By Emily Garland
Dashni Amin and Cosmin Naziru both graduated from Nelsen Middle School this year and both will move to the same school this fall.
But that school isn’t a high school. It’s the University of Washington.
The two 14 year olds are skipping high school and enrolling directly into college, through the Early Entrance Program at the Halbert and Nancy Robinson Center for Young Scholars.
The Early Entrance Program is a one-room schoolhouse of sorts on the UW campus in Seattle. The first year of the program is called Transition School and is a quick-paced program designed to transition the middle schoolers into college.
About 300 Washington students applied for this year’s program and only 16 were selected. The competing students and their teachers went through interviews and had to score well on the ACT to be selected.
Amin’s friends think she’s crazy to sacrifice high school for college, but she is eager to trim three years from her academic calendar.
For more information about the Early Entrance Program at the University of Washington, visit depts.washington.edu/cscy/programs/early-entrance-program.
“Those three years that I saved are going to do me good, and I’ll pursue
my goals hopefully,” Amin says.
Her main goal is to become an astronaut, a job which requires 10 to 13 years of post-high school education.
High school doesn’t hold much appeal for Amin. She says she’ll keep in touch with her current friends and make new ones in college. Her older sister Dalia also goes to the UW, where she’s majoring in political science and international studies.
Amin’s plentiful volunteerism includes work with the March of Dimes, Renton Farmers Market, Adopt a Road and Renton Relay for Life. She also helps her sister run Family Care, a nonprofit that helps Washington newcomers with translations, job searches and citizenship applications.
In late August, Amin will spend time in Kurdistan, inspiring Kurdish students to follow her academic path.
The Amins grew up as Kurdish refugees in Pakistan. Their parents are from the north Iraq part of Kurdistan — an autonomous region that occupies northern Iraq, northwestern Iran, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey.
After that, she’ll hit the UW.
“I have a little bit of nervousness, but I’m more excited than I am nervous,” Amin says. “I just can’t wait to begin.”
Cosmin Naziru feels the same.
“I have always been interested in academic challenges,” he says.
Naziru won the geography bee at his school in seventh grade and competed at the state competition. He also was a winner in Macy’s Follow a Leader Essay Contest. The prize was $1,000 for college.
Naziru also plays soccer and is a second-degree black belt.
Unlike Amin, Naziru has yet to decide which career he wants to pursue after school.
Cosmin Naziru
“I’m interested in a lot of jobs,” he says.
Maybe he’ll go into some kind of research, such as marine biology. Or maybe another job related to one of the other subjects he likes: “history, geography, and math, of course.”
Like Amin, Naziru said he won’t miss high school much. He’ll still live at his house near Lindbergh High School, so he’ll see his friends often.
And he’s excited for his next big academic challenge.
“It’s an opportunity to learn at the highest level possible,” he says.
Emily Garland’s last day was June 26. Contact Editor Dean Radford at 425-255-3484, ext. 5050.
