| Student to
Student |
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Dear Prospective Davidson Academy Students,
My name is Alexander Wade, usually known
as Alex, and this is my third year here at The Davidson Academy. I
have attended many schools prior to being enrolled at the Academy,
because those schools were unable to cope with the academic
challenges that are presented by profoundly gifted students. We
moved to Reno specifically so that I, and possibly my siblings,
could attend the Academy. For a while, I was in a private school in
Boston where the primary philosophy seemed to have been: “All
students must be identical.” Everything has changed since then. The
Academy offered me a chance to be unique, which it certainly does
for all the other students who attend as well.
I heard about
The Davidson Academy from my parents. More specifically, I heard
about it when they told me that we were going to move to Reno. I was
shocked, and initially found Reno too different for me. However, I
now enjoy the beautiful natural environment and the pleasant
climate. On a more academic level, the Academy at first was
intimidating but is now an enjoyable setting for learning. Part of
the appeal of the Academy is that it is filled with such interesting
people. There are people who are interested in pretty much
everything, from computer programming to history to linguistics. The
Academy has many students who are interesting to converse with, and
additionally, it’s much easier to converse with people who are at
your intellectual level and have a sophisticated understanding of
many topics than people who, however nice, don’t seem to be able to
comprehend what you are trying to say. There are also many clubs at
the Academy covering a variety of different subjects of interest,
from a “Robotics, Rocketry and Radios” club to “Le Petit Cirque”.
As I mentioned, I was at first intimidated
going into The Davidson Academy. What if everyone was smarter than
me? What if I would have hours and hours of homework every night?
I’m glad to say that these questions were based on nothing more than
ill-founded stress. The Academy is not filled with a bunch of
robotic nerds, but rather people who have unique interests and
personalities that, quite often, are much like those found at any
other school. For example, many Academy students are into sports
such as swimming, tennis, baseball and running.
But it’s not
just the people that make the Academy such a fascinating place. The
academics and facilities are great as well. Each student has a
curriculum tailored to their needs and wants. This has many perks,
such as never being bored with a class because it is too easy, and
choosing electives based on your interests. The teachers at the
Academy explain their subjects in great detail, and it’s, for
example, definitely rewarding to not only learn math equations and
theorems, but to learn their proofs and the reasoning behind them.
 And it’s certainly amazing that students can
take University of Nevada, Reno courses, both for electives and for
core courses. (To any parents reading this: relax. Students below
the age of 16 will be escorted to and from their classes.) Right
now, I’m taking three University courses: Second-Year Basque (the
language), Introduction to Organismal Biology, and Linguistic
Perspectives on American Indian Languages. Pretty cool,
right?
All in all, I am very grateful that I have had the
opportunity to attend The Davidson Academy. It’s really been a great
experience for me so far and it’s definitely going to be great in
the years to come. I hope that you consider the Academy as an option
for your future. You won’t be regretful.
~ Alexander Wade, Third Year Davidson Academy
Student
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| Get to Know
Us |
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 Since we are on the same academic
calendar as the University of Nevada, Reno, The Davidson Academy’s
spring semester has just begun, following a month-long break. It is
an exciting time! The past few months have been very busy but
incredibly rewarding. Our students have received numerous honors and
accolades and have participated in a wide variety of activities.
We’ve seen students grow and mature both academically and socially,
and look forward to all the possibilities of the coming semester,
including celebrating graduation for several students.
We
hope you consider applying for the 2011-2012 school year!
~ Colleen Harsin, Director of The Davidson Academy
of Nevada
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| Program
Updates |
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Application Available for Next School
Year
If you are interested in applying to The
Davidson Academy of Nevada for the 2011-2012 school year, please
review the Qualification Criteria and How to Apply pages of our website. The Academy is
specifically designed to meet the needs of profoundly gifted middle
and high school students who score in the 99.9th percentile on IQ or
college entrance tests, such as the SAT or ACT. On the Application Review Process page, you will find
detailed information about the on-site assessment.
Upcoming Tours for Prospective Students
Hear from
current students and Academy parents, familiarize yourself with faculty and staff, network with others and ask specific
questions at one of our upcoming school tours. Everyone is invited
to attend one of the following tour dates below so RSVPs are required. If you would like more
information, please email explore@davidsonacademy.unr.edu.
- Friday, Feb. 18, 2011
- Friday, March 25, 2011
- Friday, April 15, 2011
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| Student
Life |
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Student
Accolades
Angela Xu received a $2000 scholarship from the
Siemens Foundation, which nationally recognizes one male and one
female student for each state. Congratulations, Angela!
Congratulations to Taryn Apel for winning the Washoe County
Spelling Bee (6th grade) and qualifying for the Nevada State
Spelling Bee. Also, congratulations are in order for Vandana
Ravikumar who placed second among 8th graders in the Washoe County
Spelling Bee.
Student Activities
Davidson Academy
students have the opportunity to take part in a number of pursuits
outside of the classroom. Students are encouraged to participate in
clubs, teams and community activities. Below is a list of activities
currently offered at the Academy:
- Community Crusaders
- DECA
- Drama Club
- Future Physicians Club
- Green Earth Community Knowledge Organization (GECKO)
- Karaoke Club
- Le Petit Cirque
- The Messenger, Literary Magazine
- Math Club
- Newspaper Club
- P.A.W.S. (Passion Animals, Wildlife, Students)
- RE(A)D (student newspaper)
- Robots, Rockets, & Radio (RRR)
- Science Project
- Student Council
- Yearbook
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| Academics |
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 The primary focus of
The Davidson Academy’s curriculum is for graduates to leave with a
solid, broad-based foundation of knowledge, and the ability to think
deeply and learn independently. The Academy organizes each student’s
schedule based on his or her abilities, interests and needs.
Assessments are used to place students into appropriate classes, and
concrete academic benchmarks help the faculty guide students to more
advanced classes when ready.
The Academy offers middle school
and high school credits, and students can be concurrently enrolled
in each depending on their abilities and strengths. All students
take core classes in English, math, history and science. Curriculum
is accelerated a minimum of three years and is designed with the
asynchronous nature of highly gifted students in mind.
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| Meet Ms.
Berry, Foreign Languages and Literature
Instructor |
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 What
subjects do you teach at the Academy?
Teaching at the Academy never gets tedious because the
administration mines all of each instructor’s talents and
specialties to offer varied and rich curricula. I primarily teach
all levels of Spanish and have gotten the opportunity to teach
French, International Fiction, Mythology, and Yoga in the last two
years. I look forward to teaching costume design and history of
fashion next year as well.
How do you make studying foreign languages and
literature both interesting and fun?
I’m sure that every teacher feels this way about their
specialties, but languages and literature have always been
fascinating and fun for me. My students at the Academy have always
shown an uncanny ability to reflect and even regenerate my
enthusiasm. Language and literature inherently tie to expression,
empathy, and new perspectives and being able to explore these facets
through language games, art, and round table discussion makes each
day of teaching exciting and interesting. In language and literature
courses, students get to know themselves, each other, and humanity
past and present in a way that is not possible in all
subjects.
What are a few of the more interesting or challenging
projects that you have assisted Davidson Academy students with in
your classroom?
Using the
communicative method of language teaching and an emphasis on
critical thinking rather than rote memorization in literature and
mythology, I have been able to see students take raw information and
make it their own in surprising, thought provoking, and impressive
ways. Rather than taking a final exam in my mythology and literature
classes, students were assigned a creative final project or
adaptation that demonstrated their knowledge of the material. During
each project presentation, I have been astounded by the creativity
and the profundity of knowledge demonstrated by the students when
they are able to make the material their own. Projects in Mythology
ranged from board games replete with accurate ancient trivia to
ancient animosity flow charts.
In addition to helping
students gain an intellectual ownership of established material, I
have helped the students create an outlet for original artistic
expression with The Messenger, The Davidson Academy’s first
literary and art magazine. The students are able to express
themselves and connect with each other through the creation,
selection, editing, and assembling of entirely student produced
work.
How
important is it to have a grasp on foreign languages in our
increasingly digital world?
The Spanish poet Juan Ramón Jiménez wrote the poem
“Intelijencia, dame” about the poet’s struggle to find the words
that represent a form so precisely that they become the form itself.
This struggle to express and connect with others is not peculiar to
the poet, but rather requisite for all men who wish to be successful
in a seemingly globalized world where the specificity of individual
cultures and languages continues to inextricably affect and form the
thought patterns of man.
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| In the
News |
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Davidson Academy of Nevada Spotlighted in
EducationNext
 Challenging the Gifted, an article by June
Kronholz about The Davidson Academy in the Spring 2011 issue of
EducationNext, describes how the Academy is meeting the needs
of its students with a new model for educating profoundly gifted
students. Numerous students and teachers are profiled, in addition
to founders Bob and Jan Davidson and several national gifted
education experts.
Academy’s Robots, Rockets and Radio Club
Featured
The Davidson Academy's RRR Club (Robots, Rockets and
Radios) was recently featured in the NASA Nevada Space Grant
Consortium publication, The Launch. This past November, the
11 RRR club members built a payload (containing experiments) that
was launched on a high-altitude balloon and ascended to the edge of
space at an altitude of approximately 111,000 feet. For more
information, see the article, Up,
Up and Away (PDF).
 Academy Students Named National Merit Scholarship
Semifinalists
Three Davidson Academy students were recently
featured in the Reno Gazette-Journal article, Reno National Merit candidates find time for fun,
for being named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists. Pictured
L-R are Darlon Jan, Tristan Rasmussen, and Erik Jensen, who are all
seniors at the Academy. Congratulations to all! Photo courtesy of
the Reno Gazette-Journal.
“There's the widespread misconception that just
because you have academic rigor, that it takes all your time. It's
really what you make of it. The Academy leaves room for you to
pursue what you're interested in.”
Tristan Rasmussen, Reno Gazette-Journal
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