Gifted Community Enrichment: A Class for Grown Ups

Parents and guardians are always welcome and encouraged to attend classes with their child/children to make the most of this wonderful experience.  Alternately, join other grown-ups for Gifted Community Enrichment (GCE).  Each Saturday through our GCE sessions, The Super Saturday Program offers knowledgeable presenters, Q&A, and facilitated discussion to provide you with insights into life with gifted children, resources, and contacts.

  • Anyone with an interest in gifted education is welcome to come attend GCE, including parents, guardians, teachers, counselors…
  • There is no cost and no registration required to attend.
  • GCE is provided as a service to the community.
  • Sessions will begin at 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m., 15 minutes after students begin morning and afternoon classes.

TSSP is a rare haven for parents and guardians of gifted children where we can talk with one another to compare notes about joys and challenges, make connections, learn what other schools are doing regarding gifted services, and simply relate in ways that others cannot. Through GCE, we actively foster this supportive communication.

For parents and guardians with a student attending class, we require attendance for the first 15 minutes of the morning or afternoon session the first week.  We need this time to communicate key information about the term.

For questions on GCE, please contact messagecenter@supersaturday.org.

We look forward to collaborating with you to help our community face the challenges of educating our children.

2025-2026 Schedule

Winter Term

 

Week 1, January 17th
1) Welcome & Orientation

 

After signing children into their classrooms, we ask everyone to stay for the first 15 minutes as we cover the most up-to-date policies including safety and security measures.  Following that, speakers for the term will be announced. The remainder of the time will be opened up for Q&A.  Because there is a wealth of knowledge among us, we encourage both new and returning parents and guardians to stay for the duration.  Our program is enriched with the diversity of every person attending.

 
 

2) Maggie Gunnerson
Survey of Interests and Needs
of This Term’s Attendees

 

Do you want to be heard?

Do you want to learn more techniques and tools to support your gifted child?

Could you use more support as a caregiver of a gifted kid?

The Super Saturday Program’s Gifted Community Enrichment is what you are looking for!  Whether attendees are just beginning to learn about giftedness or are tackling very particular challenges, we can draw upon our large community and accumulated resources to help.  Maggie Gunnerson has a wealth of knowledge herself and is skilled at fostering discussion.  She will use multiple methods to draw out from attendees what information, know-how, and supports are of interest and needed — whether you know you need it or not.   This survey of interests and needs will drive the content and speakers scheduled for the following five GCE sessions.

Maggie’s primary role is nurturing her two twice exceptional kids.  As a passionate supporter of all gifted students, she is in her 5th year with Ohio’s Gifted Advisory Council, currently serving as past chair.  Additionally, Maggie is a Mensa member and is the coordinator the Cincinnati Area Mensa’s Gifted Youth Program for which she was nationally recognized in 2024.  Her journey to understand her kids and ultimately herself all started back in 2018 when her son first started at The Super Saturday Program.  She is a former board member of TSSP and finds it very rewarding to contribute to this community.
 
 

At lunchtime:
Super Saturday VEX IQ robotics team

 

From 11:00 to 1:00, our VEX IQ Robotics Competitions elementary team, Brain Batteries (team #99265B), will be set up in the cafetorium for everyone to see their robot and hear about their success.  This is an opportunity for everyone to learn more about these teams, including the calendar and time commitment.  See supersaturday.org/teams for more information about our teams.
 
 

 

Week 2, January 24th
TBD

 

 
 

 

NOTE:
Cafetorium in use by DePaul Cristo Rey

 

Our host school will be using the cafetorium this Saturday. Anyone wanting to eat on campus is welcome to take food to the staff lounge located on the ground floor.
 
 

 

Week 3, January 31st
TBD

 

 
 

At lunchtime:
Super Saturday VEX V5 robotics team

 

From 11:00 to 1:00, members of our VEX V5 Robotics Competitions middle school teams will be set up in the cafetorium for everyone to see their robots and here about their success.  This is an opportunity for everyone to learn more about these teams, including the calendar and time commitment.  See supersaturday.org/teams for more information about our teams.
 
 

 

Week 4, February 7th
TBD

 

 
 

At lunchtime:
Super Saturday ARC rocketry teams

 

From 11:00 to 1:00, members of our American Rocketry Challenge teams will be set up in the cafetorium for everyone to see their rockets and here about their success.  This is an opportunity for everyone to learn more about these teams, including the calendar and time commitment.  See supersaturday.org/teams for more information about our teams.
 
 

Week 5, February 14th
Shelagh A. Gallagher, Ph.D.

 

Dr. Shelagh A. Gallagher is the Director of the Office for Giftedness, Talent Development and Creativity at the University of North Texas.  She served a term as President of the National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC), the nation’s largest advocacy organization advancing the needs of gifted youth and an organization she has served in many roles including several terms on the Board of Directors.  She has conducted research, presented, and published articles on topics including the history of equity efforts in gifted education, the nature of creative expertise, personality and developmental attributes of gifted children, gender differences in mathematics performance, questioning for higher-order thinking, the developmental needs of gifted adolescents, appropriate instruction for gifted students, twice-exceptional students, and effective curriculum models for gifted learners.

Dr. Gallagher’s career in gifted education spans over 30 years, with positions including Postdoctoral Fellow at The Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP), Director of Research and Assessment at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (one of the nation’s premiere high schools for gifted students), Associate Director for Grants and Contracts for William & Mary Center School of Education Center for Gifted Education (CFGE), team member founding two gifted schools, and US Dept. of Ed. Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program grant director and Associate Professor conducting research and teaching graduate courses in gifted education for thirteen years at UNC Charlotte.  Most recently, Dr. Gallagher served as the director of Engaged Education, providing various services to support gifted students, their teachers, and caregivers.  She continues to conduct research, provides professional development, recruits gifted teachers for academic programs in China with the Diligence and Delight Learning Center (DDC).

In addition to her involvement with the NAGC, Dr. Gallagher’s policy and advocacy initiatives include co-authoring the national report America Agrees and leading the North Carolina Talent Delayed/Talent Denied II and Talent Unleashed efforts to broaden support for traditionally under-identified gifted students.  Dr. Gallagher served three terms as US delegate to the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children.  She mentors in a 4th-grade reading program and every summer she makes time to work directly with gifted youth as a Senior Fellow at The Institute for Educational Advancement (IEA) Camp Yunasa, a summer program for highly gifted youth.

The National Society for the Gifted and Talented (NSGT) recognized Dr. Gallagher as its Person of SIGnificance for 2016, describing her as a “transformational leader in curriculum design for gifted and talented students.”​ She is the recipient of both the Distinguished Service Award and the James J. Gallagher Award for Advocacy from the North Carolina Association for Gifted and Talented for “her outstanding contributions to the education of the gifted and talented; for her lifetime advocacy for gifted learners at the district and national levels, as a scholar, teacher, author, professor, consultant, and parent; and for her service as a former Board member of NCAGT and NAGC.”  She also received the Provost’s Award for Teaching Excellence from UNC Charlotte and the Gifted Child Quarterly Paper of the Year Award from NAGC.  She is a nine-time winner of the NAGC Award for Exemplary Curriculum, based on her work in Problem-Based Learning.
 
 

At lunchtime:
Super Saturday FLL® robotics team

 

From 11:00 to 1:00, one of our FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge level teams, the Six Discoverers (team #73285), will be set up in the cafetorium for everyone to see their robot and here about their success.  This is an opportunity for everyone to learn more about these teams, including the calendar and time commitment.  See supersaturday.org/teams for more information about our teams.
 
 

 

Week 6, February 21st
TBD

 

 
 

 

Spirit Wear Saturday

 

We are starting a new tradition and encouraging everyone to wear team or school spirit wear on the sixth Saturday of term.  Students are encouraged to don spirit wear for their Super Saturday team, another team they are a member of, a team they cheer for, or for the school they attend.  Grown ups are encouraged to represent, as well.  We hope this fosters getting to know each other better and appreciation for the broad Cincinnati area we have the opportunity to interact with through TSSP.
 
 

 

At lunchtime:
Showcase of Student Work from
3D Printing for Beginners

 

From 11:30 to 12:30, in the lobby.
 
 

In the Lobby:
Book* Swap

 

The last session of every term, The Program facilitates a book (*and puzzle, and board game…) exchange.  Is your home overflowing with books?  Do you have a voracious reader that you can’t keep up with?  Bring those children’s books you would like to pass along and pick up new-to-your-child books, whether or not you brought any.

A table will be set up near the doors to the cafe.

 
Note: On the last day of the term, some classes invite parents and guardians to view students’ work or a presentation.
 
 

While great effort is made to ensure attendees can count on the schedule as published, unforeseen problems may occur which make it necessary to reschedule or replace a speaker.

In addition to being posted above, dates and speakers are also posted as Facebook events and are posted to a Google Calendar.
Instructions for subscribing to the Google Calendar »

Past Speakers and Topics »