On an Amazing Journey, and He's Only 12

Lary Bloom:

A FEW weeks ago, the youngest of the 20,953 students at the Storrs campus of the University of Connecticut went shopping for a calculator. Colin Carlson, who lives in nearby Coventry, took his mother along, as she had the driver's license and the money. He also took a reputation well beyond his 12 years.

Another male student spotted him and said, "Hey, Colin, I hear you're a babe magnet." The boy smiled. But with a full course load and the usual schedule of public appearances ahead of him, he had yet to make finding a girlfriend a priority. So he suspected a bit of social manipulation afoot. The guys know that several female students have become friendly with Colin, and, in his view, they're cozying up to him so that women will notice them.

Even at Colin's tender age, his emergence at Storrs is no longer an oddity. He became a full-time student this fall, but has been a familiar face since he was 8, beginning with a course in French, and a year later in environmental physics and European history. This made him a local celebrity but also resulted in a view in some academic quarters that he is too small for his breeches.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 3, 2008 3:14 AM
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