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Kelsey Curd Ladt: UK’s Youngest Alumna
LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 20, 2009) − The University of Kentucky Alumni Association welcomed its youngest graduate recently, giving new meaning to the phrase "young alum." Kelsey Curd Ladt, who turned 14 just three months ago, is one of the youngest females to graduate from the University of Kentucky.
Graduating from college so young with a bachelor's degree in biology is remarkable by anyone's account, but what is really significant is that Ladt appears to be unfazed by her accomplishments. People close to her say she seems so "normal" for a 14-year-old graduating from college. She likes popular music, sings in her choir, has friends visiting for sleepovers, and relishes every chance she gets to play soccer and basketball.
"I like going to the mall with friends, going to the movies, the youth group at church, and sports," she says in the summer issue of Kentucky Alumni magazine.
Ladt joined the association during Senior Salute, an annual event held at the King Alumni House to help seniors prepare for Commencement. She is proud of graduating from UK and says joining the association is the most natural thing for her to do to stay connected with the university.
Ladt is the daughter of Vickie and Ric Ladt of Paducah. Her father says they are just doing what parents do, and although their schedule is a little different from other families, their family is much the same as others.
"Parents want to try their best to provide a nurturing environment for their children and to support them the best way they can," he says.
Ladt skipped grades in elementary school and was home-schooled with the use of tutors. She skipped middle school and started high school when she was 8. While attending Lone Oak High School, she also was enrolled at West Kentucky Community & Technical College (WKCTC). She graduated from high school and earned an associate's degree in 2006, then entered UK as a junior at age 11.
Ladt has always known that she wanted to be involved in medicine. She chose the University of Kentucky for pre-med studies, she says, because of its research opportunities that are not available at smaller colleges. At UK, she was able to participate in spinal cord injury research in state-of-the-art laboratories.
"This whole experience shows the best side of UK, how a large school can accommodate special needs in the broadest sense," said C. Darrell Jennings, senior associate dean for medical education in the UK College of Medicine.
Ladt says that she has enjoyed herself the whole time she was on her unique journey and is looking forward to pursuing her M.D.-Ph.D. combined degree, starting the fall of 2010, possibly at UK. But first she is looking forward to getting more research experience under her belt. She is going to Bethesda, Md., with her mother where she will have a one- to two-year post-baccalaureate position with the National Institutes of Health.
Read more about Kelsey Curd Ladt in Kentucky Alumni magazine by visiting www.ukalumni.net, keyword search: Ladt.
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