Relutctant Dad: How we came to enroll at Vanguard Gifted Academy
To fully understand my child’s journey to Vanguard Gifted Academy, you must first learn a little about me, a happy Vanguard parent. I am the second of four children and spent my entire pre-collegiate academic career in the Hampshire school system, a part of Community Unit School District 300. I was one of 60 or so students who began at Hampshire Elementary in Kindergarten and continued all the way through high school, where I was one of approximately 100 graduates that year. School was never particularly challenging to me, I picked up on math quickly (I’ve always enjoyed how it can be done several different ways and still work), and I was largely able to get by with the minimum required to get straight A’s and graduate as second in my class.
College was a rude awakening. I went to the University of Illinois with a planned Aerospace Engineering major. I was completely unprepared for the responsibility to go to class and finish the work that was placed on my shoulders. There was nothing in any of the coursework that I wasn’t capable of doing - I just needed to go do it. Unfortunately, as I fell behind, I was anxious about getting singled out, so I didn’t ask for help or use all the resources available to me. My first semester GPA invited me to leave the school. I did a semester at Elgin Community College, where I once again achieved a 4.0 GPA, applied for readmission to U of I (this time in the aviation program - my true passion), and was accepted. I wish I could say my lesson was learned, and I excelled - but alas, I did very well in my aviation classes and just enough in my others to eventually earn my diploma.
So what does all that have to do with Vanguard? Fast forward 15 years, and my wife and I had just registered our son for Kindergarten. He had spent the last three years in the St. Charles Park District preschool, where we loved his teachers and his time to learn and socialize. Initially, we planned to put our son in public school. The St. Charles school system seems to have a good reputation, and I was content with the idea of public school. After all, I was a product of public schools and was in a successful career (where luckily, my mediocre college GPA didn’t impact me). Our son seemed smart to us, but as a parent very close to the situation, how do I objectively measure that? His teachers were consistent in their praise of his abilities…but it somehow felt wrong to be self-labeling him as above average or anything like that. Our son met or exceeded the preschool measurables, but without other students to compare, I had no objective way to know that he was gifted - or at least no way that felt like it wasn’t braggadocious.
Toward the end of his last year in preschool, my wife mentioned looking into private school for him and specifically mentioned Vanguard Gifted Academy. She used to teach with a parent of a Vanguard student, and the other parent had recommended the school if we were looking at private schools. Soon we had a meeting arranged where Mrs. Blaetz could evaluate our son as to whether he was a good fit for the school and give us a tour and the rundown of the school. Honestly, I was very hesitant. I didn’t really think private school for his age was necessary, I was uneasy about the cost, and private schooling seemed “hoity-toity.” I promised my wife I’d go into the meeting with an open mind, but prior to the visit, I was doubtful that I would be moved to change my mind. I decided that the school was going to have to sell itself to us, I was not going to try and persuade them as to why my son belonged.
The visit was wonderful. Mrs. Blaetz observed behaviors in our son that she felt clearly signaled giftedness. We didn’t do formal IQ testing for another year - it was recommended that children should be at least six for the tests to be more accurate. Elizabeth explained the banding model, a concept for which I didn’t have a clear idea how it worked to group kids with ages spanning up to 3 years together. It was so radically different than anything I had experienced in my education that it didn’t really compute. In the interest of full transparency, I still don’t completely understand it - other than to say I see the results, and it works! I can’t point to a specific event during our visit where I really became open to the idea, but we left the visit and I was seriously considering this as an option.
What held me back? One worry, I was going to have to try and prove that my son belonged, but that was never an issue. At no point did I feel we were being pushed to show that my son was anything except who he was. Elizabeth picked up on him right away. I was hesitant to tell our friends that we were considering a gifted school for our son. Was it because it seemed like we were bragging? We were embarrassed to be able to say he’s smart. I don’t fully grasp it now, other than to say it’s easier to talk about, but still sometimes feel a tug, even though I’m convinced beyond any doubt that this is the correct environment for him. After being involved for three years, we’re preparing to enroll our daughter. Knowing our son’s success here, there are still occasionally times when friends ask why we’re going to send our daughter as well; after all, they’ve told us, “She’s a girl and will be able to adapt to public school better.” I’m not sure why there’s a stigma about gifted education, or if there is one at all, and I just perceive it to be, but it was something that weighed on my mind as we made the decision to enroll our son. There wasn’t a moment of clarity where we decided Vanguard was going to be the choice - I think initially it felt like he was going to public school, and when we started to investigate Vanguard, momentum continually swung until Vanguard was the obvious decision.
As I write this, I have nearly three years of experience with Vanguard to reflect on. The one constant that was quickly evident was how wrong I was to discount this as an option initially and how glad we are that we found Vanguard! Our son came home from school every day excited. A few weeks into his second year, he told us, “My day was great! It’s great every day. You don’t have to ask!” That reaction and his enthusiasm for school are key for us. Academically, it’s obvious he’s learning things at a pace and level that are impossible to match in the public school system. Growing up, I remember individual reading groups, but ability-based class distinctions didn’t happen until 3rd grade, and our school had no “gifted program” (a once-a-week hour pullout) until 4th grade. Our son is challenged by work that is at his ability level and causes him to stretch. He’s reluctant when things are harder, but it’s a lesson he’s learning as an 8-year-old that took me until I was done with college to appreciate.
Academics aren’t the only way Vanguard is so well suited for our son. Anyone who knows him can see that he is always on the move. When he’s thinking, he’s running circles around the living room or kitchen table. When he’s forced to sit, he keeps having to reset his train of thought. He would not flourish in a traditional class setting where one is expected to stay seated for most of the day. At Vanguard, he’s allowed to walk around the table if he needs it to think. They are able to adapt the class setting, so he is set up to learn. And it’s not just for him but his classmates all receive the the same opportunity.
In short, he’s getting his academic needs fulfilled while also being given an environment that is most suited to how he learns and processes information.
In the first couple of paragraphs I detailed my spectacular flame-out in college. Luckily, my story has a happy ending. I knew what I wanted to do, my college education was largely a box to check along the way, so my substandard academic performance in college seems to have not hurt my career. I’m sure there are a couple of doors closed because of my GPA, but at this point, I hope a 20-year track record speaks more than a college GPA does. My original train of thought when picking a school for our children was, “Public school was just fine for me. Why not my children.” Looking back now, I don’t want to change my experience, but if I can help my kids avoid my mistakes, I’ll do that. I don’t need or even really want my kids to be the phenoms who graduate college at 15 or anything like that. I don’t know what they want to do with their lives when they grow up. I feel starting them at Vanguard Gifted Academy keeps more doors open for them down the road. I often use a sports analogy to describe this thought. They say you can’t win the game in the first quarter, but you can lose it. I don’t know if my kids will end up leading “gifted” lives, but VGA keeps more opportunities open.
John Slater