Whenever I try to tell my friends back in California about the week I鈥檝e spent in Colorado every summer for the past three years, words fall just short. I describe to them the intense friendship, the emotional growth, the tight-knit community and the sheer happiness that make up my experience at . Then I say: however good this sounds, imagine it 10,000 times time better.

Yunasa is a truly special place. I have never felt more free to be myself than on the grounds of Camp Shady Brook. Almost everywhere else in my life, there are parts of me I feel the need to hide, fearing that I鈥檒l come across as weird or condescending or attention-seeking or annoying. I worry that if I let out these suppressed parts of me, it鈥檚 all people will be able to see. My personality, my complex emotions and my varied interests will be reduced, made less than the sum of their parts. At Yunasa, I feel no such fear. I am so easily and fully myself, speaking up when I might have remained silent at home. The result of this is a wonderful kind of understanding between my fellow campers and I. It is culture of complete acceptance, and love, and I鈥檝e never experienced anything else like it.

I wasn鈥檛 expecting any of this the first time I came to Yunasa. In fact, as my mother and I wove between the wide, graceful river and the tall pines that line the road to camp, I remember anticipating the exact opposite. There were a lot of qualities and ideas associated with the word 鈥済ifted鈥� that I didn鈥檛 connect with at all, and so I worried that, even here, I wouldn鈥檛 fit in. I鈥檇 be stuck a thousand miles from everything I knew, unable to make friends, bored out of my mind without cell phone service and only a single book to read. After an excruciating, anxious hour, we arrived at Camp Shady Brook. I stared at the ground as we checked in and hauled my luggage up to the cabin. Before I could process any of it, my mom was hugging me goodbye as I begged through tears to go with her.

But once I wiped away those tears and entered the dance hall, where campers talked and played games while the last few arrivals trickled in, it took all of ten minutes for me to find a friend. My fears of a miserable week were gradually replaced with a thrilling excitement – I still had no idea what was coming, but based off the enthusiasm of the returning campers, it was something amazing. That first friend, Hannah, introduced me to her friends from the previous year, and we started talking, laughing, sharing stories and silly jokes. I realized I was opening myself up in a way I didn鈥檛 know was possible. As the blazing Colorado sun fell below the horizon to reveal the most beautiful view of the stars I鈥檝e ever seen, I knew that I had stumbled upon something extraordinary.

After talking to many of the friends I鈥檝e made at Yunasa, I realize that this is not a unique way to begin one鈥檚 first day. We鈥檝e all struggled with feeling alienated and disconnected from our peers at one point or another, but on top of that most of us have also felt different from the stereotypical gifted kid, so we expect that same lonely disconnect to follow us to camp. Instead, we find a community that is incredibly diverse and welcoming, where everyone can feel valued and included. There is no singular gifted experience. At Yunasa, we connect over what we have in common – you鈥檒l hear a lot of finger snaps and whispered agreements during group dialogues, when one person鈥檚 experience resonates with many – but it is understood that there is great variety in our experiences as well. People here are a lot like me, but not exactly like me. That would be boring. I think the relationships formed at Yunasa are so strong and deep in part because the experiences we do share allow us to receive the unique, unfamiliar qualities in each other with total acceptance and understanding.

And the relationships I鈥檝e formed are so meaningful! It鈥檚 strange to reflect upon the bonds I鈥檝e formed with other campers and think that I鈥檝e only spent three weeks total in their presence. I mean it when I say that my friends from camp are some of my best friends in the world. They make me laugh so uncontrollably hard that my jaw and stomach end up sore. They encourage me to step out of my comfort zone, to push myself just a little further, and once I take that terrifying first step off the edge of the cliff I鈥檓 rappelling down or stand up to perform my original song in front of everyone, they cheer me on so enthusiastically. They listen to me and care about me, simply checking in on how I鈥檓 feeling that day but also supporting me with whatever bigger problems are on my mind. And I do the same for them. These friendships are so intense, so equal, so beautifully intimate. I think back to a moment from last summer when I sat on the cabin steps with my friend Vince, again under those glorious stars. We talked for hours. At Yunasa, everything I鈥檝e bottled up in the past year seems to find a way out, and so I told him things I thought I鈥檇 never feel comfortable telling anyone. It was exactly what I needed. I felt relieved and released and loved and full of love for others all at once. I am lucky to have amazing friends back home, but none of them understand me or really hear me the way my Yunasa friends do.

Emotional growth and healing occurs at Yunasa, in Heart of the Matter sessions and workshops led by our incredible fellows and long, late-night conversations. But there鈥檚 also no shortage of lighthearted fun. That aforementioned side-splitting laughter follows me everywhere, shaking me out of my early-morning daze in the dining hall, bouncing off the surface of the lake as our canoe spirals the exact opposite direction I want it to, escaping from behind my hand as Carissa and I try to stifle our giggling and not wake the entire cabin. I get the chance to rappel down a rock face, zipline, do yoga; I write slam poems and learn basic martial arts. We play Egyptian Rat-Slap and we take it very, very seriously (probably the proudest moment of my entire life was the one time I beat my friend and defending champion Mya). During our unstructured afternoons, Gwen plays her ukulele and we harmonize along to a song we both love. These are my simplest, most favorite joys.

I always end up crying on the last night of camp. It鈥檚 so bittersweet. For one wonderful week I can exist exactly as I am and be understood. Though I miss my family and my California friends, going back to them is hard: I鈥檓 leaving one home for another.

Still, I am not returning to the exact same situation I left. Each Yunasa changes me. I leave with new ideas and techniques for dealing with the difficult parts of my life. I leave having made new friends and having deepened the friendships I made in the summers before. I leave more certain of who I am. I could reminisce for hours about every amazing thing that makes Yunasa what it is, from the mundane to the truly profound (and I have, over FaceTime, to my Yunasa friends). I feel like the the luckiest person in the universe to have spent even a single day there, tucked away in the mountains in a perfect world.

优蜜视频 is currently taking applications for it’s 2019 summer camps.

Kate Duey is a private college counselor serving gifted students. She has worked with students on traditional schooling paths, home schooled students, community college students, and students seeking accelerated or early college entrance. Kate is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School. She has a Certificate in College Counseling from UCLA.

What happens if a student graduates from high school exhausted? AP classes, standardized testing, extracurricular activities, sports, music, community service, research projects…and all of those college essays! What if they worked so hard they can鈥檛 remember what they like? Are they ready for four or five or six more years?

Among gifted high school students, it is especially important to remember that giftedness is innate to a person, and we should embrace the whole student by supporting their intellectual, social, spiritual, emotional and physical growth. When a gifted student鈥檚 high school years disproportionately emphasize intellectual development, the whole person is neglected. Refreshing all parts of a gifted student鈥檚 self helps to focus his or her intensities in ways that work with and for the student.

For graduating high school students who find themselves exhausted, an intentional pause to decompress and plan their next steps 鈥� a 鈥済ap year鈥� between high school and college 鈥揷ould be a viable option. They often enter college with better perspective, more maturity, chronological alignment with his or her class, and enthusiasm for an old or new interest elevates the student鈥檚 whole experience.

Taking a gap year does not mean the student does not apply to college as a high school senior; they absolutely should. As a high school student, he or she has access to the teachers and counselors who will write letters of recommendation, grades and test scores are in hand, and good reference materials to search for college are easier to access. Definitely apply! Then, defer.

As a college counselor working with gifted high school students, I鈥檝e twice seriously advised a gap year. One student considered extreme mountaineering, the other living in Europe with extended family. (Admittedly, neither did it.) I鈥檝e talked about it with every student who has an interest in studying foreign languages. Among our tabloid friends, Prince William and Kate Middleton took gap years. Kate spent much of hers studying Italian. Every year, fifty to seventy students defer entrance into Harvard College for a gap year. In 2006, Harvard reported some of the focuses of those gap years:

• Backpacking
• Caring for grandparents
• Writing the Next Great American Novel
• e-commerce startup
• Figure skating
• Kibbutz life
• Language study
• Military service
• Mineralogy
• 听惭耻蝉颈肠
• Political campaigns
• Reading
• Special needs education
• Sports
• Steel drumming
• Storytelling
• Swing dancing
• Working to save money for college

Parents often worry that, by detaching from a year-to-year academic progression, their child will fall behind. Colleges seldom see it that way, and many letters of admission come with the option of deferring for a year. Once in college, students are often encouraged to take a year off, and college student counseling centers freely offer advice about opportunities. Splitting the difference, some colleges offer mid-year entrance, allowing the student a 鈥済ap semester.鈥� American University and Brandeis University have formal off-campus programs for first-year fall semester.

A year off can center around any endeavor. Now that average student indebtedness at graduation is $25,200, saving for a year before college can create more flexibility after college. Another opportunity is more family time, especially with grandparents, which may have been sacrificed for academic achievement.

Some parents and students prefer a structured year. There are many services which will match a student with a gap year program, and a quick internet search will yield many. Also, think outside of the box; my personal favorite was a year at Austin Community College studying blacksmithing.

A gap year can make for a more interesting student, capable of adding more to the academic community. Best of all, students can discover their passions and capture their zeitgeist before they begin college.

Has your child considered taking a gap year? Please share your experience in the comment section below.

Kate will be discussing college admissions at our next . The talk will take place at 6:30 pm on February 13, 2013, at the 优蜜视频 Learning Center, located at 625 Fair Oaks Avenue, Suite 288, South Pasadena, CA 91030 (across the hall from the 优蜜视频 main office). Please RSVP to reception@educationaladvancement.org. We hope to see you there!

Like this post? Please share!

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.