Letter from the Director
Nina Hersch Gabelko
January 2009
Summer 2009 marks the twenty-seventh year of ATDP. For over a quarter of a century, youth have come to the Berkeley campus each summer to pursue Latin, Foundations of Algebra, Architecture, Robotics, Existentialism, Advanced Placement courses, and so much more. They come to meet others like themselves who enjoy academic adventure. They come to thrive in an intellectual environment where they study with adults who love the subjects they teach and love working with youth eager to learn. Students encounter fields of study and areas of research they might otherwise never have known exist.
In 1981, Anne Wallach, ATDP's founder, proposed a summer Gifted Program for youth at UC Berkeley. The program began offering classes as the Gifted Program, but in 1989 changed its name to the Academic Talent Development Program. Other changes over the years include a tremendous increase in student enrollment and course offerings. However, our vision has always remained the same: to welcome youth from all backgrounds into an academic community that works in a world of great possibilities.
Our ongoing goal is to help our students to think and understand ever more deeply, in addition to encouraging them to rise rapidly through levels of study. We continue to offer courses appropriate to our students' needs, taught by outstanding public school, private school, and university instructors. And, more than ever, we strive to help our students in their efforts to create a world better than the one they are inheriting.
We also endeavor to learn more about academically talented students: how they develop, what they require in order to learn at their optimal pace and to their appropriate depth, and what factors support or impede their social development. Toward that goal, we seek the active involvement of our students and their families, who sometimes participate in research studies and who always share their experience, insights, and evaluations. We continue to develop and incorporate new knowledge into the program, with each year's changes and additions to the program reflecting what we have learned during the previous year.
Our application process reflects our belief that students must be given the opportunity to present their strengths in a variety of ways. By requiring applicants to submit multiple indicators of their academic achievements, we then are able to identify and admit a diverse group of the hardest-working, highest-achieving students. As you consider the wide range of classes offered in this year's catalog, we hope that you will find many that spark your interest and some particular ones that address exactly what you have always wanted to study.
Thank you for your interest in ATDP. If you have any questions, please call the program office. We look forward to hearing from you!
Sincerely,
Nina Hersch Gabelko