By Darlene Rowlands
In the School of Music a few days out of the week, one of the youngest students in ANU history is attending his classes.
In terms of his routine, 13-year-old Nathanael – 12 at the time of his acceptance to ANU – doesn’t seem too different from the average undergrad.
He usually has several music and maths books on loan from campus libraries, and says he “absorbs all the important parts within two hours”. He’s currently stumped on a book that he calls “the most informational book on notational reforms there is” – so dense that he hasn’t finished after seven hours.
When he heads to the library to borrow more books, study or go to a class, his father, Chris, comes with him. As a condition of admitting Nathanael, the university said a parent must be by his side whenever he’s on campus.
The university understands that there have been other students of a similar age to him enrolled in the past, but Chris believes his son’s exact situation is probably unprecedented.
“I mean, you’ve had like 14 or 15-year-olds doing Mathematics [at ANU],” Chris said.
“But never a 12-year-old directly to Honours.”
Nathanael finds written university assignments pretty difficult, but he isn’t actually a stranger to undergrad assessments. He received his Bachelors in 2022, completing the three-year program at the Australian Guild of Music Education within two years. At ANU, Nathanael is enrolled in the Music Honours program and specialises in piano.
For Nathanael, the university’s willingness to focus on merit over his age was a huge deciding factor to attend. Upon receiving Nathanael’s compositions, the Head of the School of Music, Professor Kim Cunio, personally assisted in escalating his application.
Nathanael with Professor Cunio.
“Prof Cunio was really supportive of me,” Nathanael said, “Comparatively, a lot of other universities in New Zealand and Singapore talk about my age.”
There were still other barriers for Nathanael. Although he describes music as his “first love”, his development delay meant his hands were too weak to play the piano at age six. He began only by learning music theory, homeschooled by parents and tutors while his muscular strength improved to match other children his age.
Now that he’s here, he has a self-directed study routine. He tries his best to get all his work done in the morning, get some fresh air around lunchtime, and finish off remaining work in the evening. His parents keep an eye on him, but know his assessments are solo work. Neither are musicians, so Chris admits with a laugh they can’t be of much service anyway.
Rarely, his evening study sessions might be extended if his parents are watching a movie that is too mature for him. Most recently, it was Transformers.
Nathanael himself doesn’t see the average undergrad student as different to him either, only that they “have the same smarts, but in vastly different areas.” When he first attended class this semester, the other Honours students were already aware who he was.
“My classmates looked at me and they said ‘Oh my gosh, is that you Nat?’”.
Nathanael admits other 13-year-olds don’t understand what he loves about music composition, or why he makes YouTube videos on worked solutions for university maths problems.
However, being amongst welcoming classmates and academics who understand his interests makes some of the harder parts of being 13 at university worthwhile.
“In a sense, my professors and supervisors are my friends because we can talk on the same level,” he says.
Bringing Nathanael to his dream Honours program hasn’t been without its challenges for his parents either. They came to Canberra from Singapore to support his studies, and have another younger son. Nevertheless, Chris says they wouldn’t mind staying in Canberra for another few years.
That scenario seems likely. Even though he’s self-admittedly “terrible at extrapolation,” Nathanael thinks he might take on another Bachelors at ANU or advance to the Masters program if ANU allows him. A lot depends on his grades, and what else might interest him in eight months’ time.
“To me, everything just seems like fun,” Nathanael says, “it just feels so normal for me to be basking in knowledge.”
In the meantime, he is conscious of all the possibilities ahead, but focused on getting through the year – and his notational reforms book.
Graphics by Will Novak
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