Ever since, the “mind boggling” fifth-grader from La Crescenta has risen to the top of the course, he said.
“I’ve really never seen anything quite like this,” the 40-year college English instructor said.
Amy and her parents don’t know exactly how she has separated from her peers, young and old.
It might have been a regular regimen of reading, combined with minimal exposure to commercial television, said her dad, Vincent Lim, an attorney.
Or perhaps it was the Harry Potter audio books that Amy plays daily while taking showers and getting ready for bed, she said.
But most of all, it has probably been her interest in challenging herself when regular fifth-grade material hasn’t risen to the task, she said.
“I didn’t want my brain to get all lazy, and I wanted to keep learning,” Amy said of her decision to enroll at Pasadena City College. She hopes to build up enough college credit and other qualifications to soon meet university application requirements.
“I really want to go to UCLA,” she said.
Lanyi watched with fascination during a recent class session as Amy worked in a group with students more than twice her age. Her high-pitched voice sliced through the murmurs in the room as she identified contrastive and independent clauses for her peers.
“She’s obviously the leader,” he said. “She’s the one making all the decisions, and the others are coming around to her way of thinking.”
Four hours earlier, Amy was sitting alongside giggly classmates at Dunsmore Elementary School.
She waited patiently as her peers scribbled through workbook pages she had completed months in advance.
