PISD’s GT Showcase draws over 1K

PISD’s GT Showcase draws over 1K
Posted on 05/15/2019
This is the image for the news article titled PISD’s GT Showcase draws over 1Kstory by Dwight Henson
PISD Communications


More than 335 Gifted and Talented (GT) elementary, middle school and intermediate students recently presented their work at Pasadena ISD’s GT Showcase.

Held at Memorial High School, the event featured 250 projects and drew a crowd in excess of 1,000 – including community members, teachers, siblings, parents, board members and various district administrators.

“The overall goal of the Gifted and Talented program is to challenge and grow these incredible students into the best they can be,” said Amanda Khan, PISD instructional specialist for gifted and talented programs. “The GT showcase helps us do that by encouraging our students to embrace things they are passionate about, and create projects that exceed classroom expectations as they present them to the public and experts in the field.”

Students participating in the event developed a year-round project in the subject of their choice, provided it aligned to the Texas Performance Standards Project guidelines. Subjects covered included science, entrepreneurship, technology, history and others.

Participating students first competed at the campus level with the top six from each school advancing to the district level event. 

The number of projects has more than doubled since the event’s inauguration in 2009.

“This year’s event featured 250 projects, up from 120 during its first year,” said Khan. “These students aren’t doing it for trophies or awards. Just being able to present their work to an external audience is reward enough and an incredible accomplishment for them.”

“By participating in the event, students feel empowered to continue pursuing their passions,” said Kathie Garza, PISD secretary of Advanced Academics. “It really does a lot to validate their work.”

To see photos from the event, please see our Facebook album.