It’s rare that a 15-year-old attends college. A Denton teen and her mother, both biology majors, will do it together, this fall.
College is a big choice for any teen. Emma Earhart's choice is University of North Texas.
"We know it's a good school because my dad went here," said Earhart, who attended orientation Friday.
Emma's choice of schools came early. The 15-year-old from Denton can't even drive yet.
"When it came time to go to high school, I went for three days and said maybe we should try this college route," she said.
By 12, Earhart was college-ready, academically, having already taken the SAT. At age 14, she enrolled at North Central Texas College, earning her Associate of Science Degree in the spring. At a time when most kids are finding freedom for the first time, Emma won't be attending UNT alone.
"I read somewhere that if your dreams don't scare you, you're not dreaming big enough," said her mother, Kathy.
Emma's mom is enrolled in the same UNT classes she is.
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"It's really exciting," she said. "And we're really competitive, too."
This isn't even the first time the two have been classmates. Kathy was a stay-at-home mother, who saw an opportunity when Emma enrolled at NCTC.
"I went back and asked her if I could enroll in college," said Kathy. "She said no, and I said c'mon!"
It was a typical response for a teenager faced with attending the same college as her mother.
"I was nervous because I thought that if we were in the same classes, people would think that I was a baby, that I needed my mom with me," said Emma. "But that wasn't the case at all."
Now, though a generation apart, mom and daughter are both UNT biology majors. Both eventually want to attend medical school, and eventually become doctors.
It's an unlikely path which this pair will travel together.
"It's really fun," said Kathy. "It's really special, and I'm glad I get to do this with her."
