(by Don Meador, March 22, 2022)
Allen County students in the Gifted and Talented program were given the opportunity last Friday to participate in the first Fantastic Friday event. The day-long activity was designed to spark creative thinking, innovative exploration, and peer interaction.
“We have done activities like this in the past with Winter Wonderland and our summer camps,” noted Allen County Schools’ Gifted and Talented Coordinator Vicki Cooper. “With Fantastic Friday’s, we brought in community professionals and asked them to create classes for our gifted kids in grades four through 12. Each student had three sessions. The big thing is this helps the kids work on big challenges such as critical thinking skills, problem solving, team work, how to think outside the box, and time management. We are hitting on those things. It’s one day of learning and being challenged outside the regular classroom.”
The day included a session on Designing a Logo taught by local graphic designer Ada Oliver (Oliver Creative). The students were challenged to “walk through the branding process by creating a logo design together.” Students were asked to “design a logo from sketches to finalized concepts” for a business of their choice.
A session on game design----taught by local gaming professional Kevin Hughes----asked students to go beyond the basics of games and consider “the design and creation of these games and how they entice us and capture our attention for hours at a time.” The students worked together to “to brainstorm, design, and create their very own board game.”
Local independent businessman Kevin Carver presented a session entitled “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” The session focused on ways to “build wealth---without college degrees, high taxes, student loans, or horrible bosses.” Students role-played as CEO’s and were asked to “make the tough decisions that determine if you succeed or fail.” Students “compared ideas with classmates, ran real business numbers, made an effective sales pitch for potential partners, and competed in the open market inside the classroom.”
Approximately 43 students from the Allen County-Immediate Center, the James E. Bazzell Middle School, and the Allen County-Scottsville High School took part in the gifted and talented activity last Friday in classrooms at the high school.