By Ashlee Larrison
GCU News Bureau
What comes to mind when you reflect on your 15th year of life?
Just getting the hang of the high school routine?
Making memories with your friends?
Studying extra hard to make sure you earn your driver's permit?
Shreya Muthu has a far different focus: She's getting ready to attend Grand Canyon University.
From an early age, Muthu was not your everyday student. For middle school she went to the John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, which allowed her to take eighth grade classes while she was only in seventh, essentially allowing her to skip her eighth-grade year and transition straight to ninth.
When she was 12, while her peers were still in junior high, Muthu was preparing for her first day of high school at Mission Heights Preparatory and trying to befriend students who were older.
“It was like kind of hard making friends at first,” she said. “I was 12 and when people heard that they were like, ‘What?’, and some people were hesitant to reach out and be my friend. So it was kind of up to me to reach out to people and connect with people.”
Muthu later transferred to Arizona State University Preparatory High School and admits she was so focused on academics, she didn’t have time for some of the more traditional high school experiences, such as prom. And yet, despite her busy schedule, she was on the debate team and joined the math club and travel club.
Her academic dedication allowed her to skip her sophomore year and graduate early, getting a head start on pursuing her dream of a career in the medical field.
“I was always really interested in challenging myself academically, and I remember as a kid I was really into reading," she said. "I think I started reading at a really young age, and going to Barnes and Noble was such a treat for me."
Muthu grew up in a family of medical professionals, going back to her great grandparents. Her father has a practice in Casa Grande, her mother also is a physician and her brother just finished medical school.
"It’s kind of what I’ve been exposed to all my life,” she said.
When word got out of Muthu’s early academic achievements, scholarship offers and program acceptances started rolling in. A campus tour and a look at what GCU's Honors College is all about convinced her that this should be her destination.
“I really like the small atmosphere,” she said. “I liked that the Honors College was smaller so I could get more individualized attention and ... get a graduate-level anatomy education from this.”
Muthu hopes to graduate from GCU in three years and then attend medical school at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, which has awarded her a $75,000 scholarship. Although she is too young to live on campus and will have to commute to her classes, Muthu said she is looking forward to starting her college experience even though she's "a little bit nervous."
“I’m super excited, I love the atmosphere here, and I’m excited to see the opportunities that it brings me,” she said.
Contact Ashlee Larrison at (602) 639-8488 or [email protected].
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