Insight
I
14-year-old honor student surviving in college
Most studonts might spond tholr Friday ovsnlng* out and about, but on many wookonds, Clark choosos to stay homo
Clark usually stays up studying or watching television well Into the
night.
‘ People ask me if I stay in my
room all the time and study. I
just tell them Vm not a total
nerd just because I'm 14. ”
■
RAMONA CLARK
■
14-year-old UNL student
With a trigonometry class at 7:10
a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays,
and a biology lecture at 1:10 a.m.
the root of the week, Clark's day
starts before a let of students get
out of bed.
Photos by Travis Heying/DN
Home-schooled teen doesn’t want
to be labeled a prodigy or nerd
By MallMa Ho—k___
Staff Reporter
Ramona Clark leads the normal UNL life.
„ She lives in a single room in the Piper sec
tion of Neihardt Residence Center. She has a
trigonometry class on Tuesday and Thursday
mornings and attends biology lecture and lab,
University Foundations and an honors section
of sociology on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays.
In her spare time. Clark likes to read books
on computer-generated “chaos pictures ” She
also spends her leisure time swimming in the
Abel-Sandoz residence hall complex pool. She
can’t swim at the Campus Recreation Center
pool unsupervised until she turns 16, about two
years from now.
Ramona Clark is only 14. *
“People ask me if 1 stay in my room all the
time and study,” she said. “I just tell them I’m
not a total nerd just because I’m 14.”
Although not an official freshman until she
takes the GED high school equivalency test at
16, Clark is taking a full load of classes at the
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln as a student
at large.
Clark’s parents taught her at a home school
in Milford, and she completed her studies in
the fall by taking the American College Test.
Clark said her scores were above average —
high enough for the admissions department to
allow her to take classes and enter the Honors
Program.
“It wasn’t really hard for me to decide what
to do,” Clark said. “I basically had to decide if
I was going to come to college or just sit around
doing nothing, being a no-good bum.”
Clark’s formal education began at the age
of 5 like most other students. Clark entered a
traditional kindergarten classroom — for one
day.
On that day, the rest of the class partici
pated in story time, and she disappeared to
study the root system of plants.
From then on, her father taught her math
ematics, and her mother taught science. En
glish, history and other subjects.
“My mom said it (home-schooling) was
because she was selfish,” Clark said. “She
didn’t want anyone else to have all the fun.”
Her first week of classes at the university
was uneventful: other students and professors
did not notice she was younger until she told
them.
At times people have patronized her, Clark
said, but overall, students and faculty have been
accepting.
Clark plans to move to the international
floor of Ncihardt with Oxana Bcndous. a Rus
sian student, within the next few weeks. She
said the arrangement would bring some dif
ferent and interesting experiences to her life.
Clark said she embraced different experi
ences.
“Being different is one of the things that
makes life interesting.” she said. “If everything
was the same it would just get boring. Do some
thing different, and it makes people think and
gain a new perspective on things.”
A new perspective is what Lisa Schmidt,
director of high school and college relations
at UNL, had to use to admit Clark into school.
Schmidt said she could not remember a stu
dent as young as Clark trying to enter the uni
versity.
“It’s been difficult because she’s entering a
system not specifically geared to her,” she said.
“We hope we can take care of her needs.'
To gain admittance. Clark had to cut some
“red tape.” because she did not graduate from
an accredited high school and could not take
the GED. She took her first two college courses
last summer.
Clark said she should graduate in four to
five years.
Afier graduation, Clark plans on doing
something math-related, perhaps as a univer
sity professor. In the meantime, she will live a
normal college life — a life that includes clubs,
classes and extracurricular activities.
She began her own math club this semester
that anyone may join regardless of major or
number of math classes taken. About nine
people attended the club’s first meeting, and
another meeting is planned for November.
Clark also enjoys “reading, board games,
playing around with numbers and messing with
my computer.” Some may call her a child
prodigy, but Clark shrugs off that label.
“I don’t care what people call me: just don’t
call me late to math class.”