Greetings MAGC Board and Members!
Happy Autumn!
It has been a joy to serve as president of the Michigan Association for Gifted Children for the past year. I, like you, share a passion for helping students, educators, and families from across the state. I look forward to continuing the work of supporting the needs of the gifted community.
As your board leader, my goal is to expand our organization’s impact by connecting and forming sustainable partnerships with more families, educators, the business community, and legislative members. Over that past year, we have done just that. 2022-23 has been a very busy year for MAGC. We believe that the time is right for gifted education in the State of Michigan and our board members are ready to lead the way!
Last year, as a board, we recognized the need for all board members and members to play a more active role in advocacy. As a result, we are making major strides in gifted education. As a board, we are working collectively to develop gifted education policies, and actionable objectives to take to the state to strengthen our pursuit of educational equity for all constituents and to eliminate barriers through education, awareness, and advocacy.
I would like to highlight a few accomplishments in Gifted Education across the state:
- Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD), in partnership with the United States Department of Education (USDOE) and Eastern Michigan University (EMU), was awarded more than $2.5 million over the next five years to support the expansion of DPSCD’s Gifted and Talented (GATE) program. (Javits Grant)
- JKL Bahweting Anishnabe PSA in Sault Sainte Marie received support for gifted programming through Javits grant funds awarded to Purdue University.
- Former MAGC board members Kelley Senkowski and Dr. Becky Mann have written four gifted education training modules on the Edupath platform. MAGC has financially sponsored the creation of these modules. The modules will increase educator’s knowledge and understanding of gifted children.
- Dr. Dante Dixson, MAGC board member, also serves as an at-large member on the National Association for Gifted Children’s Board of Directors.
- Sherry Sparks serves as the Advocacy Chair for MAGC and last year she led advocacy work at NAGC’s National Advocacy and Leadership Conference.
This is just the beginning! We look forward to providing more information soon and sharing with you how you, too, can support our gifted education advocacy efforts.
Lastly, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of the new MAGC board members. I look forward to engaging with you over the next year as we continue to strengthen the organization. MAGC looks forward to leveraging your strengths for the greater good of the gifted community. Thank you for your leadership and commitment in pursuit of supporting Michigan’s children.