Wichita Falls student completes high school, bachelor's at same time 05/27/2002 By BERNADETTE PRUITT / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News WICHITA FALLS – Noah Wilkes graduated this spring in a class by himself. The 18-year-old made history at Midwestern State University by receiving a college degree and high school diploma at the same time. In a few months, he will be off to Texas Tech University, where he will be a rarity at that school – as a teenage graduate student in engineering. "There's nothing remarkable or special about me," he said. "I just had a lot of lucky circumstances." MARK M. HANCOCK / DMN "There's nothing remarkable or special about me. I just had a lot of lucky circumstances," says Noah Wilkes, 18. In a few months, Noah will go to Texas Tech University to pursue a master's degree in semiconductor product engineering. He was 13 when he enrolled at MSU, a feat made possible through his charter school, Bright Ideas. Unlike conventional schools, which limit the number of college courses students can take, Bright Ideas allows high school students to fast-forward their academic careers by taking as many college courses as they can manage. Noah took high school and college courses concurrently, testing out of some subjects and earning a bachelor's degree in mathematics. The Texas Education Agency doesn't track such achievements, but spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe said his accomplishment was highly unusual. "A lot of people – my family, Bright Ideas and MSU – worked together to make it happen," said Noah, who graduated with a 3.66 grade-point average. "They agreed to give me a shot." Until then, he had reached a mathematical dead end. Competing in the Duke University Talent Search, he scored a spot in a summer math institute at the University of North Texas. Studies there enabled him to complete his high school math requirements when he was barely out of eighth grade. "I looked at MSU to supplement my math courses, and it just kind of developed," he said of his early entry into college. His mother had to drive him to his first college class – trigonometry. Because he was already 6 feet tall, he managed to conceal that he was only 13. "It was really very awkward," recalled Noah, now three inches taller. "I felt out of place." For the first few semesters, he kept to himself. For a while, he contemplated quitting. His hardest subject was English. "Then I got involved socially, and that kept me going," he said. He joined several math and science clubs. He became a member of Amnesty International. It wasn't until he was 15 or 16 that he told a circle of friends how old he was. "When people first started to find out, they would make jokes about a kid outdoing them," he said. It was hardly a joke. "I fairly routinely beat them on tests," he conceded. But good grades didn't come easily. Like most kids, he was distracted by television and Nintendo games and beset by "procrastination." "Initially, I didn't turn in homework assignments," he said. "The homework, which took six to 10 hours, was really hard, but I got involved in a study group and my friends pulled me through. I'd get ... [to school] at 6 to 8 in the morning and leave at 1 or 2 the next morning." As his course load grew, so did he. At 15, increasingly embarrassed about having to be driven to classes, he turned a pile of parts back into a 1975 MG Midget for his first set of wheels. "Keeping it running became my hobby," he said. He found time for dating, which included one or two girls of traditional college age. He took a part-time job, tutoring junior college and MSU students in math. He studied physics as a minor. His adviser, Dr. David Tucker, who was also his first professor, said he didn't realize how young Noah was until this spring. "He fit in very well with his peers," he recalled. "He was a strong student and certainly competitive." Noah's mother, Kitty Wilkes, who is director/adviser of the Bright Ideas concurrent student program, attributes part of her son's success to a strong support system at his high school and at home. She and his sister, Rachel, who have since graduated, were MSU students at the same time as Noah. Additional encouragement came from Noah's father, Dan, an engineer. "What Noah accomplished should not be unusual," his mother said. "Dozens of kids could do this if they had the opportunity." At Texas Tech, Noah will work toward a master's degree in semiconductor product engineering. The degree program, which includes a seven-month internship at Texas Instruments, pays a $2,000 monthly stipend. When he finishes, Noah wants to do hands-on engineering – "anything to do with a circuit board," he said. And then: "Anything that comes along." Bernadette Pruitt is a free-lance writer based in Wichita Falls.