The Yale Daily News

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- At 13, while most current Yale University students were agonizing over the slobbery logistics of their first kisses, Benjamin Bolger was entering the University of Michigan.

Now at 19, the youngest Yale Law student in recent memory is no Doogie Howser, though. He has had a long road to New Haven -- one filled with dyslexia, drunk driving, poverty and divorce.

Though Bolger graduated first in his class from the University, he can only read at a fifth-grade level -- and though he has lived with his single mother in a house without running water, he has spent the past five months working just down the hall from President Clinton.

"Most people would probably look at me and say I shouldn't be in a hurry," Bolger said. "But I look at my life and say, `I'm 19, and what have I accomplished?' And the answer keeps coming back -- not enough." Bolger has had to combat considerable adversity, beginning with dyslexia.

Dyslexia is a much broader problem than just reversing letters to read "saw" as "was." Bolger describes his own problem as "phonetic." For instance, he spells "phone" F-O-N. "It makes sense," he noted, "but that's not how it works."

Resources for dyslexic kids proved limited in Bolger's suburban Detroit hometown, so his mother opted to home-school her son. Mrs. Bolger had time to devote to her son only because she was unable to work.

When Bolger was 3, a drunk driver hit him and his mother at 90 mph. The accident left Mrs. Bolger permanently disabled with internal injuries. Working was no longer an option.

To make things worse, Bolger said his engineer father was not exactly "active" in financially supporting him and his mother. A messy 10-year-long divorce left Mrs. Bolger single and unemployed.

Still, Bolger thrived intellectually as a homeschooler. He loved being able to study something for as long as he wanted, not just until the bell rang. "I wasn't forced to learn. It was something I embraced -- with excitement," he recalled.

At 13, Bolger felt he had "exhausted the resources" of homeschooling. The University, he said, was the "next logical step." Since he arrived at college -- and even now at Yale -- Mrs. Bolger spends six or more hours a day helping Ben with his work. Most of this time is spent reading to him or taking dictation. "I never thought of it as a sacrifice," she explained. "I consider it a joy to be a mentor to my son."

Mrs. Bolger didn't, however, move in with him at college. So as a 13-year-old first-year student, Bolger had his own apartment.

Although he claims not to have been an "Animal House"-esque partier, Bolger wasn't as socially inept as one might expect a 13-year-old college student to be. His friends included many kids his own age and others of college age.

-- Distributed by University Wire

this inequality was not confined to the legal system. "I developed a strong vigilance in wanting to seek social change," he asserted.

Bolger's major at Michigan, social inequality, incorporated this commitment to social improvement. The interdisciplinary major combines history, sociology, economics, psychology, and political science.

As a fringe benefit, Bolger quipped, the major also requires long hair and Birkenstocks. Conveniently, he has both.

At Michigan, he found most of his professors and teaching assistants initially unenthusiastic about teaching a boy who needed all his tests proctored, read to him, and dictated.

"Most of them didn't even know what dyslexia was," Bolger recalled. Since he can't take notes during class, he relies on his listening and memory skills. Sometimes he tape-records a lecture. When he has to write a paper, he dictates it to his mother or a volunteer. Or, he types it out and has someone else check the spelling for him. And although his professors became more helpful, he discreetly noted that Michigan's office of disabilities "could use a little improvement."

Nonetheless, Bolger managed to earn his diploma a semester early, with many more credits than he needed to graduate.

He decided to attend law school because he sees it as the most effective avenue toward social change. He said he believes that social change must be achieved through political action. And since law is the language of government, law school seemed the most appropriate place for Bolger.

He chose Yale's law school in particular because "it emphasizes social activism and responsibility," Bolger said. Its small size was also appealing.

Sometime during his graduate career, hopefully next year, he'd like to enter Oxford's Socio-legal Studies program. To that end, he's competing to be a Rhodes Scholar.

Bolger said his future career plans are shaped by his desire to serve society. He hopes to enter politics, but stresses that he wants to serve others, not himself. Always an optimist, he truly believes that real social change is possible.

"Clearly, I'm young and idealistic," he conceded, "but I think the world can use people like that. I am interested in changing the world, but on a pragmatic basis as well."