Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 23, 1995                   TAG: 9504250027
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FREDERICKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

FORGET HIGH SCHOOL; PRODIGY GOING STRAIGHT TO COLLEGE

She was taking college-level courses as a rising sixth-grader. And at 12, she scored 1020 on the Scholastic Assessment Test, higher than most high school seniors.

So it's no surprise that Melissa, an eighth-grader at Montfort Academy in Fredericksburg, is skipping high school and heading straight for college.

Melissa, 13, who lives just north of Port Royal in Caroline County, was recently accepted into Mary Baldwin College's Program for the Exceptionally Gifted. She is one of 25 girls from across the country accepted one to four years earlier than usual.

That means that in four years, when Melissa's friends here are receiving their high school diplomas, she could walk away with a bachelor of arts degree.

As a student at Mary Baldwin, a small liberal arts college in Staunton, Melissa will take classes with regular students but will be expected to meet higher standards than most. Melissa must maintain a 3.5 grade-point average to remain in the program.

But the demands of a college curriculum are not new to Melissa.

She's been attending classes at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and Dickinson College in Pennsylvania for three years.

Last summer at Dickinson, when she was taking a three-week college-level class, she realized how at home she was in that academic setting.

``We were taking an entire semester's worth of work in three weeks, so it was incredibly intensive,'' she said. ``But it was absolutely wonderful. I thought, wow, if I could do work like this all year long, I would really love it.''

While her intelligence is valued by most other students at Montfort, Melissa worried about how she would be received in the public high school system. She also longed to study more specialized material than she knew would be available on the high school level.

``I realized I had little to look forward to in high school. Because there is so much material to cover, many topics get brushed over. You can't devote a lot of time to any one topic that fascinates you. I knew I would be frustrated,'' she said.

So when the information from Mary Baldwin came in the mail, there wasn't much doubt in Melissa's mind that the program was for her.

``Instead of being in a sealed-off group of advanced students in high school, I'll be one among many students learning the same material and sharing the same experiences,'' Melissa said.

Best of all, she said, she'll probably no longer be the only one in her class who empties her desk into her book bag each night or who nearly falls out of her chair with enthusiasm because she's so eager to answer her teachers' questions.

Mary Baldwin also will give Melissa more opportunities to explore two of her favorite topics: archaeology and science. She hopes one day to become a forensic anthropologist.

Melissa admits that she sometimes gets a little nervous.

``I certainly won't be confused for a 17-year-old,'' she said, ``so I'm kind of nervous about how I'll relate to the traditional students.

``Hopefully, they'll realize I'm not some freak of nature, just someone who really wants to learn.''