IOWA CITY – Regina Catholic Education Center, its students and staff were honored at the annual Belin-Blank Center Recognition Ceremony Oct. 7 at the Iowa Memorial Union. Belin-Blank, a comprehensive center focusing on gifted education, is affiliated with the University of Iowa’s College of Education. The annual recognition ceremony honors outstanding students and teachers from Iowa and the nation.
Regina seventh-grader Jakob Roggy was recognized with the Exceptional Student Talent Search award for being in the top 1 percent of the 12,000 gifted students who took the BEST test, an above-grade level exam used to determine placement for gifted kids. Allison Meyer, eighth grade, and Jillian Kurovski, ninth grade, were recognized for attending the Belin Summer Institute, a week-long summer scholarship program for 130 of Iowa’s gifted junior high students. Minseon Gim, 10th grade, was recognized for attendance at the National Scholars Institute, a residential summer program.
Regina’s Talented and Gifted Program coordinator, Barb Reilly, and junior high teacher Diane Coffin were also honored for their involvement with the award recipients.
Regina High School was recognized for its ranking in the Iowa Advanced Placement (AP) Index. The Index recognizes accredited public and non-public Iowa high schools for providing AP opportunities and applauds students for rising to the academic challenge. Regina, which has placed in the top five in the state for seven of the last eight years, ranked second in the state (behind Cedar Rapids Washington) for the 2012 AP Index. Regina had five teachers who attended the AP Teacher Training Institute this past summer.
