Some students eat in the cafeteria; others spend their lunch periods in detention. Me, I share my lunch period once a week with four other girls in the PRISM classroom. PRISM, or Performance Revealing Individual Student Magic, is a voluntary enrichment program in both WW-P middle schools, in which gifted students develop their giftedness. In other words, it’s a fun, yet educational way to learn and grow. I participate in a program called Cognetics. In Cognetics, groups of students work creatively to solve one of the six annual problems published by the National Talent Network.
Last school year, 2004-2005, my group selected a problem called “Where in the World?” It involved writing and presenting an “on the spot” news report of a controversial past event. After reading through pages of guidelines, and researching different topics, we decided upon the insanity of King Henry VI. Yes, this respected king of England did, in fact, temporarily lose his mind. We explored this historical event from the perspectives of the king’s wife, his enemy, and a “woman on the street.” Our final product earned us a bronze award at the Cognetics Exposition.
Cognetics seems like a fun process, but has its share of difficulty. Because there must be at least four group members, conflicting viewpoints are inevitable. For this reason, though, participants often acquire the trait of teamwork. Eight months seems like a lifetime to complete the assignment before the exposition, but in reality, the time zooms by. Around March is when the PRISM room is bustling with excitement: every spare inch of wall space covered with posters, Xerox boxes stacked high, filled with props, and students finally beginning to see their work pay off. In the end, the everlasting feeling of triumph is worth my once-a-week lunchtimes in the PRISM classroom.
Emily Stern
Linden Lane
Plainsboro
