Search Database

For Gifted Students: Clubs

• Organizations: Competitions

  Odyssey of the Mind

  This international, not-for-profit organization teaches students to learn creative problem-solving methods while having fun in the process. Students learn how to identify challenges and to think creatively to solve those problems. The creative problem-solving process rewards thinking "outside of the box." Memberships are purchased by a school or community group and then teams compete at the regional level, and/or at the state/province/country level.

• Organizations: International

  AWANA Clubs

  AWANA Clubs International is a Bible-based club, similar to Boy and Girl Scouts. AWANA was developed by two pastors. The first thought it might help to mature young Christians to learn about Jesus more than twice a week, on Sundays and maybe Wednesdays, so he and another pastor formed AWANA. AWANA Club consists of three parts: Game Time, where AWANA members play special games with beanbags, lightweight bowling pins, balloons, Velcro strips, and more; Council time, where they learn lessons about the Bible; and Handbook Time, where they memorize and quote verses from the Bible and do activities to complete sections.

  Mensa International

  Mensa "provides a forum for intellectual exchange among members. Its activities include the exchange of ideas by lectures, discussions, journals, special-interest groups, and local, regional, national, and international gatherings; the investigations of members' opinions and attitudes; and assistance to researchers, inside and outside Mensa, in projects dealing with intelligence or Mensa." [Mensa Constitution]

• Organizations: National

  Future Investor Clubs of America (FICA)

  Future Investor Clubs of America (FICA) is a national financial intelligence training program for kids and teens ages 8-19. Their primary goal is to provide student members with the skills to earn, save and invest their money. As a member, students have an opportunity to attend fun, exciting, informative Field Trips, Summer Camps and Young Investors Workshops. In addition to face-to-face training programs students are assisted with designing an American Dream Plan while keeping track of goals and objectives using the Young Investors Club Network online training system.

  Girls Who Code

  Girls Who Code is a national non-profit organization dedicated to closing the gender gap in technology. With locations across the U.S., girls can join both summer immersion programs and club programs.

  Kids Care Clubs

  Kids Care Clubs provide children, families, schools, and religious groups with meaningful opportunities to help others in their local and global communities. You can sign up your family, or create a new club. Membership is free, and the website provides numerous ideas for charitable projects, both locally and internationally.

  National Association of Math Circles

  Mathematical Circles are a form of education enrichment and outreach that bring mathematicians and mathematical scientists into direct contact with pre-college students. These students, and sometimes their teachers, meet with mathematical professionals in an informal setting, after school or on weekends, to work on interesting problems or topics in mathematics. The goal is to get the students excited about the mathematics, giving them a setting that encourages them to become passionate about mathematics

  The Continental Mathematics League (CML)

  Continental Mathematics League (CML) experiences are designed to maximize student opportunities to participate and improve problem solving capabilities. Students participate with other students in the same grade level from schools acrossthe United States. These activities may be conducted in class during regular school hours without any additional time or transportation requirements.

  Youth Communication

  This organization provides teenagers a communication outlet for addressing important issues in their lives. It helps them develop their reading, writing, thinking, and reflection skills by: training teens in journalism, publishing a number of teen-written publications and providing a public forum. There are a number of resources for educators related to reading and writing, and many of the articles are gifted-related.
  

• Schools & Programs: Public

  Harvard Model Congress

  Harvard Model Congress strives to inspire high school students to participate in civic life by creating a dynamic environment where students learn from one another through their interactions with American democracy.

• Websites & Other Media: For Fun

  Bookopolis

  Bookopolis is a kid-friendly social network and book discovery website that lets young readers connect with their friends to share their favorite books and find new ones. Students can create their own virtual bookshelves; share book ratings, reviews and reports; explore personalized book recommendations; and earn points and awards.

  Captain Planet Foundation

  This foundation is an offshoot of the cartoon series, Captain Planet. Funding for youth projects comes from a combination of grant awards, partnerships with local and national organizations, and an annual holiday fundraiser. CPF gives children the opportunity to become active participants in discovering lasting solutions to issues that affect their entire community.

  Roots & Shoots - A program of the Jane Goodall Institute

  Roots & Shoots enables young people from the pre-school to university level to continue to coordinate projects locally that promote care and concern for the environment, animals, and human communities. Through constructive activities, the participants of Roots & Shoots groups all over the world become more aware of how their actions that affect their local community and the environment as a whole. Roots & Shoots provides resources with suggestions for starting a club, for appropriate projects at different grade levels, encourages activity reports and portfolio submissions, celebrates club projects in their newsletter, and offers to connect clubs in different parts of the world to promote cultural understanding.

  Whyville

  This is an interactive "live" website where users and guests create a drawing to represent themselves as they move around "Whyville." In Whyville, they interact with other participants, as they learn about science topics in an open-ended, exploratory way, invent things and have the ability to do hands-on activities at home and post their results on the site.

• Websites & Other Media: Informational

  BookCrossing

  BookCrossing is a global book club that crosses time and space. It's a reading group that knows no geographical boundaries. Do you like free books? How about free book clubs? According to BookCrossing's web site, their goal is to make the whole world a library.