CTY organization history
Contents
SMPY and the Ideas for CTY (1972-1978)
In 1972, Dr. Julian Stanley (July 9, 1918 - August 12, 2005), a psychology professor at Johns Hopkins University, introduced the first talent search designed to identify, challenge, and reward academically able young people. This was the start of his program originally called SMPY, or The Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth, focused soly on the Mathematic advancement of its students. The official start of the CTY Summer Programs began in 1979, when CTY was started as called OTID, known as the Office of Talent Identification and Development, which started its summer programs at St. Mary's in Maryland.
OTID and the beginnings of CTY (1979-1981)
OTID started the beginnings of what would later become the Center for Talented Youth. It was formed with the combination of Dr. Stanley's Study for Mathematically Percarious Youth (SMPY) and the Program for Verbally Gifted Youth (PVGY). The program was then renamed the Center for the Advancement of Academically Advanced Youth (CTY). The First Director of the combined approach was Dr. William C. George, who would go on to be the director until Dr. Wliliam G. Durden's appointment in 1982. As aforementioned, OTID began the residential program in St. Mary's. 109 students were present in the first year of programs, but it would soon expand in 1980 when they started their Talent Search for gifted students around the United States. The program at St. Mary's would close at the end of the 1981 summer, but two sites would catapult CTY into what it is today: Carlisle and Lancaster.
CTY's Big Break (1982-1994)
Carlisle and Lancaster would take over St. Mary's in the summer of 1982 and have been running their programs ever since. Franklin & Marshall and Dickinson College brought the beginnings of the popularity with CTY. Saratoga Springs would begin in 1986, adding to an already expanding summer camp. With this expansions, CTY began their Young Students program in the summer of 1992. They would add Sandy Spring and others to include in their inaugural year. Los Angeles would open in 1992 for CTY, then expanding again the program's sties and its enrollment status. By 1992, some 6,000 students were enrolled in CTY summer programs at a dozen sites throughout the United States and overseas. With CTY's expansion into other areas, the organization felt that they needed to create a name for their institution as a whole. This was the beginning of IAAY, the Institute for the Acadmeic Advancement of Youth.
IAAY and the Start of CAA (1995-1999)
IAAY began its time as the name of the organization on July 1, 1995. The former first Executive Director, Dr. William G. Durden stated that ""This expansion will permit our organization to continue to work most flexibly and efficiently with individual students and to meet the challenges facing talent advancement in the 21st Century." Dr. Durden and the team at IAAY did indeed made the institution more flexible by introducing the Center for Academic Advancement (now known as the Center for Academic Explorations). This was created due to expanding the program to those who just missed out on the test scores that CTY enacted. This enabled for more students to have the opportunity to attend a CTY program, while still learning at a engaging, fast paced level. Bethlehem and Frederick would begin the start of CAA in the summer of 1996. This programs increased when additional sites in Santa Cruz and the Marine Site at the Univeristy of Notre Dame - Maryland were added, the to toal for 1998 stood at 16 sites. The institution was now going into the turn of the Century and they believed that the Center for Talented certainly does state the mission and IAAY was officially changed back to CTY on January 1, 2000.
CTY's Triumphs and Tribulations in the Early 21st Century (2000-2010)
The Center for Talented Youth, returning as the official name of the organization, began adding even more sites and programs to its list. Alexandria for Young Students would be added in 2000 and Bristol would follow up in 2001 for the Center for Academic Advancement. The Center then added the Civic Leadership Institute in 2002 at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. The Center then took on an ambitious task as they decided to expand to both Tempe Arizona and Kaneohe Hawaii to try and expand their reach at CTY. These turned out to be short lived projects as Arizona would only last two years and close in 2005 and Hawaii, although popular at its last years, would close in 2009. However, the sad situation that occurred for the Center was the biggest project they attempted: A International branch. They began by introducing two International branches in the summer of 2007 Nanjing, China which was held at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center and the Puebla, Mexico site at the Universidad de las Americas. The programs, particularly Nanjing, were immediately popular at their introduction and CTY brought in an additional site in Madrid, Spain. The Center faced hard times, however, with the Recession of 2008. The Center collectively shut down Loudonville, Puebla, Mexico, Madrid, Spain, San Francisco, Kaneohe, Monterrey, Mexico, and Nanjing, China within 2008-2010, marking a low point for CTY. Regardless, CTY continued to bring accelerated learning to children around the world. CTY, although losing its original International sites, began the process again with the introduction of the Hong Kong, which it still runs to this day.
CTY in the Present Day (2011-Present)
CTY today is still a bustling organization. As of 2016, over 1.5 million students have participated in CTY's Talent Search. In 2016, over 28,000 students participated in CTY programs. Summer Programs were over 9,000 and CTY Online had over 13,000 enrollments. For Summer sites, CTY has programs running at 21 different sites, along with two international sites in Hong Kong and Anatolia, Greece. The future is sometimes uncertain for CTY, but it will always be a leader in learning and engagement in the United States and the world.
