In retrospect, the concerns of a middle school student are mostly trivial. They center on clothes, crushes, and figuring out why hair is growing “there” now. But for Jack Coughlin and 15 other students like him, middle school involved a much weightier issue. Early in their eighth grade years, this group had to decide whether or not to skip high school and go straight into college.

Jack is now a member of the University of Washington’s Early Entrance Program, affectionately referred to by participants as EEP. Each year, roughly 150 students apply, and after a process that involves interviews, teacher recommendations, and standardized testing, a maximum of 18 are accepted into the program. Those who make the cut will spend a year in a transition school, working and bonding together, isolated from the rest of the UW student body. The following year, while most of their peers are entering their sophomore year in high school, EEP students enroll as UW freshmen and begin taking courses that count towards their degree.

The year-long transition school is one of the program’s distinguishing features. According to Dr. Maren Halvorsen, who’s been with EEP in various capacities for twenty years now, it’s the only program of its kind in the country.

She says, “The students develop a strong social base within the transition school,” which will help them adjust to their new environment.

Jack had been interested in the program ever since his dad spoke to him about it in sixth grade. He says he recognized the program as an opportunity to become “part of a community of people who value intelligent discourse very highly.” An open house thrown by alumni of the program convinced him to apply in his eighth grade year. He had to take the ACT and submit his academic history, undergo an interview process, and select teachers that would hopefully recommend him for the program. He was accepted June of his eighth grade year.

The program clearly doesn’t attract “typical” middle school students, and it’s expected that the kids looking to join exhibit an enormous capacity for learning. The program’s website suggests that prospective students’ “educational needs will not be met by their future high school.” Yet it’s not only about the individual’s intellect.

“It’s not just smart kids. It’s about being the sort of person who is going to be right emotionally and socially for the program, people who will add to the community,” says Jack.

“The students for whom this [program] is most successful are unusually mature in a lot of ways,” adds Dr. Halvorsen. Entrance into the program must be mostly student motivated. Jack says that EEP “screens against kids who are being pushed into it by their parents.”

EEP provides a variety of apparent academic benefits to these gifted students, but it would seem that in such a small program, they might be socially stifled.

Dr. Halvorsen says that “it’s natural to view the program with skepticism,” but “the students in EEP have as normal an experience as your typical high school student,” in terms of developing strong friendships and building a supportive community.

Jack says, “I know I’ve missed a lot by not going to high school,” but he loves the way things are going for him now. He gets to class around 11:30, and then heads to lunch on the Ave. He spends a lot of his free time at the Robinson Center, the social and administrative hub of EEP. He takes an average of three hours of class a day, a normal course load. Jack’s interested in feminism at the moment, something he feels he would’ve missed out on at Garfield. With the exception that he still lives at home, Jack’s a normal UW sophomore. The program requires its students to remain in a family setting, at least through their second year.

The program “isn’t meant for acceleration,” says Jack, but he’ll still end up graduating with a college degree the year after the class of ’11 leaves Garfield.

He says, “I’ll probably head into grad school, and then academia.” Many of the other graduates of the program will end up in the fields of science or medicine.

Jack Coughlin will miss out on some trivial high school moments. He won’t get to experience spirit week, he won’t get to meet Rick, and he’ll never have the honor of shouting himself hoarse during Y-E-L-L. But all of this pales compared to what Jack and his peers have already accomplished. With their early jump on a college education, and the incredible work ethic the program necessitates, these brilliant teenagers have the world at their command.