Leap-Frogging

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MEGAN SWOYER
Special to The Jewish News •

U

ntil four months ago,
Olga Flomin was just
another junior at
North Farmington
High School. She'd taken a
bunch of advanced courses, to
be sure, but the 17-year-old did-
n't think she was much different
from her peers.
But when her counselor told
her that she could be a senior
,instantly and graduate this
spring, she jumped at the
chance.
"Since I want to go pre-med
in college and it's a long road —
like 12 years — if I can get a
year ahead, I figure I should,"
she said.
Olga has maintained a 3.8
grade point average through
summer school, college prep
courses, extra classes and a co-op
work program. Her interests run
the gamut from chemistry to
aerobics and gymnastics. She is
already taking her first college
class, a freshman calculus course
at Wayne State University, where
she will be enrolled full-time
next fall.
Olga, whose family emigrated
from Russia to the United States
in 1989, doesn't think she's rushing
her high school years. The energetic
young woman, who received a four-
year Wayne State Presidential tuition
scholarship, plans to enroll in Wayne's
pre-med program and major in chem-
istry.
She describes herself as bright but
hardly perfect,
especially when it
comes to study
habits. For exam-
ple, she spent 14
hours straight
studying for last
semester's physics
final: "I'm one of
those people who
procrastinates
until the end,"
she said.
Her father,
Nathan, is an
engineer; her
mother, Marina

6/12
1998

26

speaking patients at Leuchter's

z s office, so she was able to help

Olga Flomin will skip her senior year
at North Farmington High School
and head for college instead.

Flomin, is an accountant for the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit. She said Olga always wanted
to go into medicine, understandable
in view of the long line of doctors in
the Flomin family.
"She was always playing doctor, or
talking about being a doctor, since she
was 3," Marina Flomin recalled, say-

Top:
Olga Flomin
is at home in
science class.

Left..
Reviewing a
textbook at
her locker.

ing her daughter first wanted to be a
pediatrician, then a psychiatrist and
now is leaning toward neurosurgery "I
don't remember Olga ever playing
with dolls."
Having the smarts to excel in
many courses can help students
graduate early, but it also helps to be
focused and goal-oriented. Through
an independent-study program, Olga
works for the Detroit Medical
Center and also does research on
closed-head injuries.
"I think it's really neat," said
Olga, who would like to stay in a
dorm at Wayne State maybe two or
three times per week.
"We think she's a little too young
to stay away from home full-time,"
her mother agreed.
While working for a Southfield-
based neurologist, Dr. William
Leuthter, Olga learned about every-
thing from epilepsy to schizophre-
nia. There are numerous Russian-

ra
expe-
rience she describes as "excit-
ing.
Her parents beam when
discussing their daughter.
Marina lights up as brightly as
the tiny diamonds in the ring
on her daughter's finger — a
birthday gift that symbolizes
that pride.
"She deserves it," Marina
said.
Jim Whitledge, Olga's
counselor at North
Farmington High, said grad-
uating early is a rare occur-
rence and isn't promoted or
encouraged by the school sys-
tem. He explained that in
some special cases, graduating
early is an option, but he
advises students to "think
long-range about what it
would be like not to have a
senior year."
Olga, a former salesperson
for American Gourmet and
once a Bulk Foods cashier, said
graduating a year early will
help her stay on top of her
med school requirements. But
she advises other students
wishing to graduate at the end
of their junior year to plan

early.
"It's a good way to go. But you
need to make the decision early on.
Definitely not in February of your
junior year," she said, smiling.
"Some of my friends say, 'You're
putting too much pressure on your-
self. Stop. Slow down and smell the
roses.'
"But others say, 'You're so lucky. I
wish I could do that.'"
Olga earned the right to put on a
cap and gown for North
Farmington's June 7 graduation exer-
cises, but the girl who is ahead of
herself in so many ways opted for a
slower pace in this case.. She's decid-
ed to postpone the ceremony for a
year so she can enjoy the experience
with her "real" classmates.
"I'm getting my diploma in
1999," she said, "because I want to
walk with my friends and go to the
prom." II]