by Ashley Miller

A lot is going on with PCM’s TAG program this year. On April 29, 18 of the high school TAG kids will be traveling to Iowa City for the Iowa Young Scholars Conference. The program is also getting ten brand new iPads that will be shared between all four school buildings.
The Iowa Talented and Gifted Association puts on the Iowa Young Scholars Conference annually. This year, the conference is to be held at the University of Iowa. The day consists of two sessions that students had to sign up in advance to attend. There’s a large variety of classes from Brain, Mind, and Consciousness: Insights from Psychological Science to Beyond Law & Order.
“My hope for the trip is that my students will be able to learn a little bit about different majors and occupations,” TAG advisor Brian Adams said. “as well for them to be able to talk with some college representatives about things they can be doing right now to prepare themselves for college.”
Not all of the kids in the program will be going since it was optional.
“I hope to gain a better idea of what I’d want to be after high school. Especially since I’m not really sure what I wanna do,” freshman Ryan Palm said.
Also, all four buildings will be sharing ten iPads to help with incorporating technology in the TAG program. The state of Iowa provides money for TAG programs, so they have more resources to help add more ways to teach advanced learners.
“I felt like we weren’t doing a good enough job of incorporating technology into the services we provide in our TAG program,” Adams said. “There are lots of great apps out there that allow kids to work at their own level in all different subject areas, and we were not taking advantage of that.”