DeLand, Fla. (WSVN) — A star student is ready for a new phase in her life, gearing up for her first year in college. However, she’s not old enough to vote yet or even drive a car.
You can call Danielle Carson a teen genius. The 14-year-old is becoming DeLand’s Stetson University youngest freshman.
“I’ve always really enjoyed math,” said Danielle. “It’s like a puzzle.”
Her mom Mindy said the math genius was solving college-level equations when her peers were just learning addition. “By first grade she was in algebra,” said Mindy. “We did algebra and algebra 2, and by second grade she was in college algebra.”
Mindy was forced to home-school Danielle because schools didn’t know what to do with her. “From third grade to seventh grade no school would take her.”
That is until she went to Stetson. “It was like night and day,” said Mindy. “To have an expert to teach her, always know the answer, always knew what she needed, it was such a blessing.”
It wasn’t just the professors that helped Danielle but her classmates, too. “It’s really nice being with other students,” said Danielle. “I can finally get the education I’m supposed to be getting with other people.”
Danielle’s attending Stetson on a partial scholarship. “Whether she wants to or not, she’s breaking people’s stereotypes of what you can do at her age,” said Stetson University Vice Provost, Lua Hancock, “so I think that’s a great thing if we can be a part of that.”
Even though she just started college, the 14-year-old has already set goals to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology for her Ph.D. “Maybe engineering or physics, but I’m not really sure, anything in the math field.” After that — the sky’s the limit.
For now, Danielle said, she’s right where she wants to be and has even talked with some of her new friends about starting Stetson’s first blackjack club.
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