ALAP University

Student Information:

ALAP University is a one day event for all ALAP students held on February 27th, 2010 at Pilgrim High School. For those of you who have never participated, ALAP University is a collection of speakers (usually between 25 and 30) on a variety of subjects. Some speakers will do a one hour presentation while others take two hours. Each of you will be able to attend up to 3 different speaker presentations; you get to choose which ones.

ALAP University has no single theme; there are presentations related to science, art, history, hobbies, writing, careers and more! Some are challenging while others are pure entertainment. Each presentation is described in a program that is handed out after Thanksgiving (you can download it from this web site). Please read this handout carefully before making your selections. It not only explains the topic, it also explains the format and how interactive the presentation is. The twin goals of ALAP University are to educate and entertain; we want you to have fun and learn something. Remember: You get to choose what you want to do. It is our hope that you will find something of interest.

There are also social opportunities at ALAP University. You will have an opportunity to meet ALAP students from other schools; ALAP students from all elementary schools in Warwick will be there. Lunch and snacks are included at ALAP University; there will be drinks and snacks in the cafeteria all day long. If you want, one of your parents can come with you to ALAP University, even into the class rooms.

ALAP University consists of two hour long programs (or one 2 hour long program) before lunch followed by one program after lunch. We try to keep the number of students in each presentation to a maximum of 15. While we sincerely hope that you will get to attend your first three choices, past experience has shown that this rarely happens. So when you fill out the application form we ask that you provide your top 8 choices, in order of preference. Your first choice should be your absolute favorite; your second choice should be your second favorite, etc.

If you have any questions you can ask your ALAP Teacher or click here. We are always looking for feedback as well as suggestions for new speakers. Let us know what you want! The committee sincerely hopes that you have a great time at ALAP University!

Parent Information

As we stated above, ALAP University is an annual event that takes place this year on February 27th, 2010. ALAP University is a sponsored by the Warwick School Department Advisory Committee on Gifted and Talented Education (the “ALAP Committee”) and it is put on strictly for ALAP students by parent volunteers. Some of the speakers / presenters are volunteers, but most are paid professionals from a variety of local organizations. In some cases the children are separated by age, but most of the time 3rd through 6th graders are mixed together (as they are in the regular ALAP classroom). Early March is a busy time of year, and we know that there are going to be conflicts with baseball tryouts, religeous education, and other events. We hope your child will be able to attend ALAP University and we will try to be as flexible as we can to see this happen. Late arrivals / early departures can be accomodated so long as you notify us in advance. To those of you who are new to ALAP, this is a voluntary event. The children are in no way obligated to attend. It takes more than 30 parent volunteers to run the event, and we hope that you will consider being one of those volunteers. We also ask for donations; ALAP University typically costs about $30 per student. This includes the cost of speakers, food, equipment, supplies, and gifts / prizes for the ALAP students. This committee will soon be a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, so the money that you contribute will be tax deductable.

ALAP University requires your attention at several points during the year. Just after Thanksgiving your child will bring home the information package for this year's ALAP University. This includes a course selection form and a permission slip. These need to be filled out and returned together to the ALAP teacher. To get in on the first round of scheduling, the forms must be returned BEFORE CHRISTMAS BREAK. It is possible to register your child for ALAP University right up until the day of the event, but after the intial round of scheduling the most popular presentations will be filled up. If you miss a deadline, contact us by email at alapuniversity@gmail.com. Please read through this entire package with your ALAP student. It is, admittedly, long. There are a lot of choices and a lot of details. Make sure that they understand what they are signing up for; every year some of the students are surprised that they don't get to fly kites in Indoor Kite Flying or touch all of the animals in the Zoomobile presentation. This is all explained in the information package. Please make sure that your child carefully prioritizes his/her choices on the selection form because this will come into play. We assume that their choices are entered on the selection form in order of priority and – we build the schedule on this basis. There is limited seating in many presentations and some of the presentations only occur one time during the day. We always try to get your child into their first choice, and we almost always succeed.

One parent is allowed in the presentation with each child. If you do this we ask that you remain in the background – let the children interact with the speakers. The cafeteria is open (and there will be refreshments) all day long. Your child will be notified by their ALAP teacher after they return to school in January which of the presentations they will actually attend. If they change their mind we can be contacted and will adjust their schedule if possible. On the day of ALAP University they MUST only attend the presentations that they are scheduled in.

On the morning of ALAP University please park in the front parking lot at Pilgrim and go into entrance near the auditorium (to the right of the main front entrance). There will be signs on the door; follow the signs straight ahead to the cafeteria where there will be a registration table. If you are dropping your child off, please do not leave them until the registration process is complete. Your child must wait in the cafeteria until ALAP University officially begins.

Lunch will be provided at no cost to both the ALAP students and their parents. If you are dropping off YOU MUST make sure that your child is signed in (registered) and inside the cafeteria before you leave. You must pick these children up in the cafeteria and sign them out.