“I didn’t grow up gifted, at least not by name. I grew up being asked what was wrong with me.”
Joseph Hughes, age 19

Joseph Hughes once read more than 1,000 books to win a first grade contest.
A high achiever, they all said.In elementary school, he’d complete class assignments – perfectly – before the other kids.
But he’d quickly find himself in trouble for having done it before the teacher even reviewed the
instructions.  Impulsive, they all said.

A math whiz, Joe could quickly solve the toughest problems.  But he got F after F, simply because he wouldn’t show his work properly.  A non-conformist, they all said.

And that’s when the wheels on Joe’s life began to wobble.

His intellect far exceeded most of those around him, including some of his teachers. Unfortunately, it also far exceeded his emotional development.

Joe became an outcast among his peers, and a struggle for his teachers.  He got down on himself, wondering why he was always wrong, just because he saw things differently.  His pain was deep and profound, eroding both his confidence and his motivation. Which made school, and learning, a horrible torture.

It was only in high school that Joe was “diagnosed” as gifted, a label neither he nor his parents were initially eager to embrace.  While others assumed that “gifted” meant compliant and high-achieving, Joe came to understand that not only did he have a desire to do things very differently, he had a burning need.

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