Committee Updates

​During November, the WATG Board finished debriefing our highly successful virtual conference in October “Hands On, Minds On: Now More Than Ever,” and began crafting concrete plans for the future. There is much work to do, and we have a core group of dedicated board members, all volunteers, to lead the way. Since 1972, the mission of WATG has been to raise public awareness about the unique needs of gifted individuals, and our committee goals reflect this.

Our Programming Committee is charged with developing and presenting programming regarding gifted education and gifted students in our state. The committee  goals for 2021 are:

• To plan and present another successful state conference in 2021 (stay tuned for details as they emerge)
• To create and share a series of live webinars on gifted and talented issues for parents, administrators, and educators
• To create and promote a virtual Gifted Coordinators’ “Townhall” - a chance for state gifted coordinators and specialists to share their ideas, their challenges, and celebrations
• To explore the idea of a periodic #WIgtchat on Twitter
• To partner with the Belin-Blank Institute and Dr. Scott Peters to promote the work of the Acceleration Team 

Our Government Action Committee committed to these goals:

• To stay abreast of legislation, budgets, and actions at the local, state, and national levels in areas that impact gifted students and gifted education 
• To meet with legislators, virtually or face-to-face, to provide information, answer questions, make requests, and follow up on items pertaining to gifted issues 
• To formulate and  pose questions to candidates running for the office of State Superintendent of Schools in Wisconsin 
• To share responses from the State Superintendent of Schools candidates with our membership

Our Membership Committee goals include the following:

• To create a survey for our membership to find out exactly what our members want from our organization
• To increase our membership, which aids our government action committee and their “asks” from the legislature
• To continue outreach to possible partners and sponsors in Wisconsin
• To increase WATG membership of pre-service teachers in Wisconsin
• To grow the number of board members, keeping diversity in mind as a desirable outcome
• To work more closely with CESAs (Cooperative Education Service Agencies) in Wisconsin to deliver professional development on gifted and talented issues

Additionally, as a Board we decided to create dedicated Task Forces to tackle short-term, but highly important projects during the coming year. These Task Forces will complement the work of the board, and will help us fulfill our mission. Our Task Forces include:

• NUMATS (Northwestern University Midwest Academic Talent Search)
• Awards and Scholarships
• Google Ads
• Policy Review
• Intern Hiring
• Social Media
• AP/Honors/Equity and Justice

As with all important work, much can be accomplished when many minds, hands, and hearts work together. If you have time and talent to share to help us accomplish our goals, please contact us at www.watg.org. This would be a lovely holiday gift to the children in Wisconsin (and to yourself), and we’d love to have you “on board.” Please consider joining us. Together we can touch the future.

(WATG would like to extend a huge thank you to German Diaz of Milwaukee Public Schools for translating this article into Spanish for our Spanish-speaking families and educators.)