Gifted Students May Miss Out on Scholarships

UC Irvine will still hold its programs for gifted middle-school students this summer, but the seven students from Daniel Chen’s class in Buena Park--along with close to 100 other bright, hard-working but poor kids--probably won’t be there.

For the first time in nearly a decade, UC Irvine’s program received no corporate sponsorships this year, and will not be able to offer poor students scholarships, said program director Darlene Boyd.

“It’s devastating,” said Chen, a teacher at Holder Elementary School. “My children have been looking forward to this all year.”

Back in September, Chen made a deal with his gifted sixth-graders, one he had every intention of honoring. Stay after school and study algebra five hours a week, he told them. At lunch, work on brain teasers and logic problems, and whenever you have a minute, tutor younger students.

In exchange, he offered his students a chance at an idyllic week at UC Irvine this summer, sleeping in a real dorm room, studying music or chemistry or theater and finding out firsthand what college life is like.

This spring, Chen recommended the seven youngsters for the program. All were accepted. All come from poor families, but Chen told them not to worry about the $675-a-week tuition, because in years past, UC Irvine has offered plentiful scholarships. But not this year, he recently found out.

“If we could, we would,” said UC Irvine Vice Chancellor Juan Lara. The program is tuition-based, meaning Lara cannot use university’ funds to pay for scholarships.

This year, former corporate sponsors told UC Irvine that the slowing economy kept them from contributing. University officials declined to identify the former donors or to say how many there were. Lara said program officials tried desperately to round up sponsors for the program, but were able to garner only enough money for one scholarship.

Seven hundred students from throughout Orange County participated in the program last year; 100 got scholarships. Donations have been down for other university programs as well, UC Irvine officials said, but not as dramatically as this.

Many donors feel that gifted students’ needs are less urgent than those of at-risk students, said Nina Gabelko, director of a similar program at UC Berkeley. She disagrees; gifted students can easily grow bored with school and drop out if they are not challenged, she said.

Lara, the program administrator at UC Irvine, suggested that parents could canvass local businesses and Rotary Clubs to raise money.

Chen has written letter after letter, but so far has had no offers.

“These kids, they’re not usually expected to do as well, because of their income and the area they are in,” Chen said. “But I’ve had high standards for them, and they’ve accomplished them.”