No high school? No problem for ODU grad

NORFOLK

By the end of eighth grade, Mariel Alper didn't like school.

Boring. Too much busywork.

How about college? her mom suggested. Old Dominion University agreed.

The school has occasionally admitted younger-than-normal students before. The decision is based on school transcripts, recommendations, and interviews with the student and parents. Mariel also scored a midrange 1070 out of 1600 on the SAT.

Those factors are how Mariel, at age 13 and a good if not stellar student, jumped directly from Blair Middle School to a campus of more than 80 buildings and 20,000 students.

"It was a better environment for her," said her mother, Dorolyn Alper. "She already has a lot of self-discipline. She was a self-starter."

During the next four years, Mariel did things others her age did: got braces, learned to drive, took her first part-time job.

And things they didn't: worked on a major in criminal justice with a minor in psychology. Took study trips to Europe and Mexico. Hung out with 20-something classmates, some with spouses and children.

She liked college work better than the work at her old school - papers and projects rather than hovering teachers and long lists of terms to define night after night.

Not all adjustments were easy. For example, getting to campus was a concern. "She had never ridden the city bus before," her mother said.

Mariel looked even younger than her age when she began, although the only ones who seemed to ask about it were dining-hall workers.

"That's what I wanted to do: blend in," she said.

She couldn't in some ways. Friends, school guidance counselors and some college staff warned that such a jump was a bad idea. To catch up in math, she had to get a tutor and take a college algebra class at Tidewater Community College.

Unlike her classmates, Mariel still needed her parents' signatures on housing and travel forms. And there were the occasional social quandaries, such as getting asked out.

"Oh, by the way, I'm 14," she'd say.

She lived in a dorm for the first time this year to get the full college experience, matched with a freshman roommate closer to her age. One year was enough, she said. Dorm life was a little too rowdy for her taste.

She tended to be quiet in the classroom. Garland White, an associate professor of sociology and criminal justice, said he noticed her in his courses only after she began getting the highest grades.

White didn't learn Mariel's age until the end of a long discussion about graduate-school recommendations.

"A remarkable young woman," he said.

Now 17, Mariel graduates today. Her near-A average helped her win an assistantship from ODU, allowing her to stay to work on a master's degree. Eventually, she hopes to earn her doctorate and teach.

"I like school again," she said.

Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-3893, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com