Gifted Atlanta

Smore magazine presents a kid’s eye view of STEM topics — from life science, to physical science, to computer science — with an emphasis on female leaders in STEM fields.

Targeted at children ages 7 and up, the magazine publishes four issues per year. Smore accepts no advertising, making its revenue solely from subscriptions, which cost $49.99 per year.

If you’d like to try the magazine without committing to a subscription, selected back issues are available in the online shop for as little as $2.25 each. This clearance sale will run until October 31. Topics in the back issues include cryptography, bionics, aerospace and puffins.

The Vanderbilt Program for Talented Youth is now accepting applications from students in 10th through 12th grades for its Mentor Immersion program.

The six-month, all-online mentorship program will begin in January 2021. Small groups of 3 to 6 students will meet once a week to learn under the guidance of an expert in the field. During the winter months, students will explore their selected topic. Then, in the spring, they’ll use what they’ve learned to complete independent research or a project.

The application went live today. The program is rigorous and the application requires a transcript, test scores, and an essay. PTY will conduct its first round of application reviews on November 3, 2020. After that date, PTY will use a rolling admissions process to fill spaces that aren’t already taken.

Tuition for the program is $2,500. Need-based financial aid is available.

Duke TIP announced it has ended its long-running Academic Talent Search Programs, in which students took above-level standardized tests — most often, sitting for the SAT or ACT as 7th graders.

They also have suspended all programming through spring 2021, and plan to hold their 2021 summer programs online.

From what Duke TIP has said publicly, Duke University was already looking at making changes to its pre-college programs, including Duke TIP. The university accelerated this review after the pandemic shut down Duke TIP’s residential Summer Studies program — a primary revenue stream in Duke TIP’s business model. This, in turn, resulted in significant layoffs in the Duke TIP offices.

Duke TIP said it still intends to offer enrichment to talented students, and will be looking for new ways to identify those students. Meanwhile, Duke TIP will continue to work with students who were part of previous talent searches to provide them with programs, research and resources.