Middle-schooler accepted to Duke gifted program

WINTER GARDEN — Especially in this age and nation, parents frequently seek means to develop their children’s minds and then further nurture that development through gifted programs.

One such program is the Duke University Talent Identification Program, which involves a select group of students in grades four to six each year, from throughout the U.S. and India.

Winter Garden resident Olivia Podracky, a sixth-grader at Champion Preparatory Academy, is one of those select gifted students. 

“The SAT-10 that qualified her for Duke TIP was last year’s SAT-10,” said Olivia’s mother, Kelli Podracky, referring to the Stanford Achievement Test. “She’s in sixth grade this year, so fifth grade was when she took the test. We got the letter in the mail about six months ago that said she had qualified based on her test scores to be in the program.”

Those standardized test scores must be in the 95th percentile or higher to qualify, with a 125 or higher certified IQ also accepted.

Once qualified, the students receive invitations to take the EXPLORE test, which is designed for eighth-graders, to further evaluate their academic potential. One of the major points of the TIP program among its advanced experiences is its summer program.

 “It is a big draw to do the college program, to go on campus for a week,” Kelli Podracky said. “You stay in the dorm; you eat in the college cafeteria; you really get a sense of full immersion in the college experience.”

The program occurs not only at Duke but also at a number of colleges around the country. The Podrackys hope Olivia will be able to join the program closest to home. That one is in St. Petersburg and sponsored by Stanford University.

“You can go to different college campuses, so she would be an upcoming seventh-grader going up to a college campus and taking this course that simulates a different natural disaster and the different jobs that would work for that natural disaster,” Kelli Podracky said.

Olivia remembers one example of an oil spill, in which the jobs surrounding the disaster included reporter and animal researcher.

“I thought that was really neat,” Olivia said. “I really liked that you could study the animals.”

Another appeal of TIP is that participants have a network of fellow participants to connect with through the program website, tip.duke.edu.

“You can hook up with other Duke TIP students throughout the country, so it kind of creates this group of these elite students that are like-minded and are grade-focused and college-focused and kind of in a different place than typical fifth-graders,” Kelli Podracky said.

Based on Olivia’s acceptance to this program, colleges already will start to look at her as a potential student.

“Most people around my age are thinking about high school and what they’re going to do in high school,” Olivia said. “But being able to get accepted into Duke University because of my SAT-10 grades, it’s weird, because I’m 12, and we’re already thinking about college. It’s really cool; it’s kind of crazy.”

Crazy cool might be appropriate words to describe how Olivia has turned her Marvel fanaticism into a startup business.

“It’s not very big right now, but I started this business called Realm Superheroes,” she said. “It’s basically my Marvel. I’ve already started the book — first book, anyways — because I’m useless at drawing people, so I had to write a book. I just kind of started it one night: I just said, ‘Oh, I should start a superhero company.’ Then I started writing the book and, before you know it, I’m making a website and business cards, and I’ve got the website up and I’m putting information in.”

To see a snippet of what Realm Superheroes has in store, visit realmsuperheroes.blogspot.com.

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].