Honey is wrapping up her first course at San Bernardino Valley College. She's only 10 years old
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Every Wednesday evening, Honey Cooper packs her art supplies and heads to class.Not at Kimbark Elementary, where she spends her days, but at San Bernardino Valley College, where she finds a seat near the front, among students nearly twice her age.The 10-year-old fourth-grader from San Bernardino is paving the way for younger students to access college courses.
She is enrolled in ART 120, a two-dimensional design course worth four college credits.Cases like hers are a rare occurrence, according to San Bernardino Valley College officials.“Even though they might be young, they still always need to be challenged,” said her mother, Mia Cooper.
“And this is a new way for them to be challenged.”Outside of school, Honey is a busy kid.She is a GATE-identified student, California’s designation for gifted and talented learners.
She reads at a high school level and participates in Broadway Now, an educational theater program operating within the San Bernardino City Unified School District.Sandra Rodriguez, assistant superintendent for student services at San Bernardino City Unified, had kept a close eye on Honey for years.
Mia Cooper, a parliamentarian for the district, brought her daughter to district meetings and state-level education forums as the girl grew up.Honey would sit in the back reading books and doing homework while meetings carried on around her.
Rodriguez eventually got to know Honey from the meetings she attended with her mother.When Rodriguez came across a news article about a young girl who graduated from community college after being home-schooled, she immediately thought of Honey.“She could be the kid who could be a doctor by 20,” Rodriguez said.She picked up the phone and called Diana Rodriguez, chancellor of the San Bernardino Community College District, and got the ball rolling.
1 2 1.Honey Cooper chats with Professor Nader Gergis before attendi...