The High Achieving Students Interest Group addresses the issues connected with students who want more than the usual opportunities and challenges. Whether they are gifted undergraduates at a prestigious research university, graduate-school bound students at a selective four-year college, or honors students in a community college, they need advisers who can guide them through getting the most from their educational experience. Members of this interest group are concerned with directing undergraduate research opportunities, administering honors programs, developing enriched curricular opportunities both inside and outside the classroom, organizing summer bridges for promising high school students, recruiting especially able students of diverse backgrounds, mentoring scholarship applicants, helping bright students make realistic adjustments to the college environment, and advocating for general education among students ready to specialize early. Our panels have included students, professionals, and faculty advisers from private and public institutions. We hope to create a forum in which the special needs of able students can be recognized in the context of the whole institution.

Co-Chairs: Marion Schwartz / Iona Black
Institution: Penn State University / Yale University
Phone: (814) 865-7576 / (203) 432-3316
E-mail: mxs5@psu.edu / iona.black@yale.edu