Pittsburgh Gifted Center facts for kids

The Pittsburgh Gifted Center (PGC) is a special school in Pittsburgh. It offers unique learning opportunities for students who are identified as "gifted." This means they have special talents or abilities that need extra support to grow. The PGC helps these students explore subjects in more depth and learn new things not always available in regular schools.

The Pittsburgh Gifted Center has moved locations a few times. Until May 2006, it was located in the McKelvy building in Pittsburgh's Hill District. In September 2006, the PGC became part of the Greenway school in Pittsburgh's West End. This move was meant to be temporary. Later, there were plans for the center to move to Ridge Avenue in Pittsburgh's North Side. However, that building was not suitable for the programs. The Ridge Avenue facility, owned by the Pittsburgh Public Schools, was for sale from 2006 to 2008.

What is the Pittsburgh Gifted Center's Purpose?

The main goal of the Pittsburgh Gifted Center is to help students connect with other students from different parts of the city. It also provides special academic and enrichment opportunities. These opportunities are often not available in regular schools.

What Programs Does the PGC Offer?

Students attend the PGC once a week on a specific day. Classes are small, usually with about 12 students. All students who attend are from Pittsburgh Public Schools. Before 2010, the Gifted Center also accepted students from local private schools.

Academic Courses and Learning Opportunities

The PGC offers many different academic courses. Students can choose the ones they want to attend. These courses include basic subjects like English, Math, Language Arts, and Science.

Students can also pick classes based on their interests or technology skills. Examples include JavaScript, business planning, and Web Design. The Gifted Center uses technology in its classes. All classrooms have computers for students to use for research and projects. Some classes go deeper into a subject than regular school. For example, a Genetics class explores DNA in more detail. Other classes might cover completely different topics, like a trigonometry course.

Student Demographics and School Year

• The student population includes about 28%–35% African Americans and 65%–72% White/Other students.
• The school year runs from September to June.

Extracurricular Activities and Competitions

Besides weekly classes, the PGC allows students to join extracurricular activities and competitions. These often happen on Saturdays. The Gifted Center has participated in National History Day. Two of its students even reached the state competition at Penn State University. The PGC also had a team in the English Festival, a reading competition sponsored by Duquesne University. They also competed in Math Counts. The Gifted Center is always looking to offer more competitions for students.

The school's participation in these events helps improve its public image. It also builds school spirit and gains support to keep the school open. Mr. Peglow, the school's Social Studies teacher, planned to offer National History Day as a class. This would encourage more students to join and allow for bigger group projects.

Efforts to Keep the Center Open

The PGC was in the news when it was considered for closure. This was part of Superintendent Mark Roosevelt's plan to save money. He wanted to send gifted students back to their home schools. This could have meant smaller schools might not be able to offer special programs. However, many parents and students strongly disagreed with this idea. Some students even started a petition to save the Gifted Center. Another student wrote a letter that was published in the Post-Gazette.

Because of this strong opposition, the school board decided to move the Center to the Ridge Avenue building instead. The program was located there for several years.

Gifted Gazette Newsletter

The PGC publishes a newsletter called the Gifted Gazette. It comes out every two months.