Big things are happening at Nathaniel Hawthorne Elementary School. Students play soccer, gaga ball, and study the water cycle in our redeveloped schoolyard. During their summer vacation, Principal Shantee Jude-Williams and staff traveled to Washington, D.C., to collect a U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools award.

Now, the Wisconsin Association for Talented and Gifted (WATG) has named Jude-Williams its Outstanding Administrator of the Year. The school’s population of high-ability, high-potential students has surged from zero to 100 in just five years.

Jude-Williams has been principal at Hawthorne since 2018 at Hawthorne. In 2019, Hawthorne joined eight other MPS schools in the federally funded nationwide program known as SURGE—Serving the Under-Represented by Grouping Equitably. Increasing the number of underrepresented students who are identified as high achieving/high potential was one of several SURGE goals, along with these:

• Increasing the ability of educators to use culturally effective tools to recognize and serve high achieving/high potential, economically disadvantaged students.
• Increasing identification rates among underrepresented student populations (such as English learners and students who receive special education services).
• Increasing access to high-quality STEM programs.

The Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program made possible teacher training, an increase in programs and services for all students, and additional funding for classroom teachers to buy STEM-related materials for enrichment opportunities.

Hawthorne School’s secret? Pairing Javits program resources with “unbelievably high expectations and a highly supportive environment,” Jude-Williams says.

Under Jude-Williams’ leadership, “genius” applies to every student at Hawthorne, K3 to 5th grade. Genius Club meets on select school days and brings together students from different grades and learning backgrounds to study, strategize, and create. Students choose from genius groups, or clusters, where they can build robots or make bracelets, learn chess, paint, or sing choral music. Scheduling the Genius Hour during the school day gives all students access to club materials and individualized and small-group instruction from teachers.

“More equitable gifted and talented programming means more students are provided access and an opportunity to hone in on their talents or gifts as a learner,” Jude-Williams says.

This inclusive approach helps individual students reach their fullest potential and is creating long-term, school-wide practices that connect underrepresented students to advanced learning experiences.

“Principal Jude-Williams has created an environment where all students receive talent development opportunities during the school day to eliminate the barriers that prevent students from having access to rich learning opportunities,” Javits grant teacher coach Martha Aracely López, PhD, wrote in a nomination letter to WATG.

“The schoolwide Genius Hour clubs have generated a nurturing and stimulating environment that challenges and inspires her teachers and students, encouraging them to reach their greatest potential.”

Jude-Williams says students get an extra boost of enrichment in STEM activities that the district’s Gifted and Talented Program hosts at Hawthorne and across the community. She credits the school’s VIP volunteers, as well. Retired teachers, principals, and physicians from the community step up as tutors and role models during the school day. Students can count on support from tutors at GreenTree-Teutonia Community Learning Center after school. Partner organizations like Black Arts MKE, SHARP Literacy, Reflo, and Nearby Nature Milwaukee bring arts and nature-based programs to Hawthorne and host students during field trips to performing arts venues and urban green spaces city-wide.