At 15, Julia Ross was able to test out of high school geometry because she learned everything she needed to know in three weeks.

Julia is one of more than 200 students from across the United States, China and Taiwan taking classes for three weeks at The Center for Gifted Studies’ program for Verbally and Mathematically Precocious Youth at Western Kentucky University.

In her third year in the program, offered for students in seventh through 10th grades, Julia said her life has been changed in every aspect, including learning enough to skip required classes at her Nashville high school.

Students – selected by their ACT or SAT college entrance exam scores – attend a class six hours a day for three weeks.

“I feel like I’ve learned so much,” said Julia, who was enrolled in the math course last summer. “I was able to test out of geometry at my school by the time I got back and took the final.”

Julia Roberts, executive director of The Center for Gifted Studies, said in its 26th year, the camp gives teens an opportunity to enhance their studies in the high-brow classes, but also surround themselves with peers of the same intellectual level.

For some of the classes, such as forensic chemistry and genetics, the youngsters have to have a qualifying ACT score of 21 in science or math out of a possible 36 points.

But Julia Ross said her experience at VAMPY far exceeds what she has taken from the intense classes she’s completed each summer.

“Every day, something comes up and I think, we could only have this discussion at nerd camp,” she said. “We’re able to talk about scientific theory over dinner or have a discussion about other things, like current events. But there’s always the opportunity to have a conversation you will gain something from. Every day, you don’t just learn something new, but a lot of things new because you interact with people also learning a lot of things.”

Max Froedge, a 16-year-old junior from Glasgow High School, is attending a genetics class at the camp during his third summer at VAMPY. He said he never attended dances at school or got involved in school activities but feels comfortable being himself and even dancing at the camp’s annual festivities.

“I find this camp brings out a spirit in me I don’t see anywhere else,” he said.