Boy, 12, To Be College's Youngest Full-Time Pupil
SAN DIEGO (AP) - A 12-year-old Southern California boy who hopes to become a computer engineer will be the youngest full-time student in the history of MiraCosta College when he enrolls next month.
Kyle Litzenberg, of Oceanside, who is an only child and has been home-schooled his whole life, will turn 13 two days before the start of the fall semester at the community college, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Saturday.
Kyle said he's not worried about going to college, but he knows leaving his home schooling behind will be a challenge.
"It's going to be a completely new experience for me," he said. "I've never gone to a public school before. It will be a new adventure, a new experience for me. I'm excited."
His father is a former high school science teacher, and his parents originally moved to a better school district so he could attend a good public kindergarten.
But when his mother, Santosha Litzenberg, took him to his first day of school, she began to have second thoughts, the paper reported.
Her son was already reading a book a day, and she was worried he wouldn't be challenged.
At age 6, he wrote a song. He has written a book, is working on another one and has authored several plays. He recently took the California High School Proficiency Examination to earn the equivalent of a diploma and does math well above grade level.
During the last school year, Kyle reached the equivalent of 10th grade and took summer classes at MiraCosta.
He plans on studying at the community college for about two years and then moving on to the University of California, San Diego to study computer engineering.
The preteen, who is too young to get a driver's license, will probably ride his bike or skateboard to the bus stop to attend classes, he said.
"I'm not freaked out or anything about it. But any time you go into a new area, you're going to be a little bit nervous," he said about starting class next month. "I'm looking forward to just learning about the things I want to learn."
MiraCosta, in Oceanside, enrolls about 17,000 students.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.
