Interlake's gifted program helps phenoms be kids, too
Interlake High School's innovative program for gifted students will graduate its first class of seniors this year. The Bellevue public school is one of the few schools in the world that allows students to begin the rigorous college-level International Baccalaureate diploma program in 10th grade.
Seattle Times Eastside reporter
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JOHN LOK / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Interlake seniors Wesley Zhao, left, and Ankur Dave are interns at environmental engineering firm CH2M HILL.
About the program
The International Baccalaureate diploma program is a two-year program that requires students to take IB classes in six subject areas, write an extended essay, take a class on the theory of knowledge and do community work outside the classroom. It is considered one of the most rigorous high-school programs available, and the diploma is recognized by universities around the world.Several times a week, Max Racelis goes to work at the University of Washington's radiation biology lab, where he studies how variations of a specific human gene affect instances of cancer.
Nothing extraordinary about that, really — except that Racelis is only 18, a senior at Interlake High School in Bellevue.
While Racelis probes the mysteries of the gene, fellow Interlake student Ankur Dave, 17, leaves school early so he can write computer code to control widgets on a blog for the engineering firm CH2M HILL.
Instead of eating a sandwich in Interlake's lunchroom, Wesley Zhao, 17, has held lunchtime brown-bag sessions at CH2M HILL, persuading engineers many years older to write for the company's new blog, which he and Dave helped develop.
And rather than working on science homework after school, Priyanka Saha, 18, works with prominent scientists at the Institute for Systems Biology, helping to identify, catalog and measure the amounts of every protein found in the human body.
These four students are members of the first graduating class of an innovative program for gifted students
Earlier deadline for UW applicants
The University of Washington is moving forward its freshman-application deadline and changing the way it notifies applicants of their status to try to streamline the process and reduce stress among applicants and their families.
University of Washington - United States - Education - Management Science - Management
University of Washington - United States - Education - Management Science - Management