By GERRI MCDONALD
Special to Atmore News
The Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving academically gifted and talented youth. Duke TIP works with students, their families, and educators to identify, recognize, challenge, engage, and help students reach their highest potential.
They have served over 2.8 million academically talented students in grades four through 12 since 1980.
Seventh graders at Perdido Middle School who qualified for this year’s Duke Talent Search program are Luke McIntyre, Zachary Coleman, Ceanna Livermore, Nathan Garner, Aspen Gerald, Dakota McKinley, Josie Williams, Addison Moorer, Savannah Catrett and Presley Dortch. These students met the criteria to qualify by scoring in the 95 percent or higher on one or more subtest from last year’s Aspire test.
Each year, Duke TIP enrolls nearly one hundred thousand new students in its talent searches. TIP’s talent searches help these gifted students assess the extent of their abilities with above-level testing, recognize them for their achievements, and provide them with a variety of enrichment benefits. TIP also offers accelerated face-to-face and online educational programs to more than eight thousand students each year. In addition, TIP is constantly conducting research into the educational, emotional, and social factors impacting the lives of gifted children, then sharing this research and related advice with educators, parents, and the greater gifted community.