SOAR teacher: Dr. Denise Ford

“A student who doesn’t qualify for the gifted program by meeting certain criteria set aside by a district does not automatically guarantee that student is not gifted. It just means that for some reason, they did not meet whatever standards any district set up for that particular student. I do worry because I don’t want anybody to think less of themselves for not qualifying for anything, whatever it might be. I would love for people to always know that they have so many wonderful strengths and talents. We just need to find those students who, without additional support, might not be able to reach their potential, which doesn’t make them better or worse. It just means some students are gonna need more support than others. And we are trying to find those that need that extra bit of support.”

-Dr. Denise Ford, Gifted Specialist and SOAR teacher at NKMS