Boy, 14, Is Youngest Here in Years

A Harvard Freshman at 14.

That's the story of Alexander M. McColl '52, the youngest enrollee at the University in recent years. McColl arrived at his room in Straus Hall last week from his Kalamazoo, Mich., residence and his sometime home in German town, Pa.

A student of Latin at the age of eight, McColl had already read a 20-volume encyclopedia by that time, and moved on to reading the Encyclopedia Britannica for relexation at the age of ten.

More Than Books

Despite those achievements, Alexander wants it understood that he is no "curiosity;" and his brother, Archibald McColl '52, age 17, who will room with him, backs him up in this assertion. Alexander likes horseback riding and sailing, and shares a collection of antique weapons with his brother.

At the Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, from which he graduates, McColl was on the school magazine and dramatic club, managed track for two years and soccer for one.

Thanks His Mother

McColl attributes his brilliance to his mother, who "tutored me for three years with patience and understanding." It was his mother who gave him the Latin lessons which today enable him to read Roman essays for pleasure.

McColl was eight months old when he started to talk, and at the age of four he amazed a first grade class he was visiting by counting to 100 by fives.

Math, however, lately has turned into a bugaboo for McColl, and he plans to avoid it and science as much as possible while planning his program at the College. He intends to stress the liberal arts, with an eye to going on to law school.