Written by: Susan Harris
Homeschool.com News Editor

Today we would like to highlight a homeschooler’s special accomplishments. This comes from one of our readers.

Corey Ziemba was a homeschooler who didn’t read until he was 10. When you question his mom, Jelehla Ziemba, she explains that Corey was always too busy learning other items and exploring to take the time to master this skill prior to that age. However, that did not slow him down. He excelled at gymnastics, art and mathematics from an early age. Around the age of 14, he decided to attend a local public high school prior to enrolling in the College of Santa Fe to study art and film-making. However, his focus changed during college from art and film-making to the study of intelligence and the mind.

Corey transferred to UC Davis College of Letters and Science as a junior and became very active in the pursuits of his studies. He quickly became the lab manager overseeing a study on cognitive neuroscience of language. His teachers recognized him as a student driven to learn and allowed him to enroll in graduate seminars. He even studied the neural mechanisms of visual attention during his senior year.

Upon graduation, Corey received the highest academic honor UC Davis offers: the Herbert Young Medal in recognition of his scholastic excellence. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology with a Minor in Neuroscience.

Since graduating on June 14, 2009, Corey is continuing his research work in the lab of Dr. Martin Usrey at the Center of Neuroscience. He plans on applying to the Neurobiology graduate programs within the next year.

Congratulations to Corey and him family.

To find out more about the Herbert Young Medal, please read: http://registrar.ucdavis.edu?UCDWebCatalog/academicinfo/honors.html.

To find more success stories, please contact Amber@LaurelSprings.com.