The quest of a Millstone youth with a natural talent
12-year-old attends Johns Hopkins talented youth program after SAT

PHOTOS BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP Millstone's Barry Hogan watches over his dog, Ember, as she cools off in the pond behind his home on July 18.

BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP

Staff Writer

MILLSTONE - At the age of 12, Barry Hogan has already dissected a fetal pig, taken the SAT and had a college experience. Despite his numerous academic accomplishments, Barry seems most proud of his natural talent to interact with and learn from creatures great and small.

Barry became interested in science through animals, which he has had a fondness for since he was very young. Except for one picture of himself lounging on a hammock with his nose in a book, a photo album that his family has kept throughout the years is completely filled with images of Barry at all stages of his childhood gleefully interacting with critters of all kinds.

His mother, Marlena, refers to Barry as the naturalist, as he's never been squeamish around creatures or the elements of the great outdoors. He grew up on three wooded acres in Millstone, where his family raises chickens and keeps a large pond filled with freshwater fish, frogs, turtles and insects.

JENNIFER KOHLHEPP A pond in the backyard of the Hogan home in Millstone Township has served the interests of adventurers Barry Hogan, 12, and his dog, Ember, well.

His pastimes, which include discovering the forest, fishing and working at the Millstone Animal Hospital in exchange for observing surgery and other medical procedures, led him to taking Introduction to Biomedical Sciences at Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., this summer.

Hogan, who will enter eighth grade at the new Millstone Township Middle School this fall, was accepted to attend the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) academic program for gifted students. He joined several thousand other students from across the U.S. and 80 countries who, because of their outstanding academic abilities, qualified for the Hopkins program.

Hogan qualified for the program because he had attained a highly proficient score on the mathematics portion and a proficient score on the language arts portion of the NJ ASK test. His NJ ASK scores were such that he also became eligible to try his hand at the SAT.

He took the SAT for the first time in January at the high school in Hightstown.

"It was pretty long," Hogan said of the test. "It was okay. I was sweating."

To study for the SAT, Hogan said he used a book of practice tests, which helped him score a 540 on the math portion, a 500 on the reading portion and a 480 on the new critical writing portion of the test.

When asked what he found most difficult about the test, Hogan explained that he felt he only knew about three-quarters of the vocabulary on it.

Barry was the only student from Millstone to attend the CTY program. The course he took at Siena College was equivalent to having taken a six-month high school science program. He spent 120 hours in class.

"The kids were given course work above their age level but not above their academic ability," Marlena said. "They kept in mind the child but helped develop the child's mind and understanding."

Barry said he studied human body functions, organs and cells, as well as nutrition and disease.

"We read articles and did dissections," he said.

Hogan dissected a sheep's heart, three different kinds of animal eyes and

a fetal pig.

"We located all of the organs a human would have," he said.

Barry didn't find the work too hard and felt comfortable with the dissections since he previously dissected animal parts in school.

"I was used to those," he said. "But the fetal pig was kind of weird having the whole pig there."

When he wasn't attending class at CTY, he was making lots of new friends and participating in many of the scheduled activities on campus.

"We could do anything from soccer to giant squid appreciation," he said, adding that he mostly participated in sports because the college offered such good food that he felt he needed the exercise.

Marlena said she and her husband, Barry Sr., were very excited about their son's participation in the Johns Hopkins program.

"We were thrilled that he tried it," Marlena said. "He worked hard and successfully completed it. As I wrote in a note to his guidance counselor, he learned a lot through the program and grew up even more."

Barry quipped, "Actually, I did grow about a half an inch in the three weeks that I was there."

His mother said the CTY administration, faculty and staff such as Cindy Ragland, the director of the Loudonville site, and Jennifer Schutte, the guidance counselor, provided adequate support to make the family feel comfortable throughout Barry's experience.

"The two of them really helped Barry adjust to the change and helped me understand what type of changes would occur and how he would academically and emotionally progress through the program," she said.

The experience was Barry's first one away from home without the accompaniment of a family member, he said. The most difficult part of the trip, he said, was figuring out how to do his own laundry.

When asked if giving up part of his summer vacation for the experience was worthwhile, Barry said, "It was difficult, but it was worth it."

His mother said, "Taking three weeks out of any child's summer for such rigorous academic programming isn't easy. It isn't easy even to suggest it, but he agreed to it and picked the course, and it was a great course. The instructors were very caring and aware of the age group they were working with, even with the subject matter."

Now that Barry is a part of the CTY program, he can attend new classes each summer for the next four years.

When asked for his secret to academic success, Barry said he listens intently to what his teachers say.

"A lot of what they randomly say during the day is a lot of times what ends up on a test," he said.

He noted that he has had many wonderful teachers in Millstone who have helped him develop his interests and skills. Among the most notable, he said, are Robert Robertson, a language arts teacher who was so enthusiastic that he got Barry to enjoy one of his least favorite subjects; and math teacher JoAnn Trifiro, who made learning fun by turning most lessons into games. His mother also said that Barry's first-grade teacher, Nina Banerjee, has been a constant source of advice and encouragement for her son.

Barry looks forward to being a member of the first class to graduate from Millstone's newly constructed middle school. Afterward, he has aspirations of attending Monmouth County's Biotechnology High School, a comprehensive magnet public high school located in Freehold Township.

Although he is not sure now what profession he would like to enter into once he grows up, Barry seems certain about doing something in the medical field.

In the meantime, the 12-year-old enjoys spending most of his time outdoors with his golden retriever, Ember, which allows him to observe the many kinds of wildlife his pond and woods support.

"Living in the woods, there is a lot of space to do a lot of things," he said.