (NAASE), an early-entrance to University of Iowa program. Inaugural meeting of the Belin-Blank Center National Advisory Board.

2000–2001: The Blank family pledges $5 million toward the Blank Honors Center. Groundbreaking for the Myron & Jacqueline N. Blank Honors Center. Cole-Belin Endowment of $1 million for professional development given. The Iowa Online Advanced Placement Academy (IOAPA) established with a $1.5 million federal technology grant.

2002–2003: Wallace Family Assessment and Counseling Clinic established with gift of $300,000. IOAPA awarded $2 million grant. Professional development coursework expands and includes introductory seminar for first-year GT teachers attending ITAG. Korean Gifted Education program hosted

by Belin-Blank. The Center, in partnership with AEA 267, received over $700,000 for a Teaching American History grant, launching 3 years of professional development to ensure talent development in the content area of history.

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2004–2005: The Belin-Blank Center moves into the new six-story Blank Honors Center on the University of Iowa campus. A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students, authored and edited by Colangelo, Assouline, and Miraca Gross, spurs national conversation concerning talented and gifted education (funded by a $231,050 grant from the John Templeton Foundation). Center receives a Javits Federal Grant ($897,000) to determine best practices in identification of twice-exceptional students, launching the twice-exceptional project. The Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan Program for the Visual Arts established with a $1 million endowment.

2006–2007: Developing Math Talent by Assouline and Lupkowski-Shoplik published. The John Templeton Foundation awards the Center a $1.95 million grant to begin the Acceleration Institute.

2008–2009: The Belin-Blank Center collaborates with national organizations on Guidelines for Developing an Academic Acceleration Policy. The Iowa Legislature provides $400,000 to support the Iowa Online Advanced Placement Academy.

The Templeton Foundation awards $400,000 to bring 50 international educators to the university, launching the Templeton International Fellowship Program. Partnered with national Scholastic Art & Writing organization providing opportunities for young artists and writers throughout Iowa and the Midwest.

2010–2011: The Templeton Foundation awards the Center $1 million to expand acceleration policy initiatives. A Nation Deceived translated into nine languages and Acceleration Institute website surpasses three million views. National University of Science and Technology (NUST, Moscow, Russia) program implemented (2011-2013).

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2012–2013: Colangelo retires (and becomes dean of the UI College of Education); Assouline named director of the Belin-Blank Center. The Center co-hosts with the National Association for Gifted Children the Templeton Summit on Acceleration in Washington, D.C. The Center hosts the Iowa Regional Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS).

2014–2015: Center introduces an online above-level test, I-Excel, and the individualized interpretation guide, IDEAL Solutions, to understand scores. Jack Kent Cooke Foundation awards $500,000 Talent Development Award to fund the STEM Excellence and Leadership (SEAL) Program in 10 rural Iowa schools. Center co-hosts with NAGC Wallace Research Symposium in Washington, DC. A Nation Empowered: Evidence Trumps the Excuses Holding Back America’s Brightest Children, a two-volume update to Nation Deceived, sponsored by the Perry and Belin families, published.

2016–2017: Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan and Patrick Scanlan endow the Bucksbaum Early Entrance STEAM Academy, an extensive expansion of the original early entrance program, with a gift of $10 million. Beverly Perry and Jeff Perry endow the Perry Research Scholars Institute (PRSI) with $500,000. NSF awards $1.97 million to scale STEM Excellence research agenda. The Javits Federal Education program awards $2 million to support Talent Identification and Career Exploration (TICE) program.

2018: Richard Ferguson endows the Ferguson Scholarship Program for students with financial need. Wallace Research Symposium, with 200 international experts in gifted education, co-hosted with Vanderbilt University and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. Development of two new three-week programs for high school students, Summer Writing Residency and Summer Art Residency. Center celebrates 30 years of nurturing potential and inspiring excellence.

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In our words

the belin-blank center is:

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Determined Encouraging Thoughtful

Empowering Flexible Integrity

Nancy Whetstine, Secretary

dr. Alissa Doobay, Supervisor of Psychological Services

Resources Exceptional

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w hen sc h o o l i s n o l o nger f un:

A Parent Finds Understanding and Expertise

A

manda Freese’s older son was a precocious little boy, filled with curiosity and a love of learning. But once he was enrolled in school, Freese saw a change. “All of a sudden, school wasn’t fun and learning wasn’t fun,” she says.

The reason? Her son, now 9 years old, is twiceexceptional.

“He was identified as gifted following kindergarten,” Freese says. “And then, through that evaluation they recognized that he also had difficulties with written language, which was diagnosed as dysgraphia (difficulties with the physical process of writing and/or difficulties getting thoughts onto paper). And then, he has ADHD.”

The combination inevitably led to frustrations for her son, who she says is most gifted in the areas of reading comprehension and fluency.

“He’s extremely fast at reading, and his thoughts probably move at the same speed, but then it’s so laborious to create a written expression of what he’s read or what he’s experienced or even through the creative process. To tell a story through written language becomes very simplified and has been a place of tremendous frustration for him because there’s so much to share and it’s so hard to put it out there.”

And since most school assessments involve writing, much of the joy of discovery was lost for the boy.

Freese is a music teacher who taught high school classes for 10 years and is nearing the same mark as an elementary instructor. But her classroom experience didn’t prepare her for her son’s difficulties.

“The fact that he could be really gifted and still have these struggles was frustrating,” she recalls.

Desperate for some help, she searched “gifted and ADHD” on the internet. The top result was for an upcoming webinar presented by the Belin-Blank Center.

“I clicked and signed up for the course right then.

I remember sitting at my desk watching the webinar, which was taught by Dr. Doobay (of the Center’s Assessment and Counseling Clinic), and just realizing that somebody got my kid. They knew what all of this was and that my feeling, like it was a struggle, was real.

It wasn’t just me going, ‘This is really hard.’”

The difficulties, of course, are no illusion. The strategies recommended for either gifted students or for students with ADHD don’t necessarily apply well to twice-exceptional children.

“Being gifted by itself has a whole set of crazy.

It’s fun and it’s exciting, but gifted kids are wired differently,” Freese says. “Gifted kids who have another coexisting learning challenge are wired even more differently.”

“I remember sitting at my desk watching the webinar, which was taught by Dr. Doobay, and just realizing that somebody got my kid.“ Amanda Freese

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“…if all our general education teachers would have the opportunity to come to Belin-Blank there would be such a better understanding of what these individuals really need to find their success.”

Amanda Freese

In October of 2016, Freese’s son was fully evaluated, and a strong relationship with Dr. Doobay was forged.

“That was really the game changer for us because in addition to just getting the diagnosis, which is important, the Belin-Blank Center was able to offer really concrete resources for us as well as accommodations for him,” Freese says. “And those accommodations didn’t just cover the academic aspects—not just talking about how he needed more challenging curriculum in reading—but they also talked about the things the school could do to address some of the behavioral concerns and the asynchronous [intellectual and social/emotional] development that happens.”

Her family’s connection to the Belin-Blank Center led to a change in her professional life, as well.

“As I dug into advocating for my son, being an educator, I got really interested in gifted education and the Belin-Blank Center offers an endorsement for talented and gifted. So I went to the Iowa Talented and Gifted Conference that happens in the fall and got hooked up with Belin-Blank there, and I thought, ‘This is how I maximize what’s happening in my personal life with what can happen in my professional life and my educational life.’”

“So I’ve been pursuing that endorsement; I’m almost finished with it. The courses are amazing, and I believe deeply after taking this coursework that we need a lot more talented and gifted requisites for all of our educators. It’s a misunderstood part of the educational system, and if all our general education teachers would have the opportunity to come to Belin-Blank—and they should all just come to the Belin-Blank Fellowship Program that occurs every summer—there would be such a better understanding of what these individuals really need to find their success.”

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Freese is also pursuing her Master of Arts in Teaching, Leadership, and Cultural Competency via online classes offered by the University of Iowa College of Education in the hope that she can provide leadership in the area of gifted and talented education going forward.

She’s not waiting to make a difference. In January of 2018, she launched a group dedicated to the support of the parents of twice-exceptional children.

“These parents of twice-exceptional kids, we don’t fit anywhere,” she explains. “When we go to a group with parents of gifted kids, they don’t really understand what it is to have a child who is bright but has a diagnosed difficulty. When you go with a group of parents whose children have learning disabilities, they think that you’re bragging—it can’t really be that difficult because your kid is smart. And so, you walk this kind of tightrope trying to figure out who you are, and you realize that’s what your kids are doing, too. They’re struggling with how they fit. They’re very aware that their brains are wired differently and that they experience the world differently.”

Freese says there is one place she knows her son fits: the Belin-Blank Center.

“This is the only place where I can let him be and not worry because he’s with staff that understand the behaviors that are a part of being a highly gifted individual and it doesn’t rattle them to the degree that it rattles most of the general public. Even we as parents get caught up sometimes in chasing our tail. But here, when he comes to the weekend program or when he comes to the summer camp, I can literally drop him off and feel a sense of relief that he’s going to be respected and safe.”

She tears up when asked to consider her family’s life without the Belin-Blank Center. And then she shares an amazing story. One afternoon in Iowa City, she spotted her son and his Belin-Blank campmates having lunch on the University of Iowa’s Pentacrest.

“So I sat across the street and I just watched him eat lunch and play and laugh. And that picture in my head is still what I dream of him being able to have all of the time. To get those moments are priceless.

I think what was so reassuring to me as a parent was seeing other kids doing the same stuff that he does, even in the way they relate to each other.”

Her gratitude—for that memorable moment and for her family’s ongoing relationship with the Belin-Blank Center—is palpable. She’s committed to spreading the word.

“I am trying so hard to make sure every parent knows and every teacher knows what exists here.”

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Exceptional Resources for Twice-Exceptional Students F

or the staff of the Henry B. and Jocelyn Wallace Assessment and Counseling Clinic at the BelinBlank Center, every relationship with a client is an opportunity to improve the life of a child and a family.

The Assessment and Counseling Clinic is a leader in the area of twice-exceptionality, serving young people who have been identified as gifted and who also have a co-existing disability.

“I have a few longtime therapy clients that I’ve been seeing for years,” says Dr. Joy Goins, a licensed psychologist in the clinic. “And the fact that they keep coming back I think is a testament to the fact that they do have relationships with me and that they are receiving benefit from the services. I like having that relationship with the client and their parents. I think about a number of crisis situations that I’ve gone through and we got through it together and the client is better.”

It isn’t just the clients themselves who benefit.

The clinic provides resources and hope for families struggling to understand how best to help a twiceexceptional child.

“We offer families the sense that there is somewhere to go, there are next steps for the family, and there is somebody who recognizes their child’s talents and how they can use those talents, and also that there are strategies that can help with the areas of weakness,” says Dr. Alissa Doobay, supervisor of psychological services for the clinic. “Just by having a better understanding of why a child is struggling in the way that they are, it’s so much easier for the people in that child’s life—whether it’s the parents, teachers, siblings, friends—to have some empathy about what the problem is and not take it personally.

And I think that can have a really big impact on that child’s functioning.”

Nancy Whetstine, secretary for the clinic, sees firsthand how the clinic helps families.

“I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the families,” she says. “Some have started when their children were young and have continued for many years, and I’ve spent those years getting to know the families. My goal has always been to make the families feel welcome and comfortable, because they are nervous when they come. But after they’ve been here a couple of times, they want to come back and it’s a safe spot for them.”

Dr. Megan Foley Nicpon, Professor of Counseling Psychology and current associate director for research and clinic, sees areas of growth that are suggested by the current transformational work in which the clinic is engaged.

“It’s really a joy to see families better understand their children and to help them see the kids’ strengths and not only their deficits or weaknesses,” Foley Nicpon says. “But now I feel my goals are broader in terms of really thinking about developing talent in populations where we focus on deficit or where we don’t see talent. That’s become how I want to focus my career now—on underrepresented students and students who aren’t given the chances that I was afforded when I was a kid. Same thing with students with disabilities. It’s always the focus on just what’s wrong or what’s not going right. I think we can make a real difference at the Center. How we view gifted education and talent development can really broaden the net and give opportunities to kids who maybe don’t get opportunities.”

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The clinic also provides amazing opportunities for graduate students entering the profession. Dr. Jon Goodwin, visiting assistant professor and former post-doctoral fellow, says that’s important not only for the future psychologists themselves but for those individuals they will serve in the future in any number of places.

“One thing that is unique about this clinic is that it provides a one-of-a-kind opportunity for future professional psychologists who are interested in working with children who are gifted and who demonstrate high ability. Given that this is a training clinic, I think that the impact is exponential. There are trainees who will come through our clinic for a practicum experience and hopefully leave with many skills and tools to serve gifted students wherever their careers may take them. And I think that’s the larger impact of this clinic. As a training clinic, we can help many other families who may not have direct access to the services that are here. And trainees who come through our clinic become advocates for twiceexceptional students. I think that’s really important.”

Doobay is passionate about advocating for clients so that they might eventually advocate for themselves. “My hope for our clients is that through the services we provide, they’re able to develop a better understanding of themselves, to be in a place where they truly feel heard and understood. This is a unique population and a lot of people aren’t used to working with individuals who are incredibly bright in many ways and also have challenges that really impact their functioning on a day-to-day basis.

That leads to a lot of frustration for families and for teachers, as well as for the students themselves,” Doobay says. “And so I’m hopeful our clients feel like this is a place that really gets them and meets

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their needs through their work with us. We want clients to have a balanced view of who they are and what their needs are across their areas of strength as well as weakness. And we want them to then be able to take that information and advocate for themselves at school and in the community.”

The Assessment and Counseling Clinic’s reputation is strong throughout the state, nation, and the world. The small staff is generating big outcomes that truly improve lives. For Foley Nicpon, that’s well worth noting. “I’m just really proud of how it’s grown, and how it’s grown nationally and internationally in terms of being one of the few places truly that understands twice-exceptional children,” she says.

“I’m really proud of the work that my colleagues do.”

“I think that’s the larger impact of this clinic. As a training clinic, we can help many other families who may not have direct access to the services that are here.� dr. Jon Goodwin, visiting assistant professor and former post-doctoral fellow

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In our words

the belin-blank center is:

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Tenacious Collaborative Genuine

Happy Goal-oriented Fulfilling

dr. Duhita Mahatmya, Assistant Research Scientist

dr. Susan Assouline, Director

Empo weri n g

Education

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Empowering Gifted Education Through Research and Results T

he University of Iowa is a major research university, and, with significant support from the late H.B. and Jocelyn Wallace (left), the Belin-Blank Center has been at the forefront of research in the field of gifted education. Perhaps most notably, the Center has made a key contribution to the study of academic acceleration.

In 2004, Dr. Nicholas Colangelo and Dr. Susan Assouline of the Belin-Blank Center joined Dr. Miraca Gross of the University of New South Wales as lead authors of A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students.

The report was nothing short of a sensation in the field.

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The Paradox of Twice-Exceptionality

Packet of Information for Professionals – 2nd Edition (PIP-2)

The Wallace Research Symposium on Talent Development Honoring tHe Legacy of JuLian c. StanLey

Developed by The Connie Belin and Jacqueline N. Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development1 Susan Assouline Megan Foley Nicpon Staci Fosenburg

Co-sponsored by the University of Iowa Belin-Blank Center, Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, and the Vanderbilt University Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth

With contributions from Zachary Sussman Claire Whiteman Clark Kopelman

April 29–May 1, 2018 Mt. Washington Conference Center Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD #WallaceSymposium

The central premise of A Nation Deceived—that the most effective way to serve bright students is to accelerate their education—prompted a national discussion and dispelled common myths about encouraging students to skip grades.

Since its publication, the report has garnered well over four million hits on nationdeceived.org and been downloaded over 150,000 times. Nearly 60,000 print copies of the report—which has been updated and revised through the years—have been distributed.

A Nation Deceived was followed by A Nation Empowered: Evidence Trumps the Excuses Holding Back America’s Brightest Students in 2015, which built on the arguments made in the first book by appealing to new and compelling research. Edited by Assouline, Colangelo, and Ann Lupkowski-Shoplik of the Belin-Blank Center with Joyce VanTassel-Baska of the College of William and Mary, this publication sought to inform educators, parents, and policy makers of current research on acceleration, how that research has been applied throughout the nation, and how educators and parents can use the findings to strengthen decisions involving the brightest students.

The Belin-Blank Center has a longstanding commitment to research related to gifted education in rural communities. Three publications have explored the topic including Gifted Education in Rural Schools (1999), Gifted Voices from Rural America (2001), and Gifted in Rural America: Faces of Diversity (2006).

The Center has also been at the vanguard of research into the challenges and opportunities presented by twice-exceptionality. The Paradox of Twice-Exceptionality: Packet of Information for Professionals (2007 and 2008) was originally developed by Belin-Blank Center researchers for professionals who work with gifted and talented

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students with an autism spectrum disorder. A second edition expanded the student population to include gifted students with other disabilities, specifically attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and specific learning disability.

Starting in 1991 the Belin-Blank Center has hosted the nation’s premiere conference for researchers from around the world in the areas of talent development, creativity, and gifted education.

The Wallace Research Symposium serves as a catalyst for researchers and practitioners looking for innovative approaches in policy and programming.

Traditionally hosted in Iowa City, the Symposium spread its wings in 2014 to be co-hosted with NAGC in Washington, D.C. In 2018 the conference was cohosted in Baltimore with Johns Hopkins University and Vanderbilt University to celebrate the 100th birthday of Julian Stanley, an important figure in gifted education research.

These and other research endeavors have firmly established the Belin-Blank Center as one of the world’s most important academic resources for gifted education.

The University of Iowa is a major research university, and, with significant support from the late H.B. and Jocelyn Wallace (opposite, top), the Belin-Blank Center has been at the forefront of research in the field of gifted education.

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In our words

the belin-blank center is:

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Holistic Inclusive Empowering

Compassionate Thoughtful Forward thinking

Jan Warren, Assistant Director for Student Services

David Gould, Administrator, Bucksbaum Academy

Success

l a s t i ng

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ear ly en tr a n c e :

Lasting Success T

he Belin-Blank Center has long been a leader in the area of acceleration for gifted students. The Bucksbaum Early Entrance STEAM Academy—supported by a $10 million gift from Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan and Patrick Scanlan and honoring Mary’s parents, Martin and Melva Bucksbaum, puts the ideas the Center champions into motion via early admission to the University of Iowa.

The Belin-Blank Center implemented an early entrance program at the university in 1999. The Bucksbaum Academy expanded the early-entrance programming, which originally focused on high school juniors, in two significant ways.

First, the Bucksbaum Academy seeks talented and gifted students in the arts in addition to those who excel in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math). As a result of this area of focus, the academy is a STEAM program, with the A representing the arts.

Second, the program expanded to include high school sophomores ready to make the leap directly to the stimulating and rigorous university environment where they encounter research opportunities and coursework appropriate for their advanced academic development. The Bucksbaum Academy is the only early entrance program co-located with a university honors program at a public research-intensive institution accepting students from across the country and around the globe.

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“It’s awesome to be in a place where a 3 a.m. conversation about theoretical physics—complete with a big plate of cheese fries and plenty of napkin math—is ordinary.”

Bucksbaum Academy Student

Bucksbaum Scanlan is a longtime friend of the Belin-Blank Center, and many of her generous gifts have supported the arts—specifically through specialized programming for students as well as through acquisition of works of art for the Center’s public collection. The daughter of a well-known art collector, the late Melva Bucksbaum, as well as an artist herself, Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan is committed to supporting the ongoing emphasis on the arts in the Center’s student programs.

David Gould, who serves as an administrator for the Bucksbaum Academy, believes the Belin-Blank Center team—and in particular Jan Warren, the Center’s assistant director for student services—brings a blend of passion and expertise to the program.

“I work closely with Jan on the Bucksbaum Academy,” Gould says. “The work is highly collaborative and creative. While Jan is thoughtful to establish a solid foundation, she is constantly encouraging our team to push for an even better student experience.”

Warren herself echoes Gould’s focus on collaboration, citing center director Dr. Susan Assouline as a driving force, as well. “With Susan’s experience with early entrance programs, my background in college student development, and Dave’s talents with interdisciplinary learning, we have created a model program that meets the needs of highability students.”

Students entering college through the academy are not set apart from other university students.

Like all first-year students, those accepted for the academy choose majors from any of the university’s undergraduate colleges. They take classes, plan for their future studies, use the university’s studios and labs, and participate fully in student life. The earlyentrance students live together in the honors residence hall, attached to the Blank Honors Center, which houses the Belin-Blank Center, thus ensuring the students have access to the support and resources they need to succeed.

It’s not uncommon for parents, educators, and even students themselves to wonder if a young person is ready for a step of this magnitude. But for those who are, the experience is exceptional. In fact, research shows that students who enter and graduate from college early consistently report more career and life satisfaction than their peers on a more traditional schedule.

Anecdotal evidence suggests they are well satisfied while in college, as well. For example, one early entrant has this to say about the program: “It’s awesome to be in a place where a 3 a.m. conversation about theoretical physics—complete with a big plate of cheese fries and plenty of napkin math—is ordinary.”

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f our fa mi l i e s –

One Idea J

oanne and Milt Brown and Melva and Martin Bucksbaum were among my [Laurie Belin] parents’ closest friends for decades. I can’t write about the first time I met the Bucksbaum or Brown families, because it happened long before I have any conscious memories.

In fact, the Bucksbaums were hosting a dinner party when my mother went into labor and had to go straight from their house to the hospital the night I was born. Mary Bucksbaum made her entrance a few months later. We were babies in the playpen together and felt almost as comfortable in each other’s homes as we did in our own. Martin often took Mary and me out on Saturday afternoons, and Melva supervised many play dates and sleepovers.

The Browns lived two doors up the street from the first house my parents bought in Windsor Heights.

A couple of years after the Belins moved around the corner, the Browns built on the neighboring lot. Jay Brown was already a close friend to my siblings Tom and Joy before Bennett came along, about six weeks after my birth. We were almost raised like siblings; our mothers often took turns watching us while the other ran errands. Bennett and I joke that we were “best friends and best enemies.”

Although we were not blood relatives, Mary and Bennett called my parents Aunt Connie and Uncle David, and my siblings used “aunt” and “uncle” with their folks as well. Mary (bottom, left), Bennett (bottom, middle), and I (bottom, right) also grew up with Jared Blank, one of Mike and Jackie Blank’s grandchildren, from preschool through high school.

My parents would have been deeply moved to know that the bonds they formed during the 1950s and 1960s have continued through the generations.

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My parents would have been deeply moved to know that the bonds they formed during the 1950s and 1960s have continued through the generations.

Laurie Belin, Ph.D.

On my last few visits to the Blank Honors Center, I have been astounded by the creative works on display in the Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan Gallery space. Developing talent in visual arts has been a major aspect of the Bucksbaum Family philanthropy.

In addition to her generous support of the Center’s art program, Mary and her husband, Patrick Scanlan, honored Mary’s parents with an incredibly generous gift to establish the Martin and Melva Bucksbaum Early Entrance Academy for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math. The program is lifechanging for the high-ability 10th graders who are able to enroll.

Joanne Brown has been a valued member of the Belin-Blank Center’s Advisory Board from the beginning. Joanne’s son, Bennett Brown, settled in Iowa City and has served as a faculty member for student programs as well as providing professional development with several programs for students and teachers over the years. Associate Professor of Biology Maurine Neiman, Bennett’s spouse, has mentored high school students through the Secondary Student Training Program.

My parents and Mike and Jackie Blank shared an important vision, providing better programs and services for high-ability students through professional development of educators. My brothers, sister, and I can only imagine how thrilled my parents—and their dear family friends—would be to know that this early vision has been realized beyond anyone’s expectations.

The faculty and staff of the Center have been steadfast stewards of the vision and the philanthropy. Likewise, over the decades, the children and grandchildren of the founding families have continued to support and applaud the many creative programs and services that bear the names Belin, Blank, Perry, and Bucksbaum.

Left to right: Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan, Martin Scanlan, Patrick Scanlan, Stella Scanlan

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In our words

the belin-blank center is:

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Unique Inclusive Supportive

Passionate Dedicated Collaborative

Josh Jacobs, Administrator for Technology and Project Management

Kristin Flanary, Administrator for Communications and IOAPA

t h e va lu e

of Validation

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D e v elo pi ng Cr eati v i ty and Inno vat ion:

The Value of Validation J

an Warren, assistant director for student services for the Belin-Blank Center, can encapsulate her hopes for students who attend the Center’s programs in a single word.

“The word that we use more than any other when we talk about our student programming is ‘validate,’” she says. “My hope is that the program we offer these gifted and talent students validates them, not only their abilities and their talents, but the social and emotional part of who they are. And that’s why if a student comes to one of our student programs, obviously there’s a large emphasis on what happens inside the classroom, but there’s also an acute focus on what happens outside of the classroom. We think about the friendships that we want them to form, the support systems that we hope are in place for them, and we want them to give themselves permission to try new and different things that maybe they’re too afraid to try when they’re back home in their home community and home school where people have them pegged as a certain kind of student.”

For its part, the Center is eager to serve students who are talented in myriad ways rather than just those who might be considered globally gifted or who excel in STEM classes. To do that, the Center’s staff has had to think creatively to develop systems which identify students who might benefit from the programs it offers.

“From the very get-go here at the Center we have offered classes in performing arts, visual arts, leadership, inventiveness, creative writing—all kinds of areas that people might not immediately jump to when they’re talking about talented and gifted,” Warren says. “What do you do when you’re identifying students for an inventiveness class? How are you identifying kids if they want to develop their

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“These kids, they don’t know it yet, but they are going to meet their future collaborators, they are going to meet their future peers and colleagues, they’re going to meet the person who they will apply for a grant with, they’re going to meet each other in that group of students this summer.”

Jan Warren, assistant director for student services

talent in leadership or develop their talent in the performing arts? The staff here has had to work hard to think of different ways of identifying kids through portfolios, teacher nominations, all sorts of different things, so that we can also find and develop the talent of those artistic, creative, and innovative kids right alongside the students that we are identifying in STEM related areas. Both areas are so vital to having a well-balanced, comprehensive program for gifted and talented learners.”

Dr. Clar Baldus, who works with the Center’s visual arts programs and is a clinical professor of art education, believes the Center offers moments of epiphany for students—not only about the subjects that interest them but about themselves.

“One of the keys for the Center is providing opportunity and experiences that may become a crystallizing experience for a student . . . an aha moment. Which is really what innovation is all about,” Baldus says. “They invent themselves when they come here. Or even reinvent themselves here or back home.”

Those opportunities often far exceed what students might encounter in their hometowns.

“They can meet kids who have the same passions and interests during the Belin-Blank Center’s programs,” says Ashlee Van Fleet, administrator for curriculum and instruction. “If you’re coming from a small town, you might not have that base of people who can show you that you’re not the only one. That’s what I love about our summer programs. At the beginning they all come, and they’re very nervous and they’re not sure what to expect. And by the second or third day, they’ve made this group of friends.”

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As students come together and realize their potential as individuals and as peers, they are encouraged to think broadly about how they might use their gifts. David Gould, administrator for the Bucksbaum Academy and a UI Honors Faculty member, is deeply engaged with how to encourage this thinking.

“How do you take really gifted young people and not only continue to feed that intellectual curiosity, but direct it toward something larger than themselves? That gets me excited because it’s not just about crafting a mind that can understand and do things, but directing it to do things for the larger world that contribute and make a meaningful difference. That’s really what guides my work and what I think the Center is all about,” Gould says.

Gould and his peers grapple with these questions as they think about innovative and impactful programming. They are especially engaged with the Center’s commitment to fostering artistic and writing talent.

“The arts and humanities have a beautiful way of putting a heartbeat and a soul to a lot of the work that we do—to the living of lives that are beautiful,” Gould says.

The center’s programs are designed to avert students from feeling isolated, held back, or feeling as if they are treading water. Parents often notice an immediate change in their kids when they pick them up from a Belin-Blank Center program.

Warren describes it as the spark returning to the student’s personality.

Lori Hudson, a secretary for the Belin-Blank Center, has seen how moving the return of that spark can be for parents.

“I love talking to parents at our events who come up and say thank you,” she says. “They tell us their kids have never gotten anything like this before. You can just tell what a difference it makes to them.”

When Warren looks to the future for students, she’s confident the Belin-Blank Center’s programming is helping to form the networks that will serve the students for a lifetime.

“Community is important at every level of our lives,” she says. “When I think of these young students who are coming here in visual arts and in writing, they’re going to spend these three intensive weeks with one another and then leave. But we want that community to continue. These kids, they don’t know it yet, but they are going to meet their future collaborators, they are going to meet their future peers and colleagues, they’re going to meet the person who they will apply for a grant with, they’re going to meet each other in that group of students this summer.”

Gould knows the stakes are high for the students the Center serves.

“The young people that we serve are going to inherit a world that is full of problems and desperate for problem solvers. They’re going to need to be innovators,” he says. “If you take a look as we move from an agricultural, to an industrial, to an informational, to now a conceptual model, the storytellers, the meaning makers, the caregivers are going to be the people who inherit the future and the people who are going to need to be making a difference. My wish and my hope is that our work can help create the next generation of problem solvers. I’m confident we can.”

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Dec a d es of C o m m i t m e n t:

Hooked on Teaching M

ike Marcketti and Kate Aspengren have been teaching for the Belin-Blank Center’s summer programs for more than two decades—25 years and 23 years, respectively. Neither had a sense of the journey they were embarking upon when they signed on for their first summer. But they each use the same word to describe that first experience: they were “hooked.”

“I was invited not knowing fully what I was getting into. I started teaching here the summer after my first year of teaching in 1994,” Marcketti, who teaches mathematics at Central Academy in Des Moines, Iowa, recalls. “It was a tremendous experience with students who challenged me in a good way all the time. They just wanted more and more. Fortunately, I had over prepared—I thought—beforehand, which wound up being about right. And I was hooked after that. I was invited back and it’s kept going.”

Aspengren, a playwright who teaches at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has a similar story.

“I was freelancing at the time, and I was asked to do it and it was a job. I’d never taught middle schoolers before in my life—I’d only taught college students— and a lot of my friends said I was crazy to do that. But it turned out I really liked them and connected with them. And so I’ve been hooked ever since.”

That initial enthusiasm hasn’t waned over the years.

“It was a tremendous experience with students who challenged me in a good way all the time.”

Mike Marcketti, Belin-Blank Center summer programs teacher

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“I’ve stayed with it for a couple of reasons,” Aspengren says. “First of all, it’s a nice change from college students. That said, I found that the first year I taught I didn’t really know what to do with 7th and 8th graders, so I gave them exactly the same work that I gave my college students, and the students here were completely up to that challenge. So I’ve been able to do that year after year. Also, it’s the other faculty that brings me back. We have several of us who have been doing this for a long time, and I think we’ve been supportive of one another, and I’ve learned a lot from them.”

Marcketti calls his summers in Iowa City “the highlight of my year” and notes the ways in which his work at the Center and at Central Academy connect.

“Teaching for the Belin-Blank Center nourishes me and helps me grow as a teacher. It makes me confident in what I can do with students at my home school and allows me to develop a view of what I would like education to be like. And in whatever manner I’m able to affect that, I’m able to have conviction in my goals as I take things back to my traditional school life.”

Both teachers are routinely impressed with what the students bring to camp in terms of intellect and interest—and with what they take home after spending a week with their peers.

“For one week straight, six hours a day, we’re involved with math and they don’t get tired of it,” Marcketti says. “They enjoy themselves, they enjoy each other. They form a comradery and a freedom to be immersed deeply in whatever subject it is—math in my case—and feel great about it. I think a really valuable part of the experience is being with other people who are unabashedly interested in whatever their subject is. There’s joy that just emanates from them.”

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“… they might be the only kid in their town who likes theater, and suddenly they’re meeting all these other kids who speak the same language and know the same songs.”

Kate Aspengren, Belin-Blank Center summer programs teacher

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“You see students who, for the first time, are meeting other students who enjoy the same things and are on the same level academically,” Aspengren agrees. “With my performing arts kids, they might be the only kid in their town who likes theater, and suddenly they’re meeting all these other kids who speak the same language and know the same songs.

To see them come together is really astonishing and wonderful to watch.”

In many cases, the relationships forged with students in just a week of class last much longer.

“I’m really fortunate because a lot of the students I had the very first year are still in touch with me,” Aspengren says. “And I’m able to use them and other alums as examples with the students I have now. So here’s someone who was with me 15 years ago and here’s what they’re doing now. I think that continuing relationship helps the program thrive. I love hearing from those students that years and years later this has been such a vital part of their lives whether or not they went into the performing arts.”

Marcketti recognizes “longitudinal relationships” in communities as students apply for and attend camp because they heard about it from other kids who have experienced it. And he sees cross-discipline relationships develop during the Center’s programs each year.

“They are forging relationships across all of those interest areas—kids from very diverse backgrounds across our state. These students mix together readily and easily and take that back to their hometowns,” he says.

The longtime peers acknowledge that advances in technology allow students to stay connected more easily once camp ends. They also say that technology has changed the amount and kinds of knowledge with which students arrive. The performing arts students, for example, have seen their favorite performers and scenes from musicals on YouTube. Similarly, the math students have plenty of online resources that offer puzzles to solve and advanced concepts to learn.

But that doesn’t lessen the opportunities in the

Belin-Blank Center classrooms. If anything, it opens up even more opportunities to ignite the students’ passions—which in turn keep the teachers’ love of their work burning bright.

“They are so energetic and so excited about being here that it’s hard not to pick up on that.” Aspengren says. “I feed off them as much as they feed off of me.

It’s exhausting, but it’s wonderful, too. It’s made me a better teacher throughout the whole year.”

Marcketti agrees wholeheartedly.

“I think I benefited right away that summer after my first year of teaching by being in this environment where it was perfectly okay to be really enthusiastic about math. That gave me the charge to be confident in carrying that forward into my classroom. And now it’s sort of a circle that feeds upon itself. In my classroom at school, I share my enthusiasm for math.

I refuse to act like this is mundane or drudgery— while acknowledging that we do have to think. And I certainly do that here in the summer, and it is reflected back easily in the summer by the students.”

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In our words

the belin-blank center is:

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Creative Hard working Consistent

Knowledgeable Desire Striving

dr. Megan Foley Nicpon, Associate Director of Research and Clinic

Bridget Pauley, Secretary

the Classroom B e y ond

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Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students Beyond the Classroom T

Left to right: Nancy Whetstine, Bridget Pauley, Lori Hudson, Rachelle Blackwell

he Belin-Blank Center offers a host of in-depth services for students, parents, and educators.

But sometimes the best service is simply listening and understanding. The Center’s faculty and staff members take this responsibility seriously.

“A lot of the work I think all of us do is listening and just hearing what is difficult about having a bright child,” says Emily Ladendorf, administrator for technology and public relations.

“Sometimes it’s seen as something really easy, and this kid is going to do well no matter what happens, but that’s not the case. So being able to listen and to hear what they’re saying and provide some suggestions can be really rewarding.”

Kristin Flanary, communications administrator and administrator for the Iowa Online AP Academy, agrees.

“I hope that we can make the lives of students, families, and educators a little bit easier,” she says.

“Giftedness is widely misunderstood, so gifted students’ academic and social needs are often left unmet. If we can help families and educators find their way to resources and opportunities that will allow their gifted students to continue learning and growing, then it’s a good day.”

Flanary and Ladendorf have built a collaborative relationship that supports the Center’s efforts to reach these goals. Ladendorf has seen their interests and expertise meshing well over a range of projects.

“With her background in psychology and detailed knowledge of the day-to-day logistics of her programs, my understanding of the technical aspects of the website, and our joint interest in building solid, repeatable processes that we can continuously improve, we’ve gotten a lot done.”

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“I think ultimately we’re here to affect the lives of children. We work with parents, we work with teachers, but ultimately, we’re trying to affect education outcomes of students.”

Brian Douglas, assistant director for finance and operations

During her interview to become a member of the Belin-Blank Center staff, Flanary asked what she might expect from the organization’s culture and was told the Center has the feel of a big family.

“I think that’s really true,” she says. “In families you have all sorts of dynamics and all sorts of personalities, and you learn how to come together, and in our case, work toward a common goal and learn how to work with people. How to push each other, how to support each other, how to bring out the best in each other.”

Dr. Ann Lupkowski-Shoplik has enjoyed that sort of relationship with center director Dr. Susan Assouline for quite some time, dating back to their postdoc days at Johns Hopkins University and Shoplik’s years at Carnegie Mellon University.

Shoplik, now the administrator for the Belin-Blank Center’s Acceleration Institute, remembers the early collaborations that formed the foundation of their continued work together.

“Susan and I have known each other a long time.

After we both left Johns Hopkins, we collaborated long distance over the phone and by faxing and mailing floppy discs back and forth,” Shoplik recounts. She says she and Assouline have always balanced each other—and pushed each other. “She tries to bring out the best in me and I try to bring out the best in her.”

Joining the Center’s staff was a natural decision for Shoplik, and one she’s glad she made.

“It’s just been a real joy to join the staff and work with all these great people and keep moving forward in our mission to work with gifted students and educate teachers and the general public about the things that gifted students need.”

Meeting the needs of gifted students is the primary activity of the Center, says Brian Douglas, assistant director for finance, operations, and technology.

“I think ultimately we’re here to affect the lives of children. We work with parents, we work with teachers, but ultimately, we’re trying to affect education outcomes of students,” he says. He loves seeing students participating in Belin-Blank programs over many years. “It’s rewarding to be part of that story, to be part of their educational arc. Probably the best thing that validates our work is to have students come back as adults and say that we made a significant difference in their development.”

Lupkowski-Shoplik says the annual recognition ceremonies, which feature former Belin-Blank Center students returning to inspire the recent participants, highlight the difference the Center is making.

“You don’t even realize how much you’re impacting someone until they come back and give that speech,” she says. “It’s pretty amazing.”

Bridget Pauley, a secretary for the Center, also looks forward to the gatherings of recent and former center students.

“I’ve heard students say, ‘I live for the couple of weeks I come here in the summer. The rest of the year nobody gets me, but when I’m here people do get me.’”

Dr. Ann Lupkowski-Shoplik

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“The Recognition Ceremony always brings it home for me. Seeing all the students and educators be acknowledged for their hard work and the smiling families supporting their students is really what it is all about.”

For Pauley and her peers, those students are not just statistics nor fully defined by their giftedness. She appreciates each of them as an individual.

“That’s what I really enjoy,” she says. “Not just seeing their name or their IQ on a paper, but seeing the student themselves.”

Sometimes, those students can surprise you.

Ladendorf recalls giving an above-level test to a group of upper elementary students. Afterward, one student lingered.

“One of the girls came up to me on her way out the door after everyone else had left and quietly asked if she could take the test again. I was concerned at first that this was a question based in perfectionism or feeling that she did badly,” Ladendorf says. But then her deep understanding of the needs of gifted students suggested another option. “On a hunch, I asked whether she liked taking the test. She smiled broadly and nodded emphatically. For her, it was a fun challenge, not a scary test.”

Those moments, when a gifted student feels seen and understood, are at the heart of the Belin-Blank Center’s work. Shoplik has witnessed these moments again and again.

“I’ve heard students say, ‘I live for the couple of weeks I come here in the summer. The rest of the year nobody gets me, but when I’m here people do get me. I can be with friends and talk to them and they understand my jokes.’ That’s really awesome. They also learn that there are opportunities to work hard and be challenged. And they like that.”

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Opportunities Abound The Belin-Blank Exceptional Student Talent Search (BESTS) is an opportunity for students to take part in an enjoyable and stimulating experience to learn more about their academic strengths. It is also a chance for parents and educators to discover the level of academic challenge appropriate for their students. Qualifying students in grades 4–6 take a two-hour test, I-Excel, designed for eighth graders; students in grades 7–9 take the ACT®, a college-entrance exam.

Invent Iowa is a comprehensive, statewide program developed to assist Iowa’s educators in promoting the invention process as part of their regular K–12 curricula. The culminating invention experience for Iowa students is the Invent Iowa State Invention Convention.

The Junior Science & Humanities Symposium (JSHS) promotes original research and experimentation in the sciences, engineering, and mathematics at the high school level, and publicly recognizes students for outstanding achievement. Iowa high school students interested in STEM studies can participate, either as presenters or as student delegates.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are the nation’s longest-running and most prestigious recognition program for creative teens in grades 7–12. Since 2008, the center has identified, recognized, and celebrated young artists and writers throughout Iowa and the Midwest.

The STEM Excellence and Leadership program aims to empower academically able students from rural schools. The goal is to discover students early and provide an intervention of specialized programming to promote their academic and social-emotional development. Selected students are awarded scholarships to attend the Junior Scholars Institute (JSI), a week-long summer residential program.

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Since 2001 the Iowa Online AP® Academy (IOAPA) has endeavored to provide access to Advanced Placement® courses, exam review, and professional development to all of Iowa’s high schools.

Through an online portal, the Belin-Blank Center is able to reach schools that may not have the means to provide access to the benefits of AP® courses in other ways.

Blast gives students in grades 3-6 the opportunity to explore a single topic over a one- or two-week period. A wide variety of courses such as Magical Potions, Robot Theater and Fan Fiction: Superheroes, allow younger students to explore art, chemistry, creative writing, theater, math, engineering and many other subjects in fun and creative ways.

The Junior Scholars Institute (JSI) is a one-week residential summer experience for students in grades 6-8.

Selected students receive a scholarship to attend. In addition to getting an immersive class experience, students experience first-hand what life on a college campus feels like.

The Blank Summer Institute (BSI) is a one-week summer scholarship program for 130 of Iowa’s gifted students who are in grades 7 and 8. The Institute provides exceptionally talented students with an intensive and advanced educational experience designed to enhance their intellectual and social growth.

The Perry Research Scholars Institute (PRSI) is a two-week residential summer program that allows students to experience first-hand the variety of research that takes place at a research intensive university. Students in grades 8-10 spend their days with experts in seminars, on research tours, and learning hands-on research techniques.

The Secondary Student Training Program (SSTP) is a five-week residential summer research program at the University of Iowa. Students conduct research in university laboratories under the guidance of a faculty mentor for forty hours a week. This program offers students unique experiences, both academically and socially. Students also produce a research project and paper as a part of the program.

The Summer Art & Writing Residencies (SAR/SWR) are immersive, three-week, residency programs for talented artists and writers, giving high school students the opportunity to learn from world-class faculty on one of the premier arts campuses in the US. Building on the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. SAR and SWR provide important support for budding creative talent.

Project Achieve and the Iowa Talent Project (ITP) were designed to support and prepare very capable high school students for success at the University of Iowa. These programs started in the mid-90s and continued through 2017 and were built upon the Center’s expertise in both pre-college and university programming. Students from under-resourced high schools in Chicago participated in Project Achieve. The Center implemented a similar initiative for underrepresented students from Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, the Iowa Talent Project. In addition to preparing students in high school, both programs provided additional support to students once they were on the University of Iowa campus.

The Bucksbaum Early Entrance steam Academy empowers high-achieving students with a passion for STEM or the arts/humanities to enter the University after their sophomore year of high school. The Belin-Blank Center has offered early entrance to the University of Iowa since 1999.

It Adds Up T

he Belin-Blank Center has been enriched by many talented people over its 30-year history.

Since 1988 the Center has grown from the original administrative unit comprised of one part-time director, one part-time associate director, and one part-time secretary to the current team of 21 merit, administrative, and faculty affiliates, highlighted below. The newest staff member joined the Center in 2016. Even including the relatively recent growth in staff, the overall average length of service is 12 years.

We think that speaks volumes about our work.

We are in gratitude to the dozens of student staff as well as all of our current and past colleagues who, over the past 30 years, have contributed so generously to the gifted and talented community and built the Belin-Blank Center into the organization it is today.

Susan Assouline Clar Baldus Rachelle Blackwell Catherine Blando Frances Blum Pamela Bullers Nicholas Colangelo Laurie Croft Katherine Degner Alissa Doobay Brian Douglas Christine Douglas Kristin Flanary Megan Foley Nicpon Joy Goins Jon Goodwin David Gould Lori Hudson Damien Ihrig Lori Ihrig

Joshua Jacobs Melissa Keeling Barbara Kerr Tracy Ksiazak Emily Ladendorf Marie Lecorps-Villarreal David Lohman Duhita Mahatmya Maureen Marron Jerilyn McCarty Terry McNabb Edward McElvain Bridget Pauley Saralyn Schiek Ann Lupkowski-Shoplik Mary Ann Spilger Ashlee Van Fleet Jan Warren Nancy Whetstine Claire Whiteman

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In our words

the belin-blank center is: Tenacious Experienced Understanding Emily Ladendorf, Administrator, Technology and Public relations

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Ensuring

the Future

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Ad vi sory B o a r d A d v o c a cy:

Ensuring the Center’s Future S

ometimes passion is contagious. Dick Ferguson, longtime CEO of ACT, had that experience when it comes to the Belin-Blank Center.

“My first exposure to the Center and its work was through an ACT staff member named Ann York. Ann had become an unabashed advocate of the Center and represented ACT on its board,” Ferguson says.

York was ACT’s vice president of operations and thus met frequently with Ferguson. “Ann was very much the evangelist within ACT and a big advocate for the Center. There were few occasions when I met with her on ACT business that she didn’t also bring up the Center, what it does and how important it was.”

York’s message stuck with Ferguson.

“By the time that Ann passed away some years ago while still working at ACT, she had persuaded me that the Center and its mission deserved as much attention as we at ACT, and I personally, could give it,” he says.

He’s been a member of the Center’s board for about a decade, and has enjoyed the relationships he has forged along with the continuous learning opportunities the Center’s staff has provided.

“We need to understand that education is something that crosses all avenues of enterprise.” dr. Dick Ferguson, board member (above)

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“I think what I’ve enjoyed most is the interaction that occurs with other board members and with the staff. I’m a big believer in lifetime learning, and learning has been a constant part of my experience with the Center. Every board meeting, every opportunity for interacting with staff, and every document that comes out of the Center has provided an opportunity to learn something about what I believe to be a very, very important issue for the nation.”

That issue is how best to serve gifted students so that they can, in turn, play an integral role in helping to define the future.

“We need to understand that education is something that crosses all avenues of enterprise,” Ferguson says. “What we have here is an opportunity to identify individuals whose talent isn’t always recognized and realized. When it is, lives are changed forever. Through the Center’s efforts, many of those students are not only recognized but provided the opportunities needed to realize their potential. And that is what the Center clearly is all about.”

Because of his career at ACT, it’s hardly surprising that Ferguson has a particular interest in the BelinBlank Center’s work around issues of assessment, including recent efforts to create effective online assessment tools.

“It’s important that we continue doing assessment well and in such a manner that we identify with confidence students who would benefit from our programs,” he says.

Of course, it isn’t just students who benefit from the Belin-Blank Center’s programs.

“When I look at the Center and its mission and role, I see that it touches many different audiences. We tend to think, of course, of the young people who are

I see the Center’s work as much, much broader than just serving the students. It touches on so many people’s lives. Every board meeting, every opportunity for interacting with staff, and every document that comes out of the Center has provided an opportunity to learn something about what I believe to be a very, very important issue for the nation.”

Dr. Dick Ferguson, board member

identified as potentially highly talented individuals and our interest in providing them opportunities to realize their potential,” Ferguson says. “But what the Center does impacts not only those students but their families and friends. It also impacts educators because it’s about the process of helping educators in our schools around the state, the country and even around the world to identify students who have talent that is often not recognized and often not pursued and addressed. I see the Center’s work as much, much broader than just serving the students. It touches on so many people’s lives.”

While Ferguson acknowledges that there will always be challenges to overcome, he has faith the Belin-Blank Center will continue to successfully pursue its important mission with the passion that is its hallmark.

“As long as that passion is maintained, then the future of the Center is very, very certain and very, very sure,” he says.

Equally certain is that Ferguson will continue to honor Ann York’s memory with his ongoing service to the Center.

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1999

2018 86

Belin-Blank Center Advisory Board Founders (In Memoriam) David Belin Connie Belin Myron Blank Jacqueline Blank

West Des Moines, IA West Des Moines, IA Des Moines, IA Des Moines, IA

Chair Thomas Belin

Santa Monica, CA

Board Members Pat Ballou Laurie Belin Joanne Brown Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan Julius C. Carter Nicholas Colangelo Bob Davidson Bob Downer Nancy Evans Dick Ferguson Ann Hoffman James E. Hoffman Alyssa Levitz Randi Levitz Jeffrey Perry William Perry Barbara Ross Belin Theodore (Bob) Scarborough Sarvjeev Sidhu Shabana Sidhu Ann Smith Don Swartz Gregs Thomopulos Paul Thompson Alex Vacca Gregory Walker Jon Whitmore

Urbandale, IA Des Moines, IA West Des Moines, IA Woody Creek, CO Chicago, IL Iowa City, IA Incline Village, NV Iowa City, IA Cedar Rapids, IA Iowa City, IA Cedar Rapids, IA Cedar Rapids, IA Seattle, WA Iowa City, IA White Plains, NY White Plains, NY New York City, NY Glen Ellyn, IL Cedar Rapids, IA Coralville, IA Burlingame, CA Mission Hills, KS Iowa City, IA Denver, CO Annandale, VA Chicago, IL Coralville, IA

Ex-Officio Members Susan Assouline Daniel Clay Sue Curry Bruce Harreld Lynette Marshall Melissa Shivers Linda Snetselaar Art Spisak

Iowa City, IA Iowa City, IA Iowa City, IA Iowa City, IA Iowa City, IA Iowa City, IA Iowa City, IA Iowa City, IA

Emeritus/Emerita Mary Jane Asher Robert Asher George Baker Roger Brooks Robert Burnett Travena Byrd Swati Dandekar Jan Davidson Sandy Fein Michael Gartner Jerry Harris Jeanne Levitt Mark McCormick John P. Rigler, II Chuck Peters Suku Radia Art Wittern Carol Wittern

Chicago, IL Chicago, IL Snowmass Village, CO Des Moines, IA Des Moines, IA Ithaca, NY Marion, IA Incline Village, NV Wilmington, NC Des Moines, IA Dallas, TX Des Moines, IA Des Moines, IA Clive, IA Cedar Rapids, IA Des Moines, IA West Des Moines, IA West Des Moines, IA

Emeritus/Emerita Ex-Officio Members Mary Sue Coleman Ann Arbor, MI Gary Fethke Iowa City, IA Sally Mason Iowa City, IA David Skorton Washington, MD In Memoriam Joy Corning Des Moines, IA Michael New Iowa City, IA Carmen Sosa Ankeny, IA Jocelyn Wallace Poughkeepsie, NY H.B. Wallace (Honorary) Scottsdale, AZ Ted Wheat Des Moines, IA Darrell Wyrick Iowa City, IA Ann York Iowa City, IA

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600 Blank Honors Center The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa 52242-0454 www.belinblank.org

The University of Iowa prohibits discrimination in employment, educational programs, and activities on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, pregnancy, disability, genetic information, status as a U.S. veteran, service in the U.S. military, sexual orientation, gender identity, associational preferences, or any other classification that deprives the person of consideration as an individual. The university also affirms its commitment to providing equal opportunities and equal access to university facilities. For additional information on nondiscrimination policies, contact the Director, Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, the University of Iowa, 202 Jessup Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242-1316, 319-335-0705 (voice), 319335-0697 (TDD), diversity@uiowa.edu.

Josh Jacobs, Project Manager Rob Cline, Writer Benson & Hepker Design, Designer