The Escambia County School District’s PATS program is a part of the ESE program of the county, and is just as important to gifted children as all other special education programs that are offered for special needs students. The PATS Center itself is a crucial part of the PATS program because it provides the ideal environment to foster excitement about learning in gifted children.  The PATS Center needs to be expanded and improved upon, NOT diminished in any way.  At the PATS Center, the gifted middle school students of Escambia County are free to be themselves and be a part of a group that understands them and thinks and learns like them.  When gifted students are provided with the type of environment and stimulation that they need to learn, the possibilities are endless, and the results are amazing.