For
most
of
his
life,
14-year-old
William
Warren
'26
says
he
struggled
to
stay
engaged
and
fulfilled
in
school.
Then
he
met
a
BW
professor
who
offered
him
the
mental
workout
he
craved.
Now
he's
pursuing
a
degree
full
time
at
BW.
There
are
plenty
of
smart,
ambitious
students
at
Baldwin
Wallace
University,
but
only
one
has
celebrated
a
14th
birthday
during
their
first
semester.
To
understand
how
William
Warren
'26
wound
up
enrolling
at
BW
at
the
tender
age
of
13,
you
have
to
understand
his
earlier
educational
journey.
Seeking
answers
Curious
and
questioning
from
an
early
age,
he
once
asked
his
mom,
C.J.
Warren,
why
balloons
float.
Her
answer,
that
the
helium
inside
is
lighter
than
air,
didn't
satisfy
him.
"But
the
balloon
isn't
lighter,"
he
countered,
leading
to
a
deeper
explanation
about
buoyancy.
At
the
time,
Warren
was
two.
"I
was
always
inquisitive
and
asked
how
things
worked,"
Warren
recalls.
"I
wouldn't
always
get
a
good
answer,
though."
Frustrated
in
grade
school
Later,
even
though
he
attended
a
special
school
for
gifted
students,
Warren
was
increasingly
unhappy.
"A
lot
of
times,
school
wouldn't
fill
that
knowledge
void
I
had,"
Warren
says.
"So,
I
had
to
seek
things
out
on
my
own
time."
Too
often,
teachers
assigned
him
more
volume
of
repetitive
work
rather
than
challenging
his
mind
and
fostering
his
voracious
curiosity
and
drive
to
discover.
Finding
physics
That
all
started
to
change
when
Warren
began
homeschooling
during
COVID-19
and
read
Neil
DeGrasse
Tyson's
book
"Astrophysics
for
People
in
a
Hurry."
"I
felt
at
home,"
Warren
says
of
the
inspiration
the
book
provided.
But
he
also
wanted
more
answers
and
"more
physics."
After
taking
some
Harvard
University
open,
online
courses
in
physics
and
chemistry,
Warren
and
his
mom
sought
out
BW
physics
professor
Dr.
Edwin
Meyer,
the
University's
resident
champion
of
problem-solving
and
the
development
of
"mental
stamina."
"The
key
for
me
is
for
the
student
to
'sit
in'
the
problem
for
a
long
time,
exploring
it
and
wondering
about
it
in
an
effort
to
reach
a
new
level
of
understanding,"
Meyer
explains.
"In
the
current
educational
system,
this
is
viewed
as
inefficient
because
the
student
will
get
the
answer
a
lot
faster
if
the
teacher
shows
the
student
how
to
do
it."
Flexing
brain
muscles
Meyer,
who's
written
books
on
problem-solving
and
leads
popular
community
seminars
and
summer
camps
for
people
of
all
ages,
met
with
the
Warrens
and
was
impressed
with
the
middle
schooler's
ability
to
keep
trying
to
solve
hard
problems
rather
than
giving
up
or
asking
for
the
answer.
"William
does
not
need
an
authoritarian
teacher
to
tell
him
the
answers;
he
needs
a
coach
to
provide
appropriate
challenges
and
to
encourage
him
to
figure
things
out
for
himself,"
Meyer
observes.
Warren
says,
"He
[Meyer]
awakened
the
problem-solving
process
in
me
and
got
me
building
mental
strength
for
logic.
It's
like
working
out,
only
you
can't
see
the
result
on
the
outside."
Meyer
allowed
the
then-seventh
grader
to
audit
his
Physics
131
class
in
the
spring,
where
he
successfully
completed
the
coursework
as
a
13-year-old
alongside
older
college
classmates.
"William
actively
got
excited
again
about
using
his
brain,"
C.J.
Warren
remembers.
Enrolling
in
college
at
13
At
the
end
of
the
semester,
Meyer
recommended
Warren
apply
to
enroll
full
time
at
BW.
Warren
was
"kinda
nervous,"
but
he
was
accepted
and
is
fitting
right
in.
"It's
not
often
a
13-year-old
is
admitted
to
college,
and
we
believe
William
is
the
youngest
student
ever
to
attend
BW,"
says
Scott
Schulz,
BW
vice
president
for
enrollment
management.
"As
we
would
for
any
student,
we
looked
at
his
application
holistically
and
decided
he
had
the
potential
to
be
a
successful
member
of
our
student
body."
Fitting
in
An
aspiring
quantum
physicist,
Warren
invites
the
inevitable
comparison
to
TV's
precocious
"Young
Sheldon,"
but
he's
enjoying
a
rounded
experience
at
BW.
Fellow
students
have
embraced
him,
not
only
happily
partnering
with
Warren
on
classwork
but
also
inviting
him
to
campus
social
events.
"I've
been
shocked
at
how
welcoming
and
supportive
everyone
here
at
BW
has
been,"
C.J.
Warren
says.
Aspiring
to
make
breakthroughs
Meanwhile,
Warren
sees
a
Ph.D.
and
lots
more
mental
gymnastics
in
his
future.
"I'd
love
to
discover
something
through
logic
or
figure
out
something
nobody
else
has
at
the
tabletop
level
just
by
thinking
hard
about
it,"
he
imagines.
"Einstein
made
breakthroughs
just
by
thinking
logically."
You
can
bet
the
BW
community
will
be
rooting
him
on
in
whatever
perplexing
problem
he
takes
on.
