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College Graduation No Random Act For Pinellas Teen
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Published: May 3, 2008
CLEARWATER - He knew he would be a little late that first night of summer school, dashing from his middle school band awards program.
When he finally got there, his bemused instructor stopped the 11-year-old boy: Sorry, kid. You wandered into the wrong place.
Must have amused the college students, too; a nice distraction from calculus.
But not only did Philip Bauer belong there, he likely could have cleaned the academic clock of just about anybody in the classroom.
It wasn't even his first course at St. Petersburg College. He aced that one when he was 10.
Today, Philip, 15, will graduate in morning ceremonies at Tropicana Field with an associate's degree. Next up is the University of Central Florida, where he'll enter as a junior.
"He's a genius," says Kathleen Griffin, associate provost at SPC, who has monitored Philip's progress. "But he's also a delightful young man. We're so thrilled. He's like our own Doogie Howser."
Philip remains 15 enough to wince a bit at that. He really isn't looking for a fuss.
Instead, he uses these words to describe himself, in this order: Random. Skeptic. Minimalist. I'll come back to that.
"No, I don't mean I'll come back to that question; I mean 'I'll come back to that' is a way to describe me," he says, in his animated speaking style. "I am the most random person ever."
He downloads Benny Goodman and plays the clarinet in a Dunedin band with men four times his age. He slaughters old guys at chess. He enjoys war strategy games on his computer, but only until they get "boring and mechanical."
One of his favorite Web sites, xkcd.com, carries this caveat: "Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)."
"I often find things funny that other people might not," he says.
His dad, Roland Bauer, suspected Philip wasn't going to be a typical baby when his wife noticed him kicking in time to songs while in the womb. Roland, a retired engineer, stayed home with his son, playing Mozart for him while his mom, Sally, worked as a nurse.
"He never had the terrible 2s, never had tantrums," his dad says. "He was standing at 7 months, bouncing to music."
The first time Philip took the SAT, in seventh grade, he scored a perfect 800 in math. Verbal lagged behind at a most-would-die-for 640. Although he has taken it several times since, he never has scored less than 800 in math.
Such genius was hard to miss, so his elementary school teachers allowed a college professor to tutor him. By the time Philip was ready for high school, he had 26 college credits. Roland Bauer says his son was told he would have to take those classes over again at high school.
That's when the Safety Harbor family decided to home-school Philip, who continued to attend SPC.
Because of his eclectic interests, his father drove him to three of the college's campuses - one for music, one for physics, and a third for Spanish and humanities. One requirement of SPC was that dad had to be on campus, too.
"Yeah, I've schlepped him everywhere," his father laughs.
Humor is a part of the family; this is no bookworm with abysmal social skills.
"Most nerdy kids are really quiet - you won't notice them in room," Roland Bauer says. "Philip likes to talk."
And he does - on mass transit, on environmental responsibility, on the problems with feeding the homeless, on the philosophy of physics. Really, there is a philosophy of physics, to hear him tell it. He cares deeply, passionately, about - well, the world.
He's not sure what he wants to do, but most likely will earn a doctor of philosophy in some type of physics. He's thinking of trying out the piano in his downtime this summer. Maybe, eventually, he'll write some songs.
He's pretty sure he'll be fine on campus, although he'll have to live in a dorm. No driver's license. Minimal experience with laundry.
"Once, when I was at a summer camp at Duke University I enjoyed myself so much I kind of forgot I had parents," he says, laughing. "I even forgot to call my dad on Father's Day. Oops!"
Philip will graduate with a 3.91 - one B, a horror caused by one bad test in a humanities class.
"I was freaked out," he admits. He doesn't like to call himself a perfectionist, but knows he leans that way.
Griffin says Philip has taken every math course the school offers and is ready to move on. Although SPC isn't in a habit of enrolling 10-year-olds, it has programs to accommodate younger learners.
Home schooling, dual high school/college enrollment and online schooling are offering more opportunities for academically strong students to move ahead at their own pace, she says.
"If you have a hammer, you treat everyone like a nail. With someone like Philip, you need other tools."
Reporter Donna Koehn can be reached at (813) 259-8264 or dkoehn @tampatrib.com
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