Acting His IQ

Very early on, even before Francisco could talk, his parents noticed something was different about him. Even a little strange.

At age 1, Francisco LePort spent hours toying with appliances--like the family VCR--trying to figure out how they worked. By the time he was 9, he had read so many medical texts that he could join the conversation when his parents--both physicians--discussed their patients.

On Monday, the LePorts watched as their quiet, studious 12-year-old became one of the youngest students in the history of Chapman University in Orange.

Francisco confessed to having butterflies in his stomach on the way to school.

“I was a little nervous in the car,” said Francisco, whose 1320 SAT score is almost 200 points above those of the average Chapman freshman. But he said he quickly calmed down after he slid into the front-row seat in his chemistry class, one of the two courses that make up his part-time workload.

In many ways, Francisco is a typical 12-year-old, playing soccer and taking karate classes with friends. But there is much that sets him apart from others his age.

Ask him what music he likes, and he’ll tell you that Mozart is his favorite. He never has to be told to practice his piano. For fun, he’ll learn an entire score, then experiment by playing it in different keys.

His goal is to follow in the footsteps of his hero, Sir Isaac Newton, whom he admires for “finding all that out in one lifetime.” And while he doesn’t have a major at Chapman, he is most interested in chemistry and physics.

“I want to find out why things happen the way they do,” he says simply.

Francisco doesn’t believe that his above-average intelligence isolates him from others his age.

“Other than the fact that I know a lot, I’m just like any other kid,” he said Monday after class.

Francisco attended Montessori schools until two years ago, when he began to be home-schooled. He will continue with those lessons in addition to his classes at Chapman, his father said.

Francisco’s parents say they wonder whether he will be accepted by his fellow college students, but they said they also realize that Francisco needs to be challenged in the classroom.

“The way he processes information is amazing,” said his father, Dr. Peter LePort, a Corona del Mar surgeon, as he accompanied his son to class Monday.

Fellow Chapman students reacted with curiosity. And concern.

“He won’t have a problem fitting in at all,” predicted senior Rene Pisciotti, who added that students were prepared to offer Francisco a warm welcome.

But Pisciotti and others wondered whether a busy college campus is the best place for even the most mature 12-year-old.

“My only concern is if his social growth is equivalent to his mental growth.”

But it remains to be seen whether he is readily accepted by his fellow students, said Barbara Clark, a professor at Cal State Los Angeles and a nationally recognized expert on gifted children.

“Many times, the other students are not so understanding. It challenges their egos” to have such a young classmate, Clark said. “The gifted need a support group, people who they can relate to socially and emotionally.”

Francisco’s case is unusual. Only a handful of children nationwide enter college at such a young age.

“It’s very rare,” said Judy Roseberry, treasurer and former president of the California Assn. for the Gifted and Talented, a Northridge-based organization.

Administrators say Chapman’s small student body, about 3,000 students, means Francisco won’t get lost in the crowd, or ignored.

“The parents have made it clear to me that they want to maintain the individual attention that home schooling provides,” said Frank Frisch, chair of the Division of Natural and Applied Sciences, who has taken a personal interest in helping Francisco.

Although they do not have records, Frisch said that Chapman has admitted about half a dozen other students Francisco’s age.