Board of Directors (alphabetical by first name)
Austin J. Foglesong, MLIS, M.Ed. (Board Member) is the Supervising Librarian II at the Moses Lake Public Library (NCW Libraries) in Moses Lake, Washington. Austin is a former high school English teacher and enrichment specialist from Quincy, Washington. He is pursuing his Doctorate in Education (Ed.D.) in Cognitive Diversity from Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education. In 2022, he received his Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree from the University of Washington. In 2018, he received his Master of Education in Teaching and Learning (M.Ed.) and a gifted education specialty endorsement from Whitworth University. He is a positive role model of lifelong learning with a passion for reading and writing. His specialties include gifted education, library and information science, and twice-exceptional (2e) education. Austin serves on the Northwest Gifted Child Association (NWGCA) board, a support and advocacy organization for parents of gifted children. He also serves on the Washington Library Association (WLA) Advocacy Committee, advocating for libraries and library staff across Washington State, and the Washington Association of Educators of the Talented and Gifted (WAETAG) Partnership Committee, developing partnerships with key stakeholders in the gifted education community.
Austina De Bonte (Past President) lives in Woodinville. She has had a passion for understanding the highly capable (HiCap) population ever since her oldest daughter neared kindergarten, when she helped to inaugurate the Northshore School District’s HiCap Parents Council (www.hcparents.org). Austina De Bonte is the Past President of the Northwest Gifted Child Association (www.nwgca.org), the Washington State support and advocacy organization for families with gifted children. Founded in 1963, NWGCA is the oldest gifted organization in Washington state. A dynamic and engaging presenter, Austina speaks regularly at regional and national conferences, as well as conducts professional development workshops for educators through her consultancy, Smart is Not Easy, LLC. She is a parent advocate who is passionate about speaking about the unique social and emotional development of highly capable (HiCap) or “gifted” children. Austina's signature style combines her experience as a parent and parent coach along with synthesized research and cutting edge neuroscience. Austina is a certified SENG Model Parent Group facilitator. She has a Masters degree from MIT, and did her thesis work in the MIT Media Lab's Epistemology and Learning Group, where Lego Mindstorms was invented. Austina's talks: What Educators and Parents Need to Know about Smart Kids (Slides), Peeling the Onion: Equity in HiCap (Slides), Peeling the Onion: Equity in HiCap (Research Paper). Click here to contact Austina.
Cheryl Davenport (Board Member) is a passionate supporter of highly capable families. As a second generation educator with 2e family, she has worked, lived, and supported diverse families in rural, suburban, and urban settings. Cheryl sees highly capable barriers and opportunities through many lenses. Cheryl’s passion motivates her serve in multiple ways. In addition to the NWGCA Board, Cheryl is a Washington State Parent Representative on OSPI’s Highly Capable Advisory. Also, Cheryl created the Washington State HiCap Discussion Group on Facebook for families, educators, and specialists to build community, create equitable support, and provide information. Cheryl lives in rural Thurston County with her husband and daughter. There, she has worked in small, medium, and large school districts as an instructional support educator.
Christina Clark, M.D. (Board Member) is a double board certified Psychiatrist with experience treating child, adolescent, and adult patients. She completed medical school on the east coast and then moved west to California for residency. After her adult residency, she completed her Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington in 2012. Her clinical experience spans numerous settings and she has worked with populations ranging from preschoolers to the elderly; she currently maintains a busy private practice concentrated on increased access to comprehensive psychiatric evaluations, individual & parenting therapy, and medication management. Dr. Clark has focused her career on helping young children and their families improve their mental health and more effectively navigate challenges at home, in the community, and at school. Recently she has cultivated an interest in the unique needs of gifted individuals, especially those designated as twice exceptional. Dr. Clark has pursued further training and study in the areas of mental health needs unique to gifted populations, gifted educational needs, and advocacy needs for gifted individuals within the Black community. She is excited to be able to add to the advocacy efforts for twice exceptional and minority youth through her participation in the NWGCA board.
Elizabeth Williamson (President) is a long-time board member of NWGCA (Northwest Gifted Child Association). Elizabeth was identified as a gifted student in 2nd grade in the Phoenix Unified School District and both there, and in southern California, was able to participate in pull-out hi-cap programs during her elementary school years.Elizabeth lives in Bothell and is married to her best friend. Together, she and her husband strive to learn all they can about the needs of gifted children and advocate for these special children. They have two beautiful, unique, young adult children. Her children’s educational experience has included: self-contained gifted classrooms in the public school system; Honors, “High Cap”, and IB classes; a short stint in private school; home schooling; and radical acceleration through the Robinson Center at the University of Washington. Elizabeth has served on the Edmonds School District's Gifted Advisory Board and the Northshore School District HiCap Parents Council, and has also served extensively in PTA leadership roles. She recently became a SENG (Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted) Model Parent Group Facilitator. Elizabeth has done extensive study on the topic of gifted and raising gifted children, as well as on personality temperaments, communication and relationships. She has traveled the country to attend NAGC, SENG, CAG, WAETAG, and NWGCA conferences and conventions and has also attended numerous other seminars and classes to learn as much as possible to help her children. She is passionate about supporting the emotional intensities and needs of these unique and special children. She believes that this support is as fundamental as the need for an appropriate educational experience - that, in fact, an appropriate educational experience cannot be fully had without that emotional support. Click here to contact Elizabeth.
Hans Kehl (Board Member) spent his childhood living in a hot springs resort in Izu Hanto, Japan followed by a sheep ranch in Umpqua, Oregon, after which he moved to Seattle so he could participate in the tiny early 80’s version of the Seattle Public Schools Highly Capable Cohort program (then known as IPP). Hans subsequently entered University at the age of 13 through the Transition School cohort program at the University of Washington. Hans has spent the bulk of his professional career working overseas for a couple multinational corporations in various senior roles based in Tokyo, London, Bucharest, and Moscow. He moved back to Seattle with his family with an eye towards having his children benefit from the accelerated learning, peer relationships, and unconstrained development that were the highlights of his own public school education there. His lived experience leads him to a particular interest in advocating for equitable identification and educational opportunities for all (despite being intelligent, well-read and successful as an adult, due to economic circumstances in childhood his father never graduated from high school and despite being at least equally intelligent and well-read, his mother was unable to attend a 4 year University due to the gender discrimination present in her home country at that time) and improving visibility of the tremendous, well-researched and demonstrable benefits of cohort based learning programs for the gifted. Hans lives in the Ravenna neighborhood of Seattle with his wife Chihoko, their 13 year old daughter who is in the remains of the Highly Capable program at Seattle Public Schools, their 6 year old son who would qualify for that program if the district allowed such a designation at that age, and their two dogs, neither of which seem highly capable of anything aside from napping and eating treats. Hans holds a BA in History from the University of Washington, a JD from the University of Washington School of Law, and an MBA from the University of Virginia – Darden.
Jennifer Allen, Ed.D. (Secretary) lives in the Tri-Cities. She is the Founder and Executive Director of 2edvocate, LLC, an educational consulting firm that partners with schools, families, and professionals to best meet students’ needs so they can thrive in their educational journey and beyond. Jennifer has dedicated over 20 years to supporting the unique needs of students. As a teacher, assistant principal, parent, special education director, and head of a school for twice-exceptional students, Jennifer brings a wealth of experience and appreciates what it’s like to sit on both sides of the IEP table. Jennifer’s interest in neurodiversity began in a high school psychology class. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in psychology from Washington State University, earned her master’s degree in teaching from Whitworth University, completed her principal certification program from Seattle Pacific University, added her gifted education specialty endorsement from Whitworth, and earned her Ed.D. in leadership and professional practice from Trevecca Nazarene University. Jennifer’s dissertation explored educational equity, financial adequacy, and how legislation impacted students with specialized needs. Jennifer is the parent of two gifted teens. A fun fact is that she and her family lived in South Africa for five years. In an effort to meet her children’s unique schooling needs, Jennifer has experience with Montessori schools, independent schools, homeschool, and public schools. Supports that were helpful included cognitive and academic testing, grade skipping, Mensa, talent search, after-school enrichment, self-contained gifted classes, camps for gifted children, Davidson Young Scholars, a 504 plan, honors and AP high school classes, and working with a variety of specialists. As a board member with NWGCA, Jennifer enjoys raising awareness of gifted children as a special needs population and connecting parents to resources.
Kristine Highlander (Board Member) is a psychiatric ARNP (PMHNP) living in Seattle. She completed a Masters degree in 2014 and has spent her clinical practice working in hospital, residential, and outpatient settings. Her most recent practice is at a university clinic setting working with emerging and developing adults, many of whom are 2e. She has been certified as an Advanced Practice Addictions Nurse and was designated an autism Center of Excellence in 2023. She is a past president of AAPPN, Washington’s organization for PMHNPs, where she most recently serves on the Legislative Committee. Kristine is also a parent to two 2e children. She joins the NWGCA Board with a particular interest in improving identification of and systems of care for 2e emerging/young adults.
Karen Yeh (Treasurer) is pleased to be joining the board in its mission of advocacy, education, communication, empowerment, and community building for HiCap families. Gifted children need advocates. Oftentimes they do not fit into the traditional educational and even societal constructs that we inhabit. Parents of gifted children also need advocates, resources, knowledge, community, and to feel understood in their sustained and often lonely pursuit of environments where their children can thrive. Karen's degrees in electrical engineering and architecture and her associated work in those fields have been invaluable in helping her design and facilitate experiences to enrich and support her three school-aged children and their respective educational communities. She is passionate about exploring ways to nurture children—especially those who don't exist in the same room as the box that they don't fit within. Her children's educational journeys have included Montessori, home school, forest schools, independent schools, choice schools and public schools. Karen's special interests are in executive function delay, sensory processing difficulty, ADHD inattentive presentation, dysgraphia, stealth dyslexia, and anxiety. Karen is a Seattle native and, after a decade away, returned to the Eastside to raise her family.
Marcella Appel (Co-Vice President) works as a limnologist in West Richland, WA where she lives with her husband and two children. She became involved in gifted advocacy after a three-year journey of intensively researching and synthesizing information pertaining to the needs of gifted/2e children. Her research has taken her to both Colorado and California to meet with experts and identify how to best support and advocate for her own 2e children. Armed with knowledge and an enthusiasm for all gifted/2e children, she joined the NWGCA board to work with families and parent organizations across the state. Marcella also enjoys working with rural and smaller communities where services for gifted children may not always be available. Marcella is passionate about parent groups and the powerful role they have in their community. She is co-founder of Mid-Columbia 2e a parent group for families of twice-exceptional children. Marcella is also trained as a SENG-Model Parent Group Facilitator. Click here to contact Marcella.
Michael Postma, Ed.D. (Co-Vice President) is a teacher, administrator, consultant, speaker, and author dedicated to the holistic development of both gifted and twice-exceptional children through his company Gifted & Thriving, LLC. During the last two decades, Dr. Postma has worked in the field of gifted/talented education as both a teacher and administrator in the public and charter school system in Minnesota and North Carolina, and, was the architect of the Minnetonka Navigator Program, a magnet school specifically designed for highly gifted and twice-exceptional students.
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Northwest Gifted Child Association, PO Box 2081, Woodinville, WA 98072-2081
Tax ID: 91-0781776
[email protected]
Tax ID: 91-0781776
[email protected]