FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On February 26th, the school day will be anything but ordinary for 60 3rd-5th grade  elementary students and their parents from Escondido.  Science in the Garden is a rare opportunity for kids from neighborhoods where the drop-out rate is high and they are surrounded the negative influences of low-income environments.  Families will join their children for a special science-based field trip to the Hamilton Children’s Garden section of the San Diego Botanic Garden, located in Encinitas. The experience is part of an enhanced OPEN GATE Program curriculum, provided by Cultivating Brilliance Institute (CBI), which has been developed specifically to meet the unique educational needs of highly gifted, low- income students and their families.

The upcoming trip occurs as the culmination of a science unit that CBI provides for the families enrolled in the OPEN GATE Program at Farr Elementary School. Students receive regular in-class instruction from Bob Galbraith, retired Science professor, who teaches them the value of the Scientific Method and helps students conduct experiments. In the corresponding Parents’ PLACE program, parents learn pieces of their child’s curriculum and conduct experiments alongside their child. The trip to the Children’s Garden will provide real-world applications for the botany experiments that students and parents have been conducting as part of the instruction in science theory. Just as importantly, it will  be a chance for the parents, many of whom work two jobs to make ends meet and have little education of their own, to spend valuable time learning right along with their children.

Funding for this field trip was made possible through generous support by the Leichtag Family Foundation, who also funded the Toni’s Tree House exhibit in the Hamilton Children’s Garden which the students will explore during their field trip. Financial support is critical to ensuring CBI’s continued success in providing services to these very bright children, many of whom would be otherwise unserved, and unlikely to meet their potential.

The Leichtag Family Foundation and CBI recognize that these naturally inquisitive students require academic challenges and experiences that will nurture their passion for learning. Without these resources, a dangerous lack of mental stimulation in the classroom often puts these bright children on the path to leading gangs instead of clubs, dealing drugs instead of running a business. CBI recruits these students in 2nd grade and provides classroom tutors as well as enhanced educational opportunities, such as the upcoming field trip, designed to broaden students’ horizons and expose them to the larger world. Many of these kids never leave their impoverished neighborhoods.

The Cultivating Brilliance Institute is also known as the Human Development Foundation (HDF). This nonprofit organization has been fulfilling its mission of providing educational opportunities for children with high potential from limited economic means, since 1998. The name change has recently occurred in order to fully convey the organization’s mission and programs to a larger audience. Previously existing programs, including OPEN GATE and Parents’ PLACE, will continue unchanged.