Gifted Perspective Cranberry girl wins statewide competition for her video project
CRANBERRY TWP — A 9-year-old Cranberry Township girl won a statewide competition for gifted kindergarten through 12th grade students.
Cameron Foster, daughter of Maria and Adam Foster, won the contest with a video project she submitted to the Gifted Perspective Series Competition.
The Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education presented Cameron with her award during a luncheon Friday at the Pittsburgh Marriott North, 100 Cranberry Woods Drive, as part of its annual Gifted Conference.
“Basically, I found on Facebook the announcement about the organization and my daughter, like any 9-year-old, she loves videos and YouTube and wants to make videos,” Maria Foster said.
Foster said her daughter is in the “top edge of cognitive ability,” which can make it difficult for her to feel that she's doing enough in school.
“She's been through different schools,” Foster said. “We did home school, traditional school, Catholic school, private school, public school. She said she wanted to tell her story because the gifted program they wanted to put her in wasn't enough — and it was a bummer. It's been really good, but not so good in other ways, so that was what her video was about.”
Foster said she helped Cameron work on her project's script and learned the editing software with her.
Cameron's video incorporated horses, which are a “big thing for her,” and met the requirement of being between 30 seconds and two minutes in length.
“She went through and edited it and kind of just went through and worked it into what she wanted it to be,” Foster said. “Honestly, it was a statewide competition, K-12, she just turned 9 ... so, we were shocked when she won.”
Cameron said she was “proud” of her win.
“I feel really good about it,” she said. “I spent a few days working on the project. Shooting the actual video didn't take long.”
Cameron's next move is to be reintegrated into the Seneca Valley School District, but she said she's hoping to be placed in fourth grade instead of third.
“My best friend is in fourth grade,” she said. “So, I just think it would be easier socially if I could get in fourth grade.”
Cameron said she wasn't nervous at all about the school work that might come with a higher grade level.
Kali Fedor, PAGE vice president, said the conference where Cameron will received her award, aims “to have educational sessions targeted to parents, teachers and administrators in school districts across Pennsylvania.”
“Part of the mission is to advocate for gifted education in the state,” Fedor said. “Some of the advocacy stems from conversations at the conference.”
At the state and federal levels, Fedor said PAGE focuses on what students, parents and educators want for everything from meeting social development needs to college prep.
While the conference is geared more for adults, contest winners are allowed to attend sessions.
Foster said PAGE has been an important part of getting more advocacy for gifted students.
“I think there are a lot of great support systems for children outside the range of 'normal,' and I hope that PAGE can raise awareness of their needs,” she said. “We're exploring that now and seeing, as the grades progress, the gifted services are pretty strong.”
Foster said she hopes PAGE creates “awareness in the community, so these super kids can get more.”
