Hazelwood Gifted

10/14/2026

GALACTIC Staff Spotlight: Ms. Eckelkamp!

We’re excited to continue our new GALACTIC staff spotlight series, where we’re introducing you to the amazing teachers who make our program so special.❤️

Ms. Eckelkamp has been teaching for 29 years and has been a part of the GALACTIC family for 14 years! Here’s a little more about Ms. Eckelkamp!

Her favorite classes to teach are Nutrition & Fitness and Sharks!

Her favorite part of teaching gifted students is having the opportunity to challenge students and get creative with curriculum to make learning engaging and meaningful!

Her fun fact is that she’s visited all 50 states!

And if you’ve heard from our students, you might already know another reason Ms. Eckelkamp is a favorite… 🐶 Lulu, is a BIG hit with our GALACTIC kiddos!

10/10/2026

Please join us in congratulating Ms. Schneider on receiving a Hazelwood mini grant for Hands-On, Minds-On Critical Thinking Kits! 🎉

This new lending library will give teachers across the Hazelwood School District access to hands-on enrichment kits designed to spark curiosity, strengthen critical thinking skills, and challenge our gifted learners right in their home school classrooms.

We’re excited to see these resources inspire learning, encourage creative problem-solving, and create new opportunities for gifted students across the district!

10/09/2026

Check out the weekly newsletter!

Friday Five:GALACTIC Family Edition

10/09/2026

Introducing our New GALACTIC STAFF SPOTLIGHT!

We’re starting something new on our page! Throughout this year, we’ll be introducing you to the amazing teachers who make GALACTIC such a special place to learn. We asked our students what they love about their teachers, and we’ll be sharing their answers along with a few fun facts about each teacher.

Our very first staff spotlight is a teacher who has been teaching for 22 years and has been at GALACTIC for 8 of those years! This is Mrs. Davison!

Favorite class: Native American Artifacts
Why she loves working with gifted students: She loved being able to expose students to more high interest topics and challenge them with deeper thinking
Fun Fact: She LOVES French bulldogs and has two of her own!

We’re excited to introduce you to the people behind GALACTIC and give our families a chance to get to know the teachers who spend their days inspiring, challenging, and encouraging our students.

10/02/2026

Our weekly newsletter is here! Check it out for the latest school updates and information.

Friday Five:GALACTIC Family Edition

10/01/2026

Our 4th grade Cryptozoology students had a special guest this week! 🦕
Students got to zoom with author and journalist Kelly Milner Halls, who writes fascinating nonfiction stories about the world around us. Before the meeting, students prepared their own interview questions and then got the chance to ask Kelly their questions and hear her answers firsthand!
Kelly shared about her work as a journalist, the importance of asking questions, researching information, and using critical thinking to separate facts from fiction. Our students loved getting a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to research and write about mysterious and unusual topics!

09/29/2026

Today is the day!! We’ll see you there!!

09/22/2026

GALACTIC FAMILY UPDATE!

We have several important things that have are coming home and coming up this week! Be sure to check out the information below 👇

Skate Party Fundraiser
Our GALACTIC boosters are hosting a skate party fundraiser! Check out the invitation for all the details and come support GALACTIC!

Join the Boosters!
A Boosters sign up sheet is going home this week! If you’d like to support our GALACTIC program and help make special experiences possible for our students, we’d love to have you join us!

Semester Calendar
We’re also sharing our semester calendar so families can see what’s coming up in GALACTIC!

Student Contact Form
A student contact form is going home this week as well. Please fill it out and return it with your student next week. This helps us make sure we have the most up-to-date contact information for your family.

Thank you for supporting GALACTIC and helping us make this program amazing for our students!

09/19/2026

We have some exciting news! 🎉

Our gifted program has been named a 2026 Exemplary Gifted Program by the Gifted Association of Missouri! We are incredibly proud of our students, staff, and the entire gifted community for making this recognition possible.

Check out the district’s article below to learn more about this exciting recognition!

Hazelwood School District’s Galactic program has been named a 2026 Missouri Exemplary Gifted Program by the Gifted Association of Missouri!

Galactic earned a 24/28 on the program evaluation, with evaluators praising Hazelwood’s equitable identification practices, advanced curriculum, and intentional use of assessment data to support gifted learners.

Congratulations to our Galactic team for this well-deserved recognition and for their continued commitment to helping gifted students thrive!

To hear more about this exemplary program recognition honor, click the link below:

https://www.hazelwoodschools.org/details/~board/hazelwood-news-hazelwood-school-district-43/post/hazelwood-gifted-services-earns-missouri-exemplary-program-recognition

05/22/2026

Look what our fantastic BOOSTERS bought for GALACTIC. Thank you, Boosters! Wonder what the first message will say when we return in August?!? Any guesses?