Being Gifted

Gifted. It’s not a word you’ll hear me use often in reference to myself, at least not in front of other people. Neither is smart or talented.

It’s not that I see these words as meaning bad things, but society, especially those near my age, has brought with them connotations such as ‘arrogant,’ ‘genius,’ and a ‘better than thou’ attitude. At least, that’s what it seems like to me. When people think of gifted and talented people, they often get the mental picture of someone with thick glasses and suspenders buried behind a pile of books and having no social life whatsoever. I’m here to prove to you that that simply isn’t true. I’m gifted, talented, whatever you want to call it.

I’m also a cheerleader, a daughter, a sister, a friend, and a high school student. While I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the most popular kid in school (nor do I particularly want to be) I have friends and a social life. I love going to football and basketball games, the movies, and doing typical teenager things. Don’t label me by one aspect of my personality. Comments like “Wow, I thought you were supposed to be smart?” are really annoying.

Just because I’m top of my class doesn’t make me perfect. I make mistakes and forget things. I lose my common sense sometimes. You can call me a nerd, whatever, I don’t care. In all honesty, it’s more of a compliment than an insult.

I go to a summer camp for gifted kids every summer, and we all call ourselves nerds. To us, that’s a good thing, something we’re proud of. I don’t think I’m better than you because I’m smart. Let’s just put that out there. I don’t think that every person that’s mean to me is going to be working for me one day. (Although seriously, that would be pretty funny.

) My best friends aren’t what you would call ‘gifted.’ They’re of average intelligence, I guess you could say, and I mean that in the best way possible. And yet, they’re still my best friends. They see past the labels and the good grades. I don’t see myself as better than them or on a higher level.

There are things that they are better at that I am, and it’ll always be that way. There will always be someone smarter, or prettier, or more whatever than me, and I understand that. There’s more than one aspect to a gifted and talented kid. Take it from me and my own personal experiences. Get to know us before you judge us.