A young girl come into the library while I was on duty last week. She was just picking up some books she had on the hold shelf. We got to talking and she said she was a sophomore at the local high school but was hoping to be able to skip directly to college next year. I asked her what major she was interested in and she shyly said, "Quantum physics." I threw both of my arms up in the air and said, "Wonderful. That's what I studied." (Actually it was astrophysics but close enough.) Pretty sure that was not the usual response she received. She became more talkative after that about her specific interests, plans, and how it was hard in school because the other kids considered her a geek. Usual teenage stuff. She stuck around until closing time. When I got home, my brother asked if there was anything new at the library so I told him about the girl. He said she probably was happy to have someone who could be a role model. I certainly didn't consider our talk to be that important. However maybe everything we do is a role model - for bad or good - to someone. A truly frightening thought. (ha)
2 comments:
WOW ..... skipping from sophomore directly to college!!!! She's probably a very bright young woman, but expectations seem a tad unreasonable. Could benefit from a good role model and common sense coaching.
How wonderful to be able to share your story with her. I hope she can hold on because she will find others, like herself, at college. She will find out she is not so different after all.
cjb
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