| Year of Entry: 2002 |
Age at Entry: 14 |
Hometown: Oak Brook, Illinois |
Gifted Minds
I came to PEG in 2002, intent on following my passion to become an elementary school teacher. I had known that I wanted to teach since I was in third grade. When I heard about the opportunity to skip high school, where I didn’t fit in socially and walked the halls unnoticed, it felt natural and exciting to begin studying for the career. Within my first year at the Program for the Exceptionally Gifted (PEG), I knew that I had made the right decision. I easily developed friendships with my peers, who were just as passionate about learning and their future careers. In the small community of Mary Baldwin and its PEG program, I blossomed into a more confident and out-going young woman. Because of the small class sizes and the many opportunities to get involved in activities, I felt noticed and that my efforts were meaningful. I took on several leadership roles that prepared me to be the leader of a classroom. I conversed with professors whose passion for their fields prompted me to think deeply about what they taught. My experience at Mary Baldwin gave me the strength and drive to continue on to the Harvard Graduate School of Education to study learning and teaching in even more depth and to earn a master’s degree. I am now teaching second grade at a private school for gifted children in the suburbs of Chicago. I draw on my experiences of and those of my PEG peers to understand these young gifted minds and to provide them a thrilling and enriching education.
