Senior students usually enter their final year of high school at age seventeen anticipating the day that they turn eighteen, gaining the access to vote, attend clubs and purchase lottery tickets. However, one senior will not be turning eighteen this year, or even seventeen for that matter.
Oishee Sen is a senior and is only fifteen years old. She will celebrate her sixteenth birthday on April 6, 2010, a birthday most people experience their sophomore year.
Sen managed to skip sixth and eighth grade, placing her two years ahead of her fellow peers. “My fifth grade teacher recommended that I skip sixth grade because I was ahead in math,” said Sen. “I was also ahead in reading, so it seemed like a no brainer.”
Sen moved onto seventh grade where she completed Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II. These classes are among the classes that students struggle with the most when they arrive in high school.
After seventh grade, Sen and her family decided that she was not being challenged and requested that she skip eighth grade, moving onto high school. “My brother skipped two grades, and he was perfectly fine. Since I had the drive and the intellect to do the same, there was no reason not to.”
So, beginning in 2006, Sen entered high school at a mere 12 years old. Most 12 year olds are entering their seventh grade year finally feeling like they have a grip on middle school. Yet, Sen was entering a school where everyone was older than her, some ranging up to six years older than her.
“To most people it would seem scary, but I have never felt that young,” said Sen. “I never found myself being treated any differently than the other students- I barely noticed the age gap.”
Her fellow classmates concurred. “I probably would have never guessed Oishee was younger unless someone told me,” said Jennifer Quirk, senior.
Teachers agreed. “I didn’t know [Oishee] was younger at all. Her age was never a factor while teaching her,” said Yvonne Anderson, Oishee’s AP English III teacher.
The two year grape skip provided many benefits to Sen. She continued, “Junior year was the first year in my schooling career that I was challenged. I was able to take AP classes and really challenge myself to do well. It didn’t just come to me.”
Sen has excelled in courses such as AP Calculus, AP Biology and AP English. She aspires to attend Duke University.
