This story about 15-year-old Brittney Exline of Colorado Springs, CO who started school at University of Pennsylvania this week caught my eye. At first it was the headline which was noteworthy, but then the picture of Bruttney provided some more information not immediately offered in the wire report, namely that Brittney is African American.Here is an excerpt of the standard wire report written by Kathy Matheson of Associated Preess that is running in many papers:
Brittney Exline is too young to drive a car or go to an R-rated movie, but the 15-year-old probably will not have much time for those things anyway now that she's starting her first year of college.Interesting that the youth of Brittney and her academic interests make it into the first grafs of the news article but her race does not, especially when rates of college attendance by minorities is such a prominent and controversial national issue.
Despite the age difference with her 17- and 18-year-old peers, she said she doesn't really notice it - and neither do they.
"I didn't tell people right off the bat that I was 15," Exline said. "A lot of people were pretty surprised."
Exline grew up in Colorado Springs, where from an early age her intellect was evident and unexplainable. At 8 years old, she was in sixth grade; by 13, she had finished high school math. She turned 15 in February and graduated a few months later.
She is a high achiever in math and science, but is also interested in politics so she enrolled in a University of Pennsylvania program that will award her degrees from both the engineering and liberal arts schools when she graduates.
