TORRINGTON – At just 10 years old, Torrington middle schooler Ada Merrigan has already skipped two grades and taken a college entrance exam – with scores in the top 25 percent of gifted students in the Western region of the U.S., including Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada and Montana. Last week, the Center for Bright Kids Western Academic Talent Search presented Merrigan with a certificate of achievement during a recognition ceremony at the University of Colorado.

“WATS participants take the SAT, ACT or PSAT 8/9 examinations to evaluate their strengths, to gain experience, and to qualify for recognition and special programming,” according to the Center for Bright Kids website (centerforbrightkids.org). “All participants receive a participation certificate, score interpretation information, and a regional summer opportunities guide. High-scoring students testing between October and February are invited to a regional WATS Recognition Ceremony.”

Last year, Merrigan explored the “regional summer opportunities” as offered by WATS by attending a camp at the Colorado School of Mines.

“I learned about Greek and Roman mythology, and this year, I’ll be learning about the fundamentals of basic design,” Merrigan explained. This year’s event will be held at the University of Colorado – Boulder campus.

“I went for a week last year,” Merrigan said. “This year, I’ll go for two weeks.”

Merrigan was eligible for the camp, in part, due to her high ACT scores. She took the exam at Eastern Wyoming College last fall, along with area juniors and seniors.

“They were very hard,” Merrigan said of the series of tests on a variety of subjects. “There were fancy words, and I didn’t know a lot of it. I studied for an hour a day, but I still didn’t know a lot of it – although I knew more of it than I did before I studied.”

Ultimately, Merrigan performed better than the majority of her peers and earned an invite to Colorado for the recognition ceremony with her father, Court, mother, Nok, and younger brother, Waylon.

Merrigan’s parents said they weren’t immediately aware of her above-average intelligence.

“She was our first kid, so we didn’t notice. We just thought she was precocious,” Court said. “She was born in Thailand – we moved to the U.S. when she was 18 months old … and, at that time, she was speaking full sentences and knew the alphabet in English and Thai. We just thought she paid attention.”

Now, Merrigan can recall everything her parents say, and often recites it back, word for word.

“We’re just hopeful she’ll use (the gifts well), take advantage of it, and do good things,” Court said. “I have to give credit to the school district here, as they worked with us since the beginning, providing opportunities as soon as possible … (including) advanced classes at Middle School, time to study – they’ve worked with us every step of the way.”

In addition to her academic extracurricular activities and advanced course load, Merrigan has participated in guitar, cross country, the traveling basketball team, band, and hopes to join the track team as a seventh grader next year. She’s also a member of a local 4-H club, and volunteers at Waggin’ Tails Animal Shelter on the weekends.

“Her academic stuff is great, but we want her to do all the normal stuff, too,” Court said. “She has lots of potential. As she gets older, there are more and more opportunities for things nationwide (through WATS). It hopefully opens up some doors.”

Although she excels across the board, Merrigan said she particularly enjoys science, and may pursue a career in a related field in the future.

“Maybe something that ends with ‘-ology’,” she said. “Every single week, my (plan) changes. Today, it’s zoology.”

No matter what occupation Merrigan chooses, her family offers their support, every step of the way.

“We’re just sort of along for the ride,” Court said. “Just trying to keep up.”