At 15, student begins second year of college

By Christina Lambert

Fifteen-year-old Kari Walker finished high school at age 10. She took the SAT when she was 12. By the time she’s 18, she’ll have a college degree.

Walker was homeschooled all her life and attended American Military University before transferring to UMW this year. Despite her young age, Walker, now a sophomore, was eager to enter into the college world.

“I had basically finished school through the high school age and it was getting rather boring,” said Walker. “I think in college there are alot more ways to get involved and to express yourself.” After some confusion regarding the accuracy of her birth date, Walker was admitted to college.

Once enrolled, Walker hit the ground running studying International Affairs. She hopes to be a diplomat or a politician and wanted to get ahead by going to college early.

“I feel that every human has a potential that needs to be reached and if they are underachieving they will be depressed,” said Walker.

Walker is anything but underachieving. She learned Spanish and Lithuanian while being homeschooled by her parents, and is currently studying Arabic and Chinese. She even visited family in Lithuania a few years ago, which gave her an opportunity to practice the language. Walker is especially interested in peacemaking and preventing crisis, and she would like to be able to use her language skills in her future job as well as learn more languages and travel abroad.

Walker is also involved with many groups on campus. She is a member of the Debate Team, Model UN, the Latin Dance Club and she plays the violin in the Orchestra. In two years, Walker will graduate and plans to continue her education with a Master’s degree and a Ph.D., and is currently looking for scholarships and grants to fund the rest of her education.Although she is adjusting well to college life,

Walker is still a bit different from the average college student. She lives at home, and gets picked up and dropped off from school every day. This is a bit of challenge for Walker, who sees living on campus as a possibility when she’s a little bit older.

“I suppose the biggest constraint is time and managing that while living off of campus,” said Walker. “I think my parents just felt uncomfortable with me going and living alone at my age.”

Despite her busy schedule, Walker still enjoys visiting friends, watching movies and playing video games, which she considers “typical stuff.”

She recently had a birthday party with friends her own age.

However, Walker is not intimidated by her older classmates, in fact, she enjoys the interaction.
“Discussing things with people older than me has never been some scary issue, I find it enjoyable,” said Walker.