Olympic Swimmer Exemplifies Balance

Many gifted students feel like they have to focus solely on academics, or worry that being labeled as gifted means they won't be able to pursue other interests, like sports, drama, or playing the guitar like Jimmy Hendrix. But that is absolutely not true.

Exhibit A: U.S. swimmer Maya Dirado, who won four medals last week at the 2016 Olympics: golds in the 200m backstroke and the 4 x 200 freestyle relay, a silver in the 400m individual medley, and a bronze in the 200m individual medley. Dirado also has her Master's in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford, and got a perfect score on the math section of the SAT at the age of 15. And skipped the second grade. Both her athletic ability and her brilliance are clearly visible. She has pursued both with vigor.

Potential ATYP students are always asking, "Can I do ATYP and be an athlete?" or "Can I do ATYP and act at the Civic?" and we always tell people that we will do what we can to help them participate in other activities. Sometimes it takes some flexibility by other parties, sometimes kids have to learn extreme organizational and time management skills, but if you are truly passionate about anything in life, you can find a way to make it happen.

You can balance your other interests while pursuing academic and intellectual pursuits - Maya is proof that it can be done. So don't limit yourself - find what you love and keep at it! You never know where chasing those dreams might take you.