PRAIRIE GROVE -- On May 24, Prairie Grove Middle School was turned into a gifted and talented Family Night so students could lead activities on projects they've been working on in class.
This was the program's first family night, said Melanie Nations, Prairie Grove GT coordinator.
Nations said families of about 80 GT students in fourth-eighth grade were invited to the event. Students led 10 to 12 activities for their family members. Scott Family Amazeum in Bentonville also had a hands-on station about electricity for students and their families.
"A lot of this is student led and student planned," Nations said. "They helped plan and create the event. It was important to me that it would be that way."
Nations said her students have been working on projects in class and learning from those. Family night gave them the chance to show other people how to do it, she said. Some of these projects were on display in the middle school library.
"This gives them an opportunity to be in a leadership position," she said, adding the seventh and eighth graders were the ones who led the stations.
About 250 people registered to attend Family Night. Food and money were donated for the event to allow the GT program to offer a hot dog dinner for $5 per meal. First Security Bank donated the hot dogs and bank employees cooked them.
Money raised from the hot dog meal will be used to purchase more technology for the GT program, Nations said.
Stations at the family night included newscast viewing, Lego robotics, photography, coding, paper airplane testing, 80s photo booth, ping pong and a Rubik's Cub competition. Several others set up information booths, Macaroni Kid, Prairie Grove Library and its summer reading program, and Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative.
Jacqueline Burnett with the Scott Family Amazeum watches Leah Lipe as she participates in one of the stations at the GT Family Night on May 24 at Prairie Grove Middle School. Leah is a sixth grader at the middle school.
Riley Campbell, a sixth grader at Prairie Grove Middle School, makes elephant toothpaste using hydrogen peroxide, yeast, warm water and food coloring. The elephant toothpaste was one of the most popular stations at the Gifted and Talented Family Night on May 24 at the school.