(Photo courtesy of Kathleen Leech)Carlos Urcuyo never thought there was anything unordinary about his son Javier until he started kindergarten. Javier only lasted there a week.
“His teachers sent him home and said he needed to move on the first grade,” Urcuyo said. “They said there was nothing else they could really teach him.”
Urcuyo said when Javier was 10 he received an e-mail from the Davidson Institute for Talent Development about the Herberger Academy.
“The Davidson (Young) Scholars program lets you know when there are gifted programs available,” he said.
First opened on the West campus in 2011, the Herberger Academy is a school designed for gifted students. It allows students the opportunity to accelerate through a traditional high school and middle school curriculum. The school is run by the Mary Lou Fulton Teacher’s College.
The academy provides students rigorous coursework and an advanced learning environment that helps meet their academic needs. Students each have a personalized class schedule, which allows them to take courses at the level they need.
Urcuyo said this was a better alternative for Javier over the traditional school system. He said he remembers picking him from after-school programs and seeing how bored he looked.
“I remember when he was in the first grade, he had a school project where he had to talk about all the things he learned in school,” Carlos said. “Instead of listing what he learned, he listed all the things he could have learned that year.”
Javier said the Herberger Academy helped him advance through high school coursework. Although he is only 14, he has taken enough coursework to be classified as a senior. He can apply to ASU as a full-time student by the end of the spring semester.
“I could possibly get my high school diploma by next year,” he said.
Omayra Ortega, who teaches math at ASU, said Javier is a really great and exceptional student for being so young.
“He actually contacted me to do research with him,” she said. “He is very bright and is able to keep up with my undergraduate students who are working on the same material.
The Herberger Academy uses the Cambridge Curriculum, an accelerated program for gifted students worldwide that has been used in more than 160 countries and includes primary, middle and secondary curriculum.
Kim Lansdowne, the academy's executive director, said the Cambridge Curriculum is part of Arizona’s Move On When Ready program.
“The Cambridge curriculum is one of the options we use,” she said.
Students are divided into five levels or waves. Each wave is determined by a student’s age. Javier is in his third wave at the Herberger Academy.
Lansdowne said Javier is one of the 57 students at the Herberger Academy.
“They are all on the same track as Javier and are as equally prepared,” she said.
Javier’s gift in mathematics put him a level far above his peers. At age 10, he was already taking an Advanced Placement statistics class.
Javier said he has already taken college courses at the ASU West and Tempe campuses. He is on his third semester of math at ASU.
“Students normally don’t take college courses until they are in their fifth wave,” he said. “I have taken one course at ASU per semester."
Javier is enrolled at ASU as a non-degree-seeking student. If he chose to enroll as a full-time student next year, he would have enough credits to qualify as a sophomore.
“I have not decided if I want to join Barrett, (the Honors College) directly next year or continue my education at the Herberger Academy," he said.
Javier said he has not decided on a major yet, but he thinks he wants to go into applied mathematics.
“With applied mathematics, you can do anything,” he said.
The Herberger Academy has helped him a lot, Javier said.
“The Herberger Academy really gave me the opportunity to do things I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else,” he said.
Reach the reporter at kgrega@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @KelcieGrega
