GIMS Sparkle Once Again
For the fifth time in as many years parents, teachers, mentors, and any other interested parties were treated to an evening of student presentations from the Gifted Independent Mentored Study (GIMS) participants. GIMS is a program at the High School for juniors and seniors that have been identified as academically gifted.
These students are invited to participate in a program that allows them to delve into an area of study that is beyond the typical school curriculum. Once they accept the invitation each student is asked to submit a proposal for a project that they would like to work on during the semester. They are paired with an expert in that area to serve as a mentor. Projects are completed outside of the normal school day and are submitted to the coordinator of the GIMS program, Mr. Bruce Howell. GIMS Night is the opportunity that the students have to present what they have learned during this process. It is a very informative and entertaining time. Here is a list of participants, their projects, and their mentors.
| Student | Project | Mentor |
| Michael Reeves | “Components of Fitness” | Sarah Fisher |
| Taylor Billings | “The Music Recording Process” | Jeff Bennett |
| Grace Coletta | “Sports Psych” | Dr. Gloria Balague |
| Meghan Mandel | “My Visit to IIT and Prepping for College” | Chris White |
| Sabheen Mohsin | “Artistic Study of Birds” | Nancy Staszak |
| Breanne Prindeville | “Study in Infectious Disease” | Alex Tomich |
| Naiomi Gunaratne | “Autism” | Yousef Matariyeh |
| Shelly Chatman | “Genetics” | Mark LaScala |
| Evan Huddleston | “Programming a GUI” | Casey Boyd |
| Viktor Vajda | “Homemade Solar Cells” | Stefan Vajda |
| Joey Blunk | “Making Music Again” | Scott Gumina |
| Alexandra Zubenko | “The World of Architecture” | Bob Larsen |
We would like to express our gratitude to the parents, mentors, and teachers of the Gifted Independent Mentored Study participants. Without the help and support of these people we would not have been able to be as successful in this process as we were.
