Investing in the Leaders of Tomorrow

March 16, 2010: A new charter school for gifted and talented students will help the area develop tomorrow’s leaders for the area, according to organizers of the Palmetto Scholars Academy.

“If you are not helping gifted students, you are holding them back,” said Rotarian Win Gasperson when introducing the meeting’s speaker, Dr. Shelagh Gallagher of Charlotte. “There is no middle ground.”

Gallagher observed that with big changes going on in the world, strong leadership is needed more than ever. For today’s students to turn into tomorrow’s leaders, they need a where they can learn to “sustain innovation, think historically, appreciate complexity, communicate clearly across cultures, respect diversity and practice ethically.”

But hundreds of talented students in the Lowcountry aren’t challenged enough to help them develop to their potential, in part, because current schools focus on bringing the bottom of classes up to the expense of those at the top, she said.

It’s a myth, Gallagher said, that these gifted students will be OK – that they’ll figure out how to be challenged. She asked members to think how a talented basketball player isn’t left to his own devices as less-talented ones are brought up in skill level. Instead, the talented player often gets extra help.

“If Michael Jordan had not had that kind of support, it’s very likely he would have become kind of bored,” she said. “Why can’t we do this for the areas of society that will actually develop our civilization rather than just entertain us?”

Gallagher said a school that targets gifted and talented students will help them to develop intellectually and become the leaders of tomorrow.

The Academy is seeking to open in August for students in grades six through eight. Eventually, it will run through high school.

“This school is going to be a national model in bringing the business and technology communities together to reverse this trend,” noted Stacey Lindbergh, a North Charleston Rotarian who chairs’ the group putting the new school together. More info: www.palmettoscholarsacademy.org
ALSO TUESDAY, the club welcomed a GSA group from the state of Parana in Brazil. In a short slideshow presentation, members heard from the five visitors – two educators, a business administrator and two dentists. Among the statistics they provided: Brazil has almost 200 million people. It takes up 47 percent of the land mass of South America. Parana has 84 Rotary clubs and more than 2,000 Rotarians .

Mark Smith gave the invocation and pledge. Tom Clymer provided information on the charity Duck Race. Sue Sommer-Kresse introduced the GSE team.
Reported by: Andy Brack, Keyway Committee