Generous Gift Reflects Passion for Gifted Education

Patricia “Pat” Ballou (MA ’64) has been part of The Connie Belin & Jacqueline N. Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development since before it was even a center.

The retired elementary teacher was one of 17 Des Moines-area educators who participated in the would-be center’s first teacher’s workshop to learn about gifted education in 1980. The Center was officially founded as part of The University of Iowa College of Education in 1988.

Now Ballou has chosen to give back to the center that sparked her passion for and interest in gifted learners by gifting $40,000 to the center, which is directed by Nicholas Colangelo.

“The center is definitely a highlight of my life,” she said.

Ballou said she chose to make her gift now because of the current economic climate.

“When the economy gets a little shaky, one of the first programs where schools want to reduce funding is the gifted and talented program, mistakenly thinking gifted kids will get along without support,” she said.

“We need recognized centers like the Belin-Blank Center to validate the importance of gifted education in our schools.”

Ballou said she was mostly in the dark about gifted education before that intensive 1980 Belin-Blank workshop, which Colangelo taught.

“The experience was just very, very enlightening,” Ballou said, adding that gifted education grew into a focal point in her career.

Colangelo said holding the workshop in 1980 was considered “radical.”

“There was little happening in gifted education in the nation then and particularly in Iowa,” he said.

Ballou, who taught second, third and fourth grades, said she was able to take what she learned at the Belin-Blank workshop and at follow-up sessions with the Belin-Blank Center and spread the knowledge to her fellow teachers.

“I taught with a fantastic bunch of teachers who if you brought in an idea for gifted kids, were willing to jump in,” Ballou said.

Colangelo describes Ballou, who won multiple teaching awards, as an “outstanding, exceptional teacher.”

“She’s everything you imagine an excellent teacher to be,” he said. “She was dedicated, smart, read everything, and cared about doing her best with kids. It was our honor that she was in the first program we ever sponsored.”

Ballou retired from teaching in 1999. She said retirement afforded her time to look back over her career and recognize the people and organizations that were important to her over the years. She was also able to visit the Belin-Blank Center for the first time in some years and was impressed with the center’s improvements and expansion.

“I want to support something that helped me and will help others in the future,” she said.

Colangelo said an administrative office in the Belin-Blank Center will be named in Ballou’s honor and that he’s thankful for her generous gift.

“It’s a very touching, gracious thing for her to do,” he said. “She’s always been a strong advocate for gifted education and for the Belin-Blank Center. Once you’ve been through a program, you’re always part of the Belin-Blank family and she clearly is.”