North Richland Hills resident Matthew Howard has a goal not uncommon among 12-year-olds — he wants to become a pilot when he grows up.
What is uncommon? He is already enrolled in college, pursuing an aerospace engineering major to get him closer to that goal.
But at the end of the day, Matthew just wants to blend in.
“Most of my classmates in my class here, they treated me like I was a normal college student,” he said of his student success course at the University of Texas at Arlington. “The only thing that stuck with me was one of my classmates called me ‘baby genius,’ and it was kind of annoying.”
In addition to his course at UTA this fall, Matthew took courses at Tarrant County College Northeast in business and technical writing, chemistry and calculus. He began taking classes at the community college when he was 10 years old.
His mother Jacqueline Howard describes his journey to college at a young age as “a natural progression.” She homeschooled Matthew, and although she did not plan for him to start college this young, they advanced through courses quickly without the breaks in a typical school schedule.
Jacqueline said she wants Matthew’s experience to be as normal as it can be, but hurdles come with his age. He cannot yet drive, and he does not have a cell phone.
“I don’t want to be ‘mommy’ around,” she said. “I always just stay far away.”
Outside of classes, Matthew is part of Aero Mavs, the student organization for aerospace engineering. He is also a committed travel hockey player.
“I spend most of my day either studying, in a class or playing hockey,” he said.
Matthew Howard plays hockey. He chose the number 22 for his jersey after the F-22 Raptor fighter jet. (Courtesy image | Jacqueline Howard)
Starting college early runs in the family. His mother began college at 14 and graduated from UTA in 2002. Jacqueline’s sister, Jocelyn Zee, started college at 13 and graduated from UTA in 2004.
Matthew’s younger sister, 10-year-old Emma, will start college at TCC this year and wants to study architecture.
“They look forward to being on campus together,” Jacqueline said.
Matthew is also looking forward to taking Introduction to Aerospace Engineering, the first class in his major.
“It’ll give me a taste of what’s to come in my degree,” he said. “I’m really excited about that.”
McKinnon Rice is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org.
The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
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