Joelene Carper, Sponsor

The Clarinda High School Talented and Gifted Program is designed to provide students with

rewarding and challenging activities that take place outside of the classroom and provide

them with enrichment opportunities for academic growth.

A new program that the TAG (Talented and Gifted) program has been offering now for the last eight years is the Iowa Online Advanced Placement. The students use online technology to complete assignments and tests. It is a rigorous curriculum that takes 10 hours a week to complete, and is offered to seniors. Courses include: AP Chemistry, AP English, AP Physics, AP Government and AP U.S. History. Mrs. Carper serves as the mentor, proctoring quizzes and tests. Mrs. Woodard is the site coordinator, and Dan DeGroot is the technology coordinator.

Freshmen are encouraged to register with Talent Search through the Belin-Blank Honor Center in Iowa City.

Sophomores, juniors and seniors in the TAG program are encouraged to enroll in college classes at IWCC or through the INC room. An ASSET test needs to be completed before a student can enroll in college courses.
From October to December, the students have been participating in the Stock Market Game. This game is an educational program based on a real-life simulation of the stock market. Each team received $100,000 to buy stock. The students learn about Wall Street trading, public ownership of companies, the costs, risks and rewards of financial decision-making, teamwork and research skills. This is sponsored by the Securities Industry Foundation for Economic Education.

In November, student attend Celebrate Creativity at the Josyln Museum in the morning and then listen to the Omaha Symphony in the afternoon.

During the fall, the Academic Team practices knowledge questions on the computer using questions from previous academic competitions. The questions relate to topics such as American and World History, Government, Recent Events, Economics, Geography, Literature, English, Math, Physical Science, Biology, Earth Science, Health and Psychology, Fine Arts, and Useless Trivia.

In December and April, the Knowledge Master Open contest is held in Mrs. Carper's room. A video projector is connected to the computer and projects the contest on a big screen. TAG members work together to answer the 200 questions. The faster the questions are answered correctly, the greater amount of points are made. Our goal is 1200 points or higher.

In March, we will be attending the Math Contest at NWMSU and the Bellevue Quiz Bowl. In May, the AP students will be taking their AP Exam for college credit.