4 - Tuesday, April 8, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4 - Tuesday, April 8, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com MEGAN MCDONALD PETER SHAHIN and DANIEL WANG KATIE BURKE EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. Recognizing gifted students Developing academic talent is imperative to Michigan's future Michigan is currently one of nine states that doesn't provide any funding or support for accelerated education in local and intermediate school districts. The 2015 budget proposed by Gov. Rick Snyder allocates $1.8 million to support dual enrollment programs for high school students. Though this would allow high school students to earn college credits, money also needs to be allocated to programs and after school activities that encourage gifted students to challenge themselves academically and develop targeted interests from an early age. SOPHIA USOW E-MAIL SOPHIAAT SOPHIAUS UMICH.EDU Hello, M --- ~ ie! (Applau. ( (A ppi s . (Applau4 Sure r ,* p luse s# nd ing .: j rhere i r Miclh leadcrs who arci a Conyers. (Applause. We ae got ( onCat your mayor, J hn Iliefije. (Applaus -.Alau t) Your Cc gressman, the legemh nut his wife Debbie here. Give her a big Now., most importat hoise h re. (Appi. Morgan. (Applaus' plause.) And wf'L outstanding this ye. Wo1veries untho > ~se.)W W've got i Nik Stauskas. (Ap- Se.) These guys v th--n that.-(Appla gamm as wc've .seen 3,hitiaer- ii yu'd - vanted to cot __ I ti . . k, . _ Turning the page Though accelerated education programs funded by independent districts and high schools exist, the range of gifted education services available to students in the state is extremely limited. The Michigan Department of Education does provide information concerning the "Talent Development" programs offered by the state, however the information hasn't been updated in the past four years. It's worrisome that the state has taken such a passive approach to developing the academic talent of its young citizens. Snyder's current budget proposal is a constructive step toward recognizingthe needs of gifted students. Additionally, providing college credit to high school students is a constructive way to reduce the cost of attending college. Though Advanced Placement programs offer college credit to students, high schools are inconsistent in the range of AP courses they offer. For example, the Three River's school districtin Kalamazoo lacks sufficient resources to offer AP programs to its students. By funding dual enrollment programs, the state can ensure that students get credit, while receive an education on par with that of a college course. Dual enrollment also enables students to pick classes and take ownership of their education, easing their transition into college life. Though programs for high school students require immediate attention, Snyder's administration should also look toward providing funding to programs that encourage gifted students to actively pursue their interests, especially at the elementary NICOLE ROJAS I level. Support for after-school activities should be expanded at the elementary level so that all students have equal opportunity to pursue an accelerated education in the future. This is especially necessary to avoid creating a dichotomy between high- and low- achieving kids. Challenging young learners and inspiring interest early on can prevent students from underestimating their abilities and falling behind. Expensive after-school programs that currently exist don't receive state funding, and therefore most students miss out on such opportunities. The state should have mandates in place that allow all students easy access to such programs in their early development. Since these programs would supplement their education, students should also be allowed to join or drop the program after a year. As students move to middle school and high school, gifted students can be identified through already existing statewide exams such as the MEAP and Michigan Merit Examination. Using the results of these tests, along with other academic indicators, can help administrators of gifted programs identify these students, and take a step toward providing resources to foster development. Though some private programs already provide parents with information to help their educationally advanced children, a state mandate needs to be created in order to implement programs in all schools. Snyder and the state legislation must provide state funding to make these programs a reality. In May 2012, graduating Yale senior Marina Keegan wrote a remarkable piece titled "The Opposite of Loneliness," that ran in the commencement edition of the university's student newspaper. There are a few pieces of writing that I have bookmarked and revisit on SARA MOROSI occasion - this is one of them. Keegan wrote about the defining moments that fill our college years - years that feel fleeting and time- less all at once. Keegan reminded us of the decisions we made, and those we didn't, that changed us equally as much. She reminded us of the nights we felt unapologeti- cally alive. She reminded us that we'll never get these years back, but makes us think maybe we wouldn't even if we could. Because, for us, this fabric of time has been woven by the people we've met and by our experiences at Michigan; and despite the inevitable knots in the thread, it's ours and it's unique and it's perfect in its imperfection. It's what we will take with us moving forward from this place. "we're so young. we're so young. We're twenty-two years old," Keegan wrote. "We have so much time. There's this sentiment I sometimes sense, creeping in our collective conscious as we lay alone after a party, or pack up our books when we give in and go out - that it is somehow too late ... I plan on having parties when I'm 30. I plan on having fun when I'm old." Keegan was killed in acar accident days after her graduation from Yale. The 22 year-young daughter, sis- ter, friend, exceptional wordsmith Street on a brisk Saturday after- and soon-to-be editorial assistant at noon. The nights we chose a good The New Yorker, was in the passen- time over a slightly better grade. ger seat of her boyfriend's car when it The professor who taught us a lot hit a guardrail and flipped on a Cape more than grammar. Cod highway. She was on the way to In reflecting on it, though, I can't her father's birthday dinner. help but wonder what it is about Keegan's legacy will live on in the human condition that allows the pieces she wrote with authori- us only to fully appreciate the pass- ty, about the life she witnessed. The ing of a time or chapter of our lives one in which she did, she went, she as it comes to an end. Maybe it's saw, she laughed, she felt. only when the time is short that we Many of us have touched lives that come to fully embrace what we've ended too soon. Perhaps, some of us had. Maybe this mindset can't be have barely escaped death ourselves. adopted when we think we have so If I had left the house moments much time. earlier ... If I hadn't changed plans... But maybe we don't. Keegan won't whether they're ours or some- host parties when she's 30. She won't one else's, we all have stories to have fun when she's old. She won't remind us that time is precious. live out these and other dreams men- For me, Keegan's is one. tioned in her final piece. As I write this, sunshine and Class of 2014 - we won't be fresh air are pouring through the second-semester seniors for much open windows longer. Soon, of my house, and the whirlwind I'm listening of celebrating to my friends Our best years lie what we've laughing on our ahead but every accomplished front porch. It's these four years the same mix once in a while we'll will be over. of laughter that We'll collect fills our family look back at what our diplomas, room on Sunday we've left behin" subsequently mornings, when turn the page we lethargically and begin the Learning from experiences During the first week of May, nine Society this community, Maximo Nivel will continue to of Hispanic Professional Engineers students have groups volunteer in this area of San Jose. departed from various locations in the United Soon after our arrival, even local teenagers States. We arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica May began to enter the elderly shelter and help with 4th, 2013 to spenda week volunteering through our work. We were even more encouraged the international non-profit organization, after learning that this involvement positively Maximo Nivel. The main objective of the influenced these teens away from crime. trip was to make various construction Jobs are becoming more and more improvements at an hogar de ancianos, a globalized, so it is essential that we are able to shelter for the elderly in Tejarcillos, an outlying understand and collaborate with people from town of San Jose. By the end of the week we all walks of life. As Michigan helps shape the created shelves and cabinets, rebuilt windows minds of future leaders, students must spend and doors to prevent snakes and spiders from time volunteering during their undergraduate entering the homes, added metal railings in years in order to enter the real world with a showers to prevent falling and repaired locks broader, more aware mindset. on doors to improve security. Above all, we Many of the SHPE members that attended grew closer as a group as we explored and this volunteer experience are now just learned about the culture and people of Costa beginning their specific engineering major, Rica. Volunteering has always been known as taking very technical classes that introduce us an activity that helps others, but what we don't to the type of information an engineer should be initially realize is that it helps us as well. We able to understand after graduation. Even if we developed essential teamwork skills and gained received straight As in these classes, this would stronger empathy for people with different life mean nothing if we had no idea how to apply experiences than us. We better understood these skills. Students must be able to adjust to our own identities, and we gained immense situations that don't work out perfectly like in perspective. Volunteering was so much more textbooks. Therefore, we are encouraged to join than learning how to apply our engineering design teams to have a hands-on experience in skills, it was developingthe skills to understand engineering. The same goes for volunteering. others' needs and gaining a wider perspective we can take a variety of classes on various that we will need in our future leadership roles. cultures and read about global issues, but Planning an international volunteer trip was the most effective way to truly understand not easy. Several times throughout the planning other people, cultures and problems is to go process we were uncertain whether it was out into the field and experience them for worth spending so much time and effort; we ourselves. Volunteering in Costa Rica this were unsure that the trip would even occur. If past summer has not only helped develop we had known the experience tobe gained from our problem-solving skills as engineers, this trip, we would not have once questioned but above all, because of this experience, the value in the volunteer opportunity. We we now know some of the causes of poverty gained more perspective, not only on hands-on in Tejarcillos, why there is the disparity in construction skills, but also problem-solving, classes, why they live the way they do and team-building and communication skills. We what their true needs are. While we spent a learned more about our identity as Hispanics, mere week in the town, we learned far more as well as our identities and roles as engineers about the customs and people of Costa Rica in aglobal environment. than any semester-long class would have The positive response and enthusiastic taught us. This international volunteer trip gratitude from the community members is what was the highlight of our summer, not solely stuck out to us the most. While we believed we because of the incredible country, culture were helping with small improvements, the and people, but because we had such an community assured us that our contributions invaluable experience to gain perspective, would have a lasting positive impact. We all develop leadership skills and grow closer as have our own set of biases and predetermined a group. No matter what- your major is, what outlooks on life, but volunteering in a new your interests are, what organizations you are community helps us better empathize with involved with, any form of volunteering will others and become more aware of the multi- shape your life and give you much-needed faceted issues the world is now facing. We were awareness of the community around you. the first group to volunteer with this elderly community and because of our success with Nicole Rojas is an Engineering sophomore. gather to piece together the events of the night before. For the moment; I'm tak- ing in the distinct melange of their laughs, because I know in a month I'll be hearing it much less often. This is the mindset so many of us seniors have come to adopt in recent weeks. We're appreciat- ing this place and the people here more than we ever have before. The bonds we've nurtured since fresh- man year. The way ivy always stood out against old brick and tarnished copper. The times we surprised each other. The walk down Hoover next chapter on May 4 - scared and unprotected, but preparedly. Let's do our best to maintain this mindset, though. To take in defining moments for what they are - despite where they occur in our stories. Because, to quote Keegan, "...let's get one thing straight: the best years of our lives are not behind us." Though perhaps, every once in a while, we'll glance over our shoulders at what we've left behind. - Sara Morosi can be reached at smorosigumich.edu. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Barry Belmont, Edvinas Berzanskis, David Harris, Rachel John, Nivedita Karki, Jacob Karafa, Jordyn Kay, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Victoria Noble, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Matthew Seligman, Paul Sherman, Allison Raeck, Linh Vu, Meher Walia, Daniel Wang, Derek Wolfe SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@MICHIGANDAILY.COM Creaing confidence TO THE DAILY: Finally! Another round of Central Student Government elections finally over. And, another columnist shaking his fists at the elections and claiming that it all ends with someone winning on a technicality. Admittedly, there might be something of substance underneath all of Mr. James Brennan's ranting and raving. But before we get to that, let's take a moment to set the record straight. As this year's Election Director, I'm a bit biased when I say this, but I'll say it anyway: Winter 2014's elections were the best I've seen in my three years at the University of Michigan. Yes, there were lawsuits. Yes, some candidates and parties were issued demerits for failing to adhere to the rules. But it's important that students know the truth: no litigation resulted in any altering of any election. Let me repeat that: not one election was won or lost this year due to election-related litigation. Not one. Nada. Zip. Zero. Every candidate who swears an oath of office in the coming weeks will do so because he or she won the most weighted votes, period. Being something of an election- insider, I agree that it can be frustrating to see the Election Code as it stands right now. I argued as much in my dissent in Fernandez v. ForUM, et al. (you can read the UEC's opinions online). I agree with Mr. Brennan that some of the rules in the Election Code are hypertechnical nonsense that probably confuse more than they elucidate. But consider this: even if we designed the perfect Election Code, the elections themselves still wouldn't be perfect. Why? Because the only way to ensure positive, fair outcomes is to sit down with all the candidates and talk things through before campaigningbegins. And that's exactly what we did this year. We talked about how student confidence in CSG declines when people win because of lawsuits. We discussed why it's not just whether you win, but how you win, that mat- ters. And we talked about respect- ing other candidates, no matter how fierce and heated the campaigngets. I agree with Mr. Brennan that the code must be reformed. But I hope that he will also agree that while no election is perfect, this year's election is a step forward in creating confidence in CSG elections. Bryson Nitta Third year law student CHECK US OUT ONLINE Keep up with columnists, read Daily editorials, view cartoons and join in the debate. Check out @michdailyoped and Facebook.com/Michigan Daily to get updates on Daily opinion content throughout the day. $ V 0 .