Blaze Lo, a student at Fort Dodge Senior High, and Grace Casciato, Tammie Stevens, Madeline Stephans, Carter Anderson, and Brock Delanoit, all of Fort Dodge Middle School, were among the 700 students from Iowa and throughout the nation who were recently invited to be honored at the University of Iowa Belin-Blank Center’s Recognition Ceremony.

Recognized students also were given the opportunity to honor a teacher they credited for having a profound influence on their lives. Both Lo and Casciato selected Diane Pratt, a teacher at Fort Dodge Middle School, for this honor. The ceremony was held Sept. 30 at the Iowa Memorial Union on the University of Iowa campus.

Students were invited to be recognized by the Center for exceptional performance in the Belin-Blank Center student talent search, for receiving scholarships for Belin-Blank Center summer residential gifted programs, for participating in the Summer Art or Writing Residency, for being a student research presenter at the Iowa Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, for being an awardee in the Invent Iowa State Invention Convention, participating in the STEM Excellence and Leadership program, or participating in the Secondary Student Training Program.

Addressing the students, teachers and guests were The University of Iowa President Bruce Harreld, College of Education Dean Dan Clay, Director of the School of Art & Art History Steve McGuire, who delivered the keynote address to teachers, and Assistant Professor Bret Ulery, alumni of the Belin-Blank Center’s Early Entrance Program, who delivered the keynote address to the students.

The Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development is an international full-service gifted education center at the University of Iowa’s College of Education.