ESU Holds Gifted Institute for Elementary School Students

Super Saturday Gifted Program

Posted by: Elizabeth Richardson on April 10, 2025, No Comments

On Saturday, April 5, East Stroudsburg University welcomed 40 gifted students from local and regional school districts to the Saturday Gifted Institute. ESU students taking Instructional Planning in Special Education (SPED 215) created a day of hands-on learning for elementary and middle school aged children (grades 2-8.)

This semester, the pre-service students created lessons involving advocacy and supporting the community. The students were broken into five groups representing agencies and topics including K-9 Warriors, AWSOM, Camp Papillion, Foster Care, and Childhood Diabetes.

ESU SPED 215 students who prepared the day’s lessons and event were Sasha Burch, a junior from East Stroudsburg, Pa.; Mackenzie Cross, a sophomore from Roaring Brook Twp., Pa.; Heather Dugey, a junior from Bangor, Pa.; Jacob Hazen, a senior from Sussex, N.J.; Belle Hnasko, a sophomore from Somerset, N.J.; Paige Loch, a sophomore from Covington Township, Pa.; Ashlee Lunden, a junior from Belvidere, N.J.; Jilian McGowan, a junior from Wilkes Barre, Pa.; Sydney Seyler, a sophomore from East Brunswick, N.J.; Amya Torres, a sophomore from Allentown, Pa.; and Sydnie  Wright, a sophomore from Mount Laurel, N.J.

ESU’s Saturday Gifted Institute program is the only program of its kind in Pennsylvania. For more information, please contact Dr. Brooke Langan, dean of ESU’s College of Education by calling (570) 422-3377 or email blangan1@esu.edu.