For highly gifted young people, consider letting them stay in the area where they are comfortable (geographic region) for a built in support system if they are undertaking years of study in a particular field.
Anything that is very traditional or is some sort of already set path might not be the best for highly gifted students.
When you study their histories, they are often the ones that reject very structured environments. They are the innovators.
They might be less likely to complete a traditional program, whereas they may have if they had the program more on their terms.
The group looking for the traditional path might be more likely to be the very smart (and maybe wealthy group) and doing what is expected group, rather than the highly gifted group.
I am remembering a friend in college who wanted desperately to be a librarian, but thought it was below her intellectual level and family expectations. She totally omitted her passion in her college applications mainly because she was afraid to speak her truth.
After college, she had to be honest with herself and go for the librarian training. I encourage students to be honsest, free to be who they want to be. Please do not do activities because it looks good to some college administrator. That is a huge time waster for gifted people.
Everyone benefits when any person follows their true passion and inside instincts - these may be less likely to be found in an after school club. Also, I have noticed that the highly gifted students can end up spending a lot of time alone developing their gifts which is another reason you might not find them in a club and it might be extremely helpful to have them stay in the geographic area where they are surrounded by people who know and love them and hopefully understand and support them.
As an aside, to the extent a percentage of this group may be more cost aware or even downright frugal, the highly gifted student might go in an entirely different direction in school-choice. When you know that schooling for your career overall will take years, the overall cost has to be considered.
Whenever I was on full scholarship, I always felt a responsibility to the school footing the bill. When you pay out of pocket, you are freer to have the experience on your own terms and not worry about your transcript.
For gifted people, they might develop their gifts better, quicker without all of the conventional trappings.
