PEAK Parents are actively involved in the following:

• Focused Discussions: PEAK Parent Group (including online components)
• Parent Expertise Sharing: “Yellow Pages” Project
• Speakers Series
• Book Club
• GT Resource Library
• Student engagement activities (Sled-building Challenge, PEAK Read-a-Thon, etc.)
• End-of-Year Leadership Conference

For more information on the PEAK Parent Group, please contact:

• Jess Dorrington or Kelsey Grant-Jenkins: PEAKparentcouncil@gmail.com

PEAK Parent Comments

“Just a quick thank you and praise for the kids!  They are amazing!  I remember being a sophomore in high school and freaking out about having to speak in front of my class – and [my child] and the kids are doing it at 10 years old ? AMAZING!  What excellent life skills they are learning at such a young age!

Keep up the awesome work! They really enjoyed the Butte trip too!” -TB, PEAK elementary parent, 3/20/24

 

“I am sure I don’t need to tell you what an impressive youngster [PEAK student] is, since you must know that a lot better than I do, but I will say it anyway!

I was truly impressed with his diligence, intelligence, seriousness, and with the research he did before giving me a call, and even more so with the answer he gave to a question I asked him. When he mentioned having done some research on Wikipedia I asked if he knew why a Wikipedia article, while entertaining and a good place to start research, should never be used as a reference source, and without missing a beat he instantly replied, “Because anyone can change it.” For a fourth grader to have that understanding — which eludes many if not most adults! — is truly impressive. Very best wishes to you and all your students.”

Dan Grossman (Author, Airship Historian)  Canton, Georgia  3/8/24

 

A Letter from a Former PEAK Student: (excerpt)

I started in PEAK as a shy kid, hiding behind my parents whenever I was
supposed to talk to someone new. I started PEAK as a scared kid, confused
why my brain seemed to work differently than those around me. I started PEAK
thinking I was not good enough to be there, that I was not “gifted” or
“talented”, that they made a mistake when they let me in. But when I
graduated from PEAK, I left as a different person.

I graduated from PEAK still as a shy kid, but a shy kid who had stood in front of
the Governor of Montana and advocated for recycling reform. I graduated from
PEAK still knowing my brain worked differently than others, but with a family of
friends and mentors who taught me to embrace that power, not be scared of it.
I graduated from PEAK knowing that I truly was gifted and talented.

A lot has happened since I left both the PEAK program and Montana as a
whole. I went to college and became a Registered Nurse; I battled death and
despair at the bedside during the height of COVID; and now I care for the most
critically ill babies as part of one of the largest Neonatal Intensive Care
programs in the nation. A lot has happened, but I still use what I learned in
PEAK every single day.

In college, I used the critical thinking and time-management skills instilled in
me by PEAK to manage twelve-hour clinical shifts bookended by endless tests
and projects. As a COVID RN, I used what PEAK taught me about advocacy
and justice to fight for adequate staffing, compassionate care, and dignity in
the face of a global pandemic. As a NICU nurse, I use what PEAK taught me
about science and curiosity to learn and improve in the ever-changing world of
neonatology.

So much of my knowledge, passion, and curiosity has a seed in what I
experienced in PEAK. To name but a few examples:

– Over the past year, I have had frequent, tenuous, discussions with the
highest leadership of my hospital regarding nursing policy. In each of
those conversations, I utilize techniques and insight that I learned
debating and writing speeches throughout my time in the PEAK
program.

– Last week, I had to create a business proposal that would impact
hundreds of nurses in my unit. The knowledge of how to tackle that
intimidating task came from a fifth grade PEAK project where we wrote
and applied for government grants.

Michael Burns, BSN, RN