After working with gifted kids for over the past three years at 优蜜视频, Program Coordinator Nicole Endacott shares the 5 lessons she has learned from our inspiring students.

1. There are infinite types of 鈥渟mart.鈥�

The kids who are gifted aren鈥檛 always the ones who ace every test. They can be the students who create elaborate doodles in the back of the classroom, acutely perceive when their friend is upset, or who have such outside-the-box creative ideas they can鈥檛 even put them into words or onto paper. Working in the gifted education world has meant broadening my view of what intellect can look like in such a diverse population 鈥� it鈥檚 so much fun to see how giftedness can express itself in our community!

2. Being sensitive doesn鈥檛 mean being weak.

Gifted kids often are more sensitive to abnormal stimuli such as social tension, high noise levels, perceived injustice, unusual textures, or a sudden change of plans. Though these sensitivities can make life as a gifted kid challenging at times, it does not mean they are weak. Going through life with sensitivities makes gifted kids brave, resilient, and empathetic.

3. Finding like-minded peers is invaluable.

One of my favorite parts of working with gifted youth is watching them enter an environment where they encounter kids like themselves, perhaps for the first time. When they鈥檙e able to have conversations with their peers about their favorite topics, gifted kids can bloom socially. I love seeing friendships form over unique premises you could only find in the gifted world: sharing an obscure favorite dinosaur, maybe, or a love of rhyming multi-syllable words.

4. Everyone should learn to advocate for themselves.

Gifted students have had to ask for what they need more than average children. Though a teacher with 30 other students may see a child asking for a harder worksheet as lower on their list of priorities, we should be rewarding students who know how to ask for tools that will help them succeed.

5. 鈥淲e鈥檙e all weird.鈥�

On the final day of Academy classes last fall, I discovered a phrase written on a white board after every student had left: 鈥淩eminder: We鈥檙e all weird.鈥� It was written in a student鈥檚 handwriting. I later found out that it was meant as a reminder that everyone has things that make them unique: we can either worry about being different or we can realize that our 鈥渨eird鈥� traits are the best parts of us!

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.

It鈥檚 common knowledge that kids can benefit from participation in sports: weekly exercise, the opportunity to make new friends, development of leadership skills, and much more.聽 However, what may not be so well-known is that participating in sports can have an even greater benefit for gifted students.

From violin and painting to robotics and debate, gifted children have many interests and often very little free time, but here is why you should consider signing them up for a sport as well:

Having a Safe Place to Fail

Most gifted kids are used to excelling and don鈥檛 know how to handle not being at the top of the pack. Chances are gifted children will not be the best soccer players on the team, but that is ok. Missing a goal is not going to affect their chances of getting into the school of their dreams. What it will do, however, is , and that is just fine.

Opportunities to Broaden Friendships

Playing on a sports team or taking classes such as tennis or fencing allows gifted children to connect with kids outside their regular peer group. They will meet students with varying interests and intellect and learn to communicate better with them. Surprisingly, they may find they have more in common with their new teammates or classmates than they would have thought.

Occasions to Let off Steam and Play

Gifted students can often feel overwhelmed with responsibilities and the pressure to be perfect. Participating in a sport allows them an opportunity to get outside, exercise, clear their heads, and focus on something completely different. In fact, at Yunasa and Yunasa West, 优蜜视频鈥檚 summer camps, one of the most popular activities is GaGa Ball, a variation of dodgeball. And, in 优蜜视频鈥檚 post-camp surveys, the kids always mention that they just love to get outside and play.

Improving Academics

Studies have shown that the physical activity of a sport helps to engage the brain in forward thinking. Many gifted students find that participating in a sport calms their active minds and .

Learning to Work as Part of a Team

Many gifted students tend to prefer working independently. By participating in a team sport, gifted students must learn to work with their teammates in order to achieve success. This is such an important skill since teamwork is required for just about all aspects of life鈥� school, business, and personal relationships.

In sum, gifted kids can benefit greatly from participating in sports. And, while it can be quite a time commitment for the whole family (hours of after-school practice and weekend games), gifted children should try a sport鈥� at least once. It will give them a better understanding of themselves as well as other children, provide a sense of balance in their lives, and make them more well-rounded individuals.

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