The Center for Gifted Studies

VAMPY, the Summer Program for Verbally and Mathematically Precocious Youth, assembles some of the brightest and most enthusiastic minds from counties around the Commonwealth, states across the nation, and countries all over the world. The VAMPY community reflects the diverse backgrounds, interests, and pursuits of its students who all have at least one thing in common: a love of learning.

Since 1984, The Center for Gifted Studies through a cooperative agreement with the Duke Talent Identification Program (TIP), has made the VAMPY experience the centerpiece of summer vacation for hundreds of seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth graders. Each summer more than 200 students spend three weeks living on the Western Kentucky University campus in Bowling Green, KY, studying one topic in great depth. For gifted and talented students who crave knowledge and academic challenge, VAMPY offers a life-changing world of both learning and friendship.

The primary emphasis of VAMPY is academics. VAMPY’s rigorous educational environment reminds students that learning is an enjoyable process. Students spend six hours a day immersed in a topic of their choosing that ignites their curiosity and inspires their thinking. VAMPY instructors are veteran teachers, college professors, and experts in their fields. When not in class, students are playing sports, participating in cookouts, dances, and talent shows, or hanging out on the lawn in front of their residence hall, playing music, making crafts, and getting to know one another. VAMPY allows gifted students the opportunity to forge lifelong friendships with other young people who are also passionate about learning.

One participant described the VAMPY experience as "one of the most wonderful, enriching, and memorable of my life. I learned immeasurable things about myself as well as the subjects I studied… The knowledge and wisdom I gained through The Center has proven invaluable.”