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Center for Gifted Studies

🧠 The Center for Gifted Studies at Ridgecrest Elementary

📅 Ready to Tour?

Applications open in January.
Information sessions are held throughout the year.

👉 Apply to the Center for Gifted Studies – LINK TO THE DISTRICT APPLICATION INFORMATION PAGE AT: https://www.pcsb.org/departments/district-services/magnet-fundamental-programs
👉 Attend an Information Night
👉 Schedule a Campus Visit - Ridgecrest CGS Tour Sign Up – Fill out form

Students in this program have a feeder assurance to Morgan Fitzgerald Middle School's Center for Gifted Studies upon application.

Applicants to the Center for Gifted Studies must be identified as Gifted Learners as a requirement for eligibility into the program. For more information regarding the Gifted Identification Process, please visit https://www.pcsb.org/Page/26177. 

For more information, please reach out to our Magnet Coordinator, Dr. Vicki Caruana at caruanav@pcsb.org or call us at 727-588-3580 ext. 2305. 

At Ridgecrest Elementary, full-time gifted education isn’t a program—it’s a purpose.

The Center for Gifted Studies is designed specifically for advanced elementary learners who think deeply, question boldly, and crave meaningful challenge.

Here, curiosity is cultivated. Creativity is expected. Intellectual risk-taking is celebrated.

🌟 What Makes Ridgecrest Different?

At the Center for Gifted Studies, students:

✔ Engage in inquiry-driven, interdisciplinary learning
✔ Collaborate with intellectual peers
✔ Explore real-world problem solving
✔ Develop advanced reasoning and creative thinking skills
✔ Receive social-emotional support tailored to gifted learners

Our classrooms move beyond grade-level standards to provide depth, complexity, and authentic engagement.

This is not “more work.”
This is different work.

❤️ We Support the Whole Gifted Child

Gifted learners are wonderfully complex. They may demonstrate advanced academic ability while also navigating perfectionism, asynchronous development, or heightened sensitivity.

At Ridgecrest, we intentionally support:

  • Confidence and resilience
  • Growth mindset
  • Healthy peer relationships
  • Emotional awareness

  • We believe advanced learners deserve both challenge and understanding.

🎓 A Destination for Advanced Elementary Learners

Families across our district choose Ridgecrest because:

  • Their children feel intellectually engaged
  • Learning is meaningful and joyful
  • Teachers understand gifted learners
  • Expectations are high—and support is strong

The Center for Gifted Studies is proud to serve as the mid-county hub of excellence for gifted education.

 

DAP (PDF)
Two young students are engaged in a conversation or activity in a classroom setting, with various educational materials and displays visible in the background.
The image shows a group of young students gathered around a whiteboard, engaged in a classroom activity where they are discussing and writing down their understanding of the concept of a hypothesis.
Two children, a boy and a girl, are engaged in various activities on the floor, including writing and playing with toys. The background appears to be a classroom or educational setting, with a green chalkboard or whiteboard visible.

Animal classification venn diagram.

Two young boys, one with curly hair and the other with short dark hair, are sitting together and holding up a book they are reading, which appears to be a colorful cartoon-style illustration. The background shows a classroom setting with various educational materials and posters on the walls.