Summer Institute for the Gifted - academic summer programs for gifted and talented students in grades K-11 and gifted education resouces for educators and families
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Summer Institute for the Gifted - providing an academic advantage

 

Preliminary Survey Results

SIG recently mailed a survey to 5,000 of its alumni. Here is a sampling of the preliminary results from the first 579 respondents. A more complete publication of results will be available in the fall. The results were very interesting and quite positive, verifying the excitement we have for our programs.

If you attended a SIG session in the past or if you know someone who attended a SIG session and hasn’t completed the survey, please go to http://www.giftedstudy.com/alumnisurvey/. We would love to hear from you too.

Here’s a sampling of what our former students shared:

The top three reasons our alumni selected for attending a summer program were to have a fun experience, have an academic challenge, and make new friends. The top three reasons they selected for choosing a SIG program were our course selection, the location of the program, and our reputation.

We learned that SIG students benefitted from the program in many ways:

  • 75% believed that their SIG program helped prepare them for their college experience
  • 24% said SIG helped influence their choice of profession or career
  • 81% maintained contact with people from SIG after camp ended
  • 63% maintain contact with people from SIG even today

The benefits are long lasting – 92% would recommend the SIG program to a student even today. Our respondents believe that attending SIG made them more independent (84%), enriched them academically (76%), provided friendships (67%), and offered learning beyond the classroom (65%).

There were many personal comments as well. Here are a few:

Question: Did any aspect of the academic program at SIG influence your choice of profession or career?

  • Gave me the confidence to know that I could compete in college, and the intellectual freedom allowed me to explore my current double major – computer science and music.
  • Creative writing classes led me to be an aspiring cinematographer.
  • I loved being surrounded by other intellectual people who actually thought it was cool and fun and interesting to spend afternoons talking about philosophy and math and telling jokes in Latin and just generally challenging ourselves and each other. SIG definitely built up my desire to be a professor/researcher in an academic field.
  • I loved my basic physics class that I took. Building a CO2 rocket convinced me that I wanted to study to become an engineer.
  • It made me realize that it was OK to be interested in science.

Question: What else would you like us to know about your SIG experience?

  • Being involved in the SIG program has benefited me in so many ways. Not only did I learn new things in fields that interested me, but I experienced living on my own and taking care of myself. I also met some of the greatest people I have met in my life – some of my best friends today are ones that I met at SIG. The faculty, curriculum, facilities – all were phenomenal.
  • Best 5 summers of my life. I can’t wait to send my kids (once they're born and old enough, mind you).
  • I believe that SIG helped me in a variety of ways. I had never before been able to spend so much time with people who were as academically inclined as I was. I gained a great deal of self-confidence through SIG in terms of both academics and personal independence, and I believe that SIG helped me get into one of the top 20 liberal arts colleges in the country.
  • SIG has had an enormous impact on my life, and I have never enjoyed myself more than in those three weeks. I got to experience life on a beautiful campus, take classes that truly grabbed my interest, test new things, take a trip to New York City, something I've always wanted to do, and make amazing friends. SIG is an amazing experience, and I will always be grateful to have taken part in it.
  • SIG really pushed me to keep myself motivated. Throughout all of middle school, and now into high school, I am constantly challenging myself to do better. Currently, I received acceptance into a semester school in Maine (Maine Coast Semester) that is based off all honors courses. Without the SIG experience at a young age, I do not believe that I would have had the motivation to work at applying for a difficult semester school for ambitious teens. SIG not only benefitted me when I was participating in the program, but has continued to help me throughout my academic career.
  • SIG was one of the best experiences of my life. I made some very good friends. Before it was all over, we had become like a family. The staff taught me to be unrelenting in the pursuit of knowledge.

We love hearing about the lives and interests of our students after they leave us. It is always gratifying to hear that students not only enjoyed the program while they attended, but that they continue to reap the benefits of this wonderful program. We hope that you will be an alumnus after this summer and that you will be able to share your wonderful stories with us as well.