A Poem Analysis
One of the smartest students in Prof. Harold Metcalfs's advanced physics course at the State University of Stoney Brook is a 10-year-old girl who likes cartoons and wants a new outfit for her baby doll for Christmas.
Alia Sabur is a "wonderful student," said Metcalf, who is teaching Classical Physics II this semester.
"She's attentive. She does good homework. She gets good grades. She's a delight," the professor said.
Fifty-five students are enrolled in Metcalf's course - the study of physics in relation to electricity, magnetism and optics - and the professor said Alia ranks in the top 10%. "I treat her like everyone else," he said. She is also studying molecular biology and taking an orientation course.
Sabur jumped from the fourth grade to college after her parents omplained her educational needs were not being met by the Northport school district.
"Last year, I didn't do anything," Alia said Friday after class.
It's believed she's the youngest student taking classes in the state university system.
Alia said college life is "exciting."
"It's really big," she said of the college campus. "And it's so nice to actually learn something." She also said her college classmates are more mature than the ones she left behind in elementary school.
Alia tested off the IQ scale in first grade. She started reading at 8 months old, according to her mother, Julie, an associate professor of Journalism at New York Institute of Technology. Alia, who has a black belt in tae kwon do, isn't sure what she wants to be when she grows up.
"My two favorite things right now are physis and genetics," she said.
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