Chester, Vermont - November 9, 2011
Musician, class president, scholar, athlete; a long list-- and 12-year-old Maci Prescott both enjoys and excels in everything she does.
"I try not to stand out and make other people feel less than me, but sometimes you can't really help it," Maci said.
Her test scores are in the top 10 percent of the state and she's at least a year ahead in math at Green Mountain Union High School, but Maci remains humble.
"I'm pretty advanced, I guess," she said. "I just don't flaunt it. I don't go around saying, oh my God; I got an A++++ on this quiz."
"Just as much as they come in all sizes and shapes, they come in all kinds of abilities," said Carol Story, an education expert.
Story works with gifted children but says even among standout kids, Maci stands out.
"Sometimes there are the kids who are gifted in everything. I called them the Renaissance person, but those are more unusual than the kids gifted in one particular area," Story explained.
Gifted-- but Maci also maintains she's like other kids, too.
"I guess I'm a typical 12-year-old-- not with academics or sports maybe-- but in everything else I think I am," she said. "Definitely mood swings according to my mom."
A social butterfly, Maci's calendar is jam-packed with activities. Her day starts early and she's often not home until 9 p.m. Her mother says that's the way Maci wants it.
"Some parents may think she's totally booked out or programmed out, but she likes it," mom Philisa Jones-Prescott said.
Gina Bullard: Why do you like doing all those extracurricular activities out of school?
Maci Prescott: I don't know. It just feels like I can apply myself to so much more and I feel like if I can I should.
Maci's parents first realized their daughter was special when she was in kindergarten and asked for homework.
"She picks up a book in the morning and she's done in the evening; you know there's something going on and you need to adjust it," Jones-Prescott said.
"You have to give students what they need. You can't treat them all the same because they're all different," said Tom Ference, the principal at Green Mountain Union High School.
Ference admits it can be a challenge to teach kids like Maci.
"We know what standards students should have at a certain point in their academic careers and if they show that on tests like Maci, would we have to go a little bit further in the curriculum to keep up with that student," Ference said.
So to keep Maci interested teachers worked with her parents to design a special academic plan, making sure Maci took courses that would challenge her.
Ference says it costs a lot to keep up with gifted students, who make up 10 percent of the student population.
"Funding-- sometimes those are the first programs to go, having teacher trained to be able to accommodate these students," Ference said.
In class Maci doesn't need review, but she will happily sit through it.
"I'm not sure if I love the traditional learning that most people do at school, but I definitely love to learn," she said.
Maci wants to become an engineer and likes to build.
A one-of-a-kind kid whose schedule would wear most people out, but not Maci.
