Eleven-Year-Old Excels In English Studies at PCC

At first Amy Lim seems to be a typical 11-year-old: she loves animals, loves going to Disneyland, likes American Girl dolls and is an avid Harry Potter fan.What makes this girl so special is that she's not just a fifth-grade student, but also a PCC student.

This semester Lim is taking an English 100 course because she was "getting bored" in her fifth-grade class at Dunsmore Elementary School in La Crescenta.

"It seemed too easy for me," she said.

Registering at PCC is not as hard for an 11-year-old as one may think. In Lim's case, she just walked up to the registration desk and said she wanted to register.

"They froze for a second, like they were shocked," she recalled. "Luckily they took me seriously."

"All students must register using the high school application and then place into a class," said Nancy Chung, a registration clerk. "The only thing is they do not have priority registration, they just have to try and add the class they want."

In order to get the last spot in Professor Robert Lanyi's class this semester, Amy out-wrote five other students in a mini essay competition.

"The topic was 'What is your ideal job?'" Lim said. "I wrote that I would either want to be a kindergarten teacher, a college professor or President of the United States."

"I want to be a kindergarten teacher because they give the first impression of school or a college professor because they give the last impression of school," she explained with reason beyond her years.

"I would want to be President of the United States in order to make a difference and to try to bring peace to the world."

Lanyi is impressed with Lim and her writing. "She's articulate, well-organized, and very nearly error-free," he said. "Her work is much better than most college students' work."

This is high praise from someone who has taught college English for 40 years, but maybe not so surprising when Lim revealed how long she has been writing.

"My mom and dad taught me to read and write at age three," she said. "I wrote my first story when I was about three or four."

Lim's achievements are not just the result of raw talent, but also of dedication.

"She always does her homework as soon as she comes home," said her mother, Vivian Lim. "She doesn't eat or anything else first, she wants to get it out of the way."

Her professor echoed that sentiment. "She is one of the most dedicated students I have ever taught," he said.

It is this dedication that has enabled Amy Lim to be done with school a week before the semester ends. As she already has an 'A' in the class, Lanyi has told her she does not need to take the final.

Lim says she has enjoyed her experience at PCC so far and plans to continue taking classes here, time and schedule permitting. This summer, this multitalented girl (who is also a singer and actor) hopes to take the Broadway Songbook workshop.

In the long term, Lim hopes to bring her talents to a prestigious institution not too far from home. "I really want to go to UCLA and major in English," she said.

At the speed that Amy Lim is working, maybe Westwood should start preparing for her now.