College Bound?

Girls' Life, Dec, 2001

Bold move for an 11-year-old to enroll in a Community College Course. Even cooler that Julia Musser, 11, scored an A in her Red Rocks Community College one-credit introduction to the Internet class last spring. "My dad was taking a javascript class there, so I thought I'd take a class too," says Julia, a sixth-grader with college-level reading jumped through hoops by taking tests and even met with the professor beforehand.

"I was treated the same as every student," she says. Though she admits the class was challenging--especially the final paper Julia received an A. So why isn't she taking any future classes? She was thinking of enrolling in a photography or philosophy class next semester--until she was nixed by President Dr. Eric Reno. "They told me they were sorry but that the president did not want me to take class anymore," Julia says. Why kick Julia out? She thinks it's because she's too young. "Someone made a mistake in allowing her to enroll," says Dr. Reno. He believes the only reason Julia did so wel l in the class is because it "was designed for anyone literate in computers--students coming back to school who are missing the Internet tools used in college courses and programs:" Dr. Reno denies that Julia was denied access to taking any future courses at the college.