It鈥檚 hard to believe, but we鈥檙e already well into the new year: 2019. Despite heavy rains 鈥� much-needed and welcomed throughout Los Angeles County 鈥� in 优蜜视频鈥檚 home city of Pasadena, CA, the future looks bright! With the rainfall comes the opportunity to recalibrate, reflect, and reenergize for an exciting year ahead. We have some incredible new initiatives and programs on the horizon and are looking forward to continuing to serve and support our amazing students, families, educators, and community partners.

We hope you鈥檙e as excited about this list as we are!

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

What 优蜜视频 programs or events are you most looking forward to in 2019

Since I started working at 优蜜视频 three years ago, I鈥檝e witnessed the remarkable evolution of our program offerings and have had the opportunity to spearhead , a summer externship program that was piloted in 2016 for high school students. What started as an initiative to cultivate local high school talent, continued to build positive momentum and increase in the total number of gifted students served each year, both locally and internationally. 聽After a successful pilot-year of EXPLORE, we found there was a niche for opportunities focused on mentorship and real-world, professional experience. Most high schoolers who are ready for advanced research work were competing with a pool of college and graduate level students who already possessed the educational, and sometimes professional, qualifications. It was often difficult for them to convince organizations or university-level labs to take them on as interns. Despite this, students who participated in EXPLORE continue to prove that the next generation have so much to offer and are highly capable of working along-side professionals and college-level researchers. EXPLORE, as with other 优蜜视频 initiatives, developed as a result of our community鈥檚 need for access to optimally challenging learning opportunities, and 优蜜视频鈥檚 strong effort to find a way to serve these learners.

This year, I was entrusted once again to pilot a program, this time for 7^th through 12^th grade, called (LABS). The creation of the LABS Series was a direct result of numerous requests from students and parents who wanted a program that would engage learners in the 鈥榠n-between鈥�—they were too young to participate in advanced programs focused on college and career development and too old to avail of other enrichment opportunities. Additionally, for many of these students, there was a desire to not only become immersed in challenging and unique learning experiences, but to be surrounded by like-minded peers their age. In evaluating the need for such a program, 优蜜视频 also evaluated our current initiatives and noticed there were students aging out of that were not being served. We wanted to find a way to keep them engaged and involved with additional programming. As with other students who were 鈥榠n-between鈥�, these students want opportunities that foster their curiosity and passion for STEM and are content-rich, research-based and hands-on.

LABS Series emerged as a way for 优蜜视频 to nurture the needs of these bright, inquisitive learners and further serve them through Academy and beyond. We hoped to give students access to new knowledge and introduce them to the skills needed to be a successful scientific researcher through workshops facilitated by passionate professionals in the STEM field. We received an overwhelmingly great response from our community when we launched the first LABS Series in March 2018. With only 15 spots available for the first workshop, there was a waiting list after two weeks of opening the program. The first workshop was facilitated by Ivanna Escala, an NSF/Ford Graduate Research Fellow at the Caltech Department of Astronomy, who discussed the Chemical Evolution of Galaxies. Ivanna shared her research about galactic chemical evolution and guided students through a hands-on activity to investigate the basic properties of the visible light spectrum using various lamps and spectroscopes.

The proceeding line-up of LABS featured more incredible scientists and innovative research topics, including:

• Ecology and Water in Desert Biological Soil Crust Ecosystems with Dr. Kirsten Fisher, Associate Professor, Graduate Advisor Biological Sciences at Cal State Los Angeles
• Plant Ecology with Dr. Alexandra Wright, Assistant Professor of Ecology at Cal State Los Angeles
• Circadian Rhythms in Genetics with Dr. Susan E. Cohen, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at Cal State Los Angeles
• The Neuromechanics of Sensory Systems with Bradley Dickerson, Ph.D., NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow and California Alliance AGEP Fellow at Caltech

In reflecting on the successful implementation of pilot programs, like LABS Series and EXPLORE, I can鈥檛 help but feel elated to see the growth of programs that were built from the ground up and organically formed as a result of a need from our community. It makes every bit of progress more meaningful and further inspires me to do the work I do with this population of learners. I am then reminded that whenever there is a need, 优蜜视频 finds a way! 优蜜视频 continually strives to meet gifted learners where they are in their educational journey and always has an open door to families in need of something more.

To learn more about LABS Series or to register for our September 22^nd workshop on 鈥淪imple Math Problems No One Knows How To Solve. Yet.鈥� with Professor Mike Krebs, visit the !

The Wisdom of Sundays: Life-Changing Insights from Super Soul Conversations by Oprah Winfrey

鈥淒uring a time when I needed some inspiration in my life, this book, and the conversations Oprah shares, provided great insight into life lessons that some of the most brilliant leaders and visionaries have learned throughout their lifetime. I felt like a fly on the wall as I read through chapters about mindfulness, intention, fulfillment, love and connection.鈥� 鈥� Ni帽a Abonal, Senior Program Coordinator

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

鈥�The Great Alone explores a wild and sparsely populated Alaska in the 1970鈥檚, when a Vietnam War veteran moves his wife and 13-year-old daughter from Seattle to the very rugged frontier of Alaska to begin anew away from city life and war memories.聽 The book is an insider鈥檚 examination of the harsh realities and lush beauty of life in Alaska that I knew little about, set against a troubled family鈥檚 story of survival over the course of several decades. The book deals with adult themes but is well-plotted with engaging characters.鈥� 鈥� Bonnie Raskin, Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship Manager

The Things They Carried by Tim O鈥橞rien

鈥淚 reread The Things They Carried every year. To me, no other work so perfectly captures the camaraderie that exists under the most trying, confusing and challenging circumstances. Though fiction, it is grounded in historical truth and humbling to imagine what these characters went through so far from home. O鈥橞rien doesn鈥檛 mince words, but his descriptions have a gripping gentleness that makes you feel more than think. I get lost in each vignette that eventually weaves together into a larger narrative.鈥� 鈥� Hillary Jade, Program Manager

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal

鈥淎 unique coming-of-age story that follows Eva (and the food she loves) from birth through adulthood, told almost exclusively through the viewpoints of those she encounters along the way. It would be accurate to say I devoured this book. Not only was Eva鈥檚 journey compelling, but the vivid descriptions of the food that defines each stage of her life made me want to host my own elaborate, biographical feast. A great read for fiction lovers and foodies alike.鈥�-Nicole LaChance, Marketing & Communications Coordinator

In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson

鈥淚 had read A Walk in the Woods but never thought to pick up another Bryson book until this one was recommended by another 优蜜视频 staff member. This travel book about Bryson鈥檚 journey through Australia is a delightful cross between a page-turning beach read and informative historical commentary. I found myself laughing even while learning about the ecology, anthropology, history, geography and culture of this fascinatingly unique continent. You may even end up moving Australia up on your list of travel destinations!鈥�-Nicole Endacott, Program Coordinator

The Revenge of Geography by Robert D. Kaplan

鈥淭hough dense in historical examples, this book shows how many of our current tensions鈥攆rom the Syrian Civil War to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions鈥攕tem from monolithic geographical features. I particularly enjoyed the last two chapters, where Kaplan points at America’s demographic transition and concludes that geography, more often than not, determines the fate of nations.聽鈥�-Mark Blekherman, 优蜜视频 EXPLORE Extern

Want more book recommendations? Check out what we were enjoying in ,听听补苍诲听.

What books have you been enjoying this summer? Let us know in the comments!

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SOUTH PASADENA, Calif.鈥擫os Angeles-area kindergarten through eighth-grade gifted and talented students are stepping out of the traditional classroom to engage in advanced classes that explore disciplines such as chemistry, astronomy and humanities. Academy classes, taught by local specialists who hold doctorates in their fields, college professors and professionals, inspire Los Angeles鈥檚 brightest youth to grow socially and intellectually.

The Academy was created by . 优蜜视频 is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing programs that help gifted children balance intellectual ability with social, emotional, physical and spiritual growth. Independent of government funding, 优蜜视频 gives students the tools to work toward actualizing their full intellectual and personal potential in supportive environments such as the Academy.

优蜜视频 is meeting a need in the community by serving a demographic that often struggles with a lack of challenge in the mainstream classroom. Academy students are given work at a level appropriate for them, develop community with like-minded peers and bond with instructors who can relate to their special needs. For the students 优蜜视频 serves, weekly classes at the Academy are essential in fueling and satisfying their quest to know more. 鈥淚 would recommend Academy classes to anyone who enjoys learning!鈥� says Ariane Watkins, an Academy student who completed a Neuro-Energy course last term.

The program links a broad range of students from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds with instructors who鈥檝e been trained to teach advanced, college and high school material in a kid-friendly fashion. Winter 2013 classes include self-paced math, calculus, chemistry, ecology, humanities and astronomy. With an average class size of five students, Academy classes are a hands-on, inquiry-based and student-driven approach to learning. In Rocket to Calculus, for example, students make use of actual rockets to learn the basics of algebra, geometry and pre-calculus; in the final class, calculations are brought to life with a real rocket launch.

Scholarships for local Pasadena youth have been made possible by generous grants from the Ann Peppers Foundation and the Avery Dennison Foundation. 鈥淒ue to the scholarships we provide, gifted students in our community grow. Not only do we fan the flame of life-long learning in youngsters from all backgrounds, but they become stronger representatives of the schools they attend and are better able to contribute to their communities,鈥� says Jen Mounday, 优蜜视频 Academy program coordinator.

The Academy runs year-round, with the winter 2013 session running Jan. 12 to March 14. Classes are held at the 优蜜视频 offices in South Pasadena, Calif. Classes meet once a week for eight weeks and are offered after school on weekdays and during the day on Saturdays. For a full schedule of classes and to download an application, please visit the Academy page of 优蜜视频’s website or contact Jen Mounday at Academy@educationaladvancement.org or 626-403-8900.