‘Pointless’ Coloring Assignment Spurs 12-Year-Old Girl to Skip 6 Grades, Enroll at Cal State L.A.

Mia Turel, a 13-year-old Cal State L.A. student, during a chemistry lab on campus. (Credit: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

by: Los Angeles Times

Posted: Apr 26, 2019 / 10:34 AM PDT

Updated: Apr 26, 2019 / 10:34 AM PDT

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Mia Turel was in first grade when she asked her father to teach her how to chart the probability of losing her baby teeth over time. By second grade, she was reading high school-level books on Martin Luther King Jr. Then she became fascinated by TED Talks on global warming and marine biology.

So when her sixth-grade teacher assigned the class to color a map of Mesopotamia, Mia wasn’t exactly thrilled.

“I’m sorry, I’m not interested in coloring a map,” she told her mother. “Coloring is pointless.”

With that, Mia left Crescent Elementary in Anaheim. She studied at home for the rest of the year — and then, at age 12, jumped six grade levels to enter Cal State Los Angeles as a freshman last fall.

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